I'm starting phase 2 on monday... is this a good meal plan?

[roo12]

So I guess I'm sort of a newbie at sbd, I start phase 2 on Monday, and since I am new, I thought I'd post a general menu and see what you guys thought. I'm kind of a picky eater, which is why you won't see a whole lot of fancy dishes on here, but I'd really like to hear from some people with more experience, just to make sure I'm on the right track.

Breakfast:
1 egg, two slices of turkey bacon, steamed broccoli, and a cup of coffee.

Lunch:
Chicken Caesar salad (lettuce, grilled chicken, cucumber, and 2 tbsp. caesar dressing) and an apple.

Dinner:
Spaghetti (whole wheat pasta, Classico sauce, extra lean ground beef, and low-fat mozzarella)

Dessert:
Sugar-free chocolate pudding with natural pb mixed in and a glass of milk

Any suggestions or words of wisdom?
Thanks!

[RonniRoo]

First off, I'm wondering where your snacks are? Especially at first, snacks can be really important (and I still eat at least one snack before dinner every day).

Lunch looks a little light on veggies to me, ideal would be to have additional veggies in addition to the lettuce(hopefully a good one, like romaine) and cucumbers. You need to have at LEAST 2 cups of veggies at lunch. The same issue comes up at dinner, I don't think you have enough veggies, so I'd add some more there too.

The first week of phase 1, you'll probably want to EITHER add the apple at lunch, OR the spaghetti at dinner, not both. That way, if you get cravings, stomach issues, increased hunger you'll know which food is causing you issues and let you either eliminate that food entirely, or try it at a different time/with different foods to see if you can make it work. Also, make sure that the sauce you choose has no added sugar in the ingredient list (or even better make your own). Also, make sure you have some good fats at dinner (cook with oil, or have salad dressing on a salad, etc.). Hope this helps,

~~Veronica

[Kimboroni]

Also, grains should be a side dish rather than the star of the meal-- the p2 foods are additions to the p1 foundation. So unless you're planning to eat just an ounce of spaghetti with 2+ cups of pasta sauce, your proportions are all wrong. Check the meal templates in the FAQ for help with meal design.

[roo12]

Thank you guys so much!!! This has really helped out a lot!

[mamamorgan]

I agree about lunch, I would add in more veggies. I have salads for lunch about 90% of the time but my salads consist of lettuce, onions, peppers, avocado, mushrooms, (sometimes) snap peas, and (sometimes) cucumbers, with fat free ranch dressing.

And have less grain. For example, last night I had stuffed pasta shells (manicotti shells) that were whole grain. So they were large shells but they were stuffed with fat free ricotta, shredded chicken, sauteed onions, mushrooms, peppers, and garlic. There was WAY MORE stuffing than shell. On the side I had steamed zucchini and squash.

[roo12]

Sorry, I really like spaghetti. Would it be okay to have 2 oz. pasta (the serving suggested on the box) with 1+ cups of sauce (i like my pasta saucy anyway) and sprinkled with LF mozzarella then a big portion of broccoli on the side? And as far as salads, like i said, I'm a picky eater I mostly eat cucumbers, broccoli, celery, and lettuce as my veggies and I haven't gotten sick of them yet even though I get a good amount of them everyday. Is there anything wrong with that?
OH! and should I be eating FF dressing? I heard the regular was better because of the good fats/less sugar, right?

[Quirquie]

You should only use a fat free dressing if you are getting good fats from something else, like 1/3 avocado, which is why mamamorgan uses fat free, she loves her avocado!

[Kimboroni]

And then, FF dressing only works if it still falls under the 3g sugar per serving guideline.

A serving of grain is about 1 oz-- it doesn't matter what the label says. Going significantly over this amount can lead to high blood sugar, which can bring back cravings and also impede with your body's ability to burn off excess bodyfat (it reads like excess calories).

[bigfatbuddha]

Try tossing your 1 serving of whole grain pasta with some or all of your vegetables and then putting your sauce over all of it.

[Dylan]

Whenever I have pasta I heat up a some low-sugar pasta sauce and add a bunch of veggies in - whatever I have on hand, really (peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, etc). Then I cook up the one measly serving of pasta and add it in with my big bowl of veggie-ful pasta sauce. This way the bulk of my meal is the sauce and veggies, but the little bit of pasta goes a long way. This works with spaghetti, but I find ww shells or rigatoni gives it a lot more volume.