Success Tips: From Shirley, Procurement

We love pie filling so I make the pumpkin and the egg custard fillings and bake them in ramekins.  We then can have them as custard cups rather than having to dispose of a pie crust none of us wants.

I make the stuffing separate from the bird and don’t soak it with the fatty bird drippings (sounds disgusting, doesn’t it, said that way).  I use chicken bouillon cubes and make cornbread or sage and dried whole grain bread and bake it separate.

I make my own cranberry sauce and use sugar substitute; since we prefer it tart, I also cut the sugar amount waaaay down.

Eggnog is a treat, and I get the low fat, low calorie and cut it with low fat milk.

No booze.

Watching the parade, it’s watermelon wedges, apples and oranges primarily with ice water or iced tea (the tea bag kind) with or without lemon or lime wedges.  Any chips that sneak in are baked.  (I don’t even look at the fried kinds.)  And they are eaten with low fat cottage cheese or salsa as dips (no bean or sour cream or ranch dressing dips in my house!).

Success Tips: From Rachel, Health Dept. (lost 8 pounds since beginning of contest)

I actually have cut out a lot of the fat from my diet – chicken breast and turkey breast are good (no skin of course). Milk products are all fat free or very low fat (including cutting out cheese except mozzarella so I can still have pizza – my new favorite? Chicken, olive, and spinach pizza).

I can eat all fruits and veggies

I cut out pork and beef (except I can have roast beef sandwiches and filet mignon)

I can eat complex carbs (pasta, breads, rice, etc.)

I can eat sandwiches with leaner cuts of meat (ham, turkey, roast beef, etc.) and I cut out the mayo – I have mustard and loads of veges.