Substitutions? Please!

Today marks the beginning of the third week on our Arbonne 30 Days to Healthy Living journey for 2019.

Am I dying of starvation?

Nope.

Am I feeling better?

You betcha!

Am I craving a burger and fries?

W-e-l-l, okay…yeah. I have to admit that I am – once in a great while, anyway. (But, trust me - not like the one pictured here. That's just plain obnoxious!)

But we’ve had so many salads over the past couple weeks with baked or grilled chicken and steamed veggies, that I swear I was dreaming about cheeseburgers the other night!

Instead of giving in to a burger with lots of gooey melted cheese and topped with a big, fluffy bun and served with a side of French fries smothered in ketchup, we had an organic burger topped with grilled onions and bell peppers. And with it we had some sweet potato fries cooked in our new air fryer.

No ketchup. No bun. No gooey melted cheese. But what we had satisfied my craving.

And, by the way, I’m not normally a big fan of the sweet potato – but these fries were delicious. And they were much better for us, too.

So while I can’t say I’m never going to have a cheeseburger and french fries again, I DO know there are some healthy alternatives out there that can take away the cravings.

Vince is currently working on a chicken, brown rice and vegetables dish for us as our meal today. And I have to tell you, it smells delicious!

I used to scoff at dietary substitutions. You know – substituting shredded zucchini for angel hair pasta. Or replacing chips and dip with raw veggies and hummus. Or replacing chocolate with…well, let’s not go crazy. There really isn’t much I would be satisfied with in place of chocolate.

Instead, I was the person who would say I’d rather not eat anything than try to meet a pasta craving with zucchini spirals.

Over the last year, however, I’ve come to realize that there are certain substitutions that aren’t so tough to make. And there is a kind of satisfaction in eating crunchy vegetables with hummus. I certainly don’t feel guilty after eating it as I would if I were snacking on, say, a bag of Cape Cod Kettle Chips.

And replacing our white basmati rice with organic brown rice has been surprisingly palatable. I used to turn up my nose at the thought of eating brown rice. Apparently, I’d never eaten it before and it just sounded dry and, well, not appetizing. But I don’t even notice the difference.

Live and learn, eh?!

And, even though we’re not currently eating it because we’re not sure it’s compliant with our 30 Day Program, there is a Boar’s Head chocolate hummus out there that tastes ah-mazing!  (And around the holidays they have a chocolate mint hummus that is even more ah-mazing!) Dipping fresh strawberries in this hummus satisfies even my sweet tooth!

So we’re going to keep on keeping on.  And, thanks to Arbonne, I’m already fitting into a size smaller pair of jeans. (Actually, funny story. I put them on yesterday and, instead of them fitting looser, I noticed they just fit me. So I was a little concerned that I wasn’t losing any weight. But then I realized that I have two different sizes of the same jeans – and these were the smaller size. So…yay me!)

Oh, and by the way, our meal was delicious. Brown rice and all.

So thanks for reading. Back with more later!