So I bring you Cravings Part II after the holidays as further incentive to show you how to substitute wisely and still get all the great flavor without doing damage to your health even if we’ve made it through most of the holiday season!
Talk about cravings. I absolutely CRAVE pizza. I’m a New Yorker. What do you expect! lol
When I went plant based, it became my next challenge: to cook without cheese and make the pizza I crave with a thin crust and still flavorful!
There were many crusts that weren’t vegan, but most are. I started experimenting with vegan cheese and I came to realize less is more, and Follow Your Heart Mozarella can’t be beat. But the key is dotting the pie with small squares of cheese. Less is more. When I did that and covered the cheese with crumbled Field Roast and caramelized onions, using a tomato sauce base? I found my cravings for cheese GONE and GONE! Soooo good. And if you don’t overload the crust with sauce, you will get a hard thin crust perfect to satisfy!
Even if you have been running around and missing meals, I am sure the key to not putting on 10 pounds (like everyone else did) this holiday season, is preparation. And as we transition into our dreams and wants for next year…. let’s consider being prepared for success!
I carry around a bag of raw nuts and sometimes carrots, because these are the things I can munch on in the car that will make me arrive ‘sane’. Think about it: we’re so busy getting ready that by the time we get to where we are going, we are ravenous! What if…. just what if you weren’t ravenous….
We all know that small meals are healthy. If you consider a hand full of nuts and a handful of carrots or any vegetable you like, a small meal in the car on the way to…… who knows what! Sometimes I’ll grab an apple, sometimes a red pepper. And that’s what I eat when I am hungry. Then we are preparing ourselves to eat less and really only eat the things that seriously ‘call’ to us.
I mean how many times do you finish what is on your plate? You eat something you don’t enjoy because you bought it and need to finish it up? I will never forget the shocked look on my friends face when we went to get ice cream (BV -before vegan) and they gave us a triple cone. I ate one bite off the top, then scraped most of it into the garbage, then finished up a bit in the cone. She didn’t understand why I ‘wasted’ – but actually, I got all I needed.
Just get it into your head. Mindful eating. If you keep saying that, keep thinking that, you will do less harm.
So that’s a small talk about cravings. Plan to eat a big salad ahead of going out. And don’t forget, 3 bites of anything won’t kill ya (unless it’s oleander) lol!
So when you’re at that party, or going out to dinner figure out a couple of things you absolutely must taste, and then do: First bite, “WOW this is good”. Second bite, “Aaaah… so good”. Third Bite? “Now I’m being naughty”. This helps you really taste and enjoy what you do eat and keeps your portions ‘less than’, instead of more. Last but not least, do not drink your calories away. Keep to no drinks, just water, or one drink followed by water. No self medicating! I know you can do this!
Happy Healthy Eating,
