Meatloaf with a healthy twist

Tonight I made Meatloaf.  I was concerned about the grease but decided to tweak a recipe I found.  The result was a resounding success in my house.  My husband and my girls loved it (even the 5 year old that doesn't usually like meat-unless it is a chicken nugget)!

PREP    10 mins
COOK    1 hr

Meatloaf with a healthy twist (almost grease-less):

Ingredients:

2 LBS      80/20 Ground Beef Chuck
3 tbsp      Hodgson Mill - Milled Flax Seed
1/4 Cup   Chia Seeds
2 tbsp      Onions - Dehydrated flakes
1 Cup       2% Milk
1/2 Cup    Dried Bread Crumbs
2 tbsp       Brown Sugar
2 tbsp       Yellow Mustard
1/3 Cup    Ketchup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and start squishing it together with your hands-clean of course.  (I added the chia seeds after everything else was combined well then continued to squish until blended well). Season with salt and pepper to taste and place in a lightly greased 5x9 inch loaf pan, OR form into a loaf and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish.

I took a broiler rack and placed tin foil on top of it.  Under the broiler rack was a broiler pan.  I poked holes in the tin foil to drain the grease into the pan.  I then took the mixture and made a 'free form' mold of it on top of the tin foil.

When the meatloaf was done I drizzled ketchup on top and served to the family.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour.

January 30, 2014 Quinoa, Chia Seeds, & Milled Flax Seed

I got my order from www.nuts.com in the mail today.  I ordered Quinoa flakes (wanted to try another consistency than the tiny bubbles that Quinoa is) and Chia seeds. The scale shows me up a pound.  Gonna try not to think about it since I goofed up with eating pizza (husband ordered it last night). I also ate it too late in the evening.

1/2 a cup of quinoa cooked with water contain 144 cal, 27 carb, 5.1 protein, 2.3 fat, 11.3 sodium, 2.3 fiber an 137 potassium

Coming from someone who has been eating Quinoa (me), I can tell you that it is filling!  It keeps me satisfied most of the day and it is so versatile.

1 tablespoon Chia seeds contains 69 cal, 6 carb, 2 protein, 4.5 fat, 2.5 sodium, 5.5 fiber
The normal serving size is 2 tablespoons.

1 tablespoon of Milled Flax Seed contains
30 cal, 2 carb, 1.5 protein, 2.5 fat, 2 fiber, 10 calcium, .4 iron

I'm going to try out the Chia seeds.

Today, so far, I have had 1/2 cup of Quinoa, 1 tablespoon of Chia seeds, and 1 tablespoon of Milled Flax Seeds with my meal.  If I am full and these things have the  nutrition they have in them, then I would think I'd continue with my weight loss.

January 28, 2014 - Tuesday

When I weighed myself on Sunday, January 26, I weighed 212.2 lbs.  I'm making progress.  Not the fastest progress but considering I'm not doing much exercise...all in all, still progress!

I have been eating my quinoa, usually with a tablespoon or two of flax seed in it, regardless of what else I put in it; fried egg & peas & carrots-no oil; tuna, oatmeal, or anything else).  I stay full most of the day.  I have also been eating the Special K's Nourish, Maple Brown Sugar Crunch.  It is very filling!

For snacks- pumpkin, sunflower, pistachio or almond seeds are good sources of fiber, protein, or potassium. 

I'm keeping track of what I'm eating on http://caloriecount.about.com/.  It is free and easy.  Under the tab for 'Analysis,' it tells you what you are lacking in your diet. I love this. I have found that the hardest thing to get enough of, for me, is potassium.  Even if you use a supplement, you are only supposed to take one tablet a day which only has 99 mg of potassium.  In your diet you are supposed to have approximately 4700 mg of potassium in a day!  I know that bananas are supposed to have a lot of potassium but they also have a lot of sugar.  I have found that some other things that have a lot of potassium are beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.  

I have also found that the hardest thing to keep myself from going over on is sodium.  Yes, sodium!  Sodium or the salt in your diet, is in everything just about!  If you eat anything out of a can, box, or frozen, you can bet it has a big amount of sodium in it.  I love Roman Noodles but they are packed with sodium.  I get heartburn easy which means that one bowl of roman noodles are delicious but very uncomfortable after I eat them-OK and they aren't the healthiest either.  Watch your sodium intake.  At least for me, this is very important.

Until next time....

Feeling full all the time- how do I get enough calories??

If anyone has suggestions I am open to them. I have been eating quinoa and milled flax seed- using these have made me feel full. I have eaten breakfast and lunch today and have not been hungry at all. I am at less than half of the amount of calories I'm supposed to have in a day. If you still feel full- how in the world do you get enough calories? I'm not hungry at all. I know in a couple hours we are going to feed my children. I don't even want to think about eating again, myself but know I have to have to try and have the right amount of calories to make my body keep processing correctly. What a dilemma to have. LOL

A little information on my weight journey.

I had a 'normal' size up until I was 20.  Then I started to gain.  I thought I was big at 170 when I had my son. I was 22 years old.  Two daughters later, I am at 216.8 as of today.  The highest I have been is 220 lbs.  I have been fluctuating between 218 & 216 for a few years now.

I have physical issues that make many exercises tough for me.  I have Fibromyalgia, a cracked tail bone and Spondylolisis.  With these I have a lot of chronic pain in my back, from tail bone to neck.  I have had major hip pain too.  I have no big opposition to doing exercise, but if I start I get to hurting and end up sitting back down.

I want to start with my diet.  I don't eat a lot, but a lot of what I eat is not extremely healthy.

I am now eating quinoa.  You don't want to leave it on the burner too long that is for sure.  All the water dried up and it burned to the bottom of the pan.  You don't want to under cook it either or it ends up really crunchy and in my opinion, not really worth eating.

Last night I finally achieved the fluffy texture that I really wanted from it.  Today I decided to try the fried egg on top of the quinoa.  It was actually pretty good!  Next time I will mix in some milled flax seed too.  This morning I just forgot to add it. This would give me quite a bit of protein (from quinoa & egg) and fiber (quinoa & milled flax seed).  What a way to start the morning.