Snacks and Ramblings

Athenos Roasted Garlic Hummus and Stacy's Simply Naked "Nothing but Sea Salt" Pita Chips

First off I have to say that I used to think hummus was nasty. I couldn't get past the grit. In my defense I was pregnant when I tried it. Now I think it's scrumptious. Which leads to my next problem, I eat too much of it in one sitting. Usually I just bring the bowl with me, snag pita chips out of the bag and eat until I *think* I've eating one serving. BIG MISTAKE. I'm pretty sure I've been eating a quarter of the hummus container and most likely a half a bag of pita chips.

Secondly the hubby and I buy in bulk at Sam's, meats included. We usually buy around ten pounds of ground beef and six or eight pounds of ground turkey. In this past we used this dinky 2 cup food scale to measure out two pounds of beef at a time to be put in freezer bags. That took forever.

So between our need for a quicker method of measuring our meat and the necessity to ensure I'm only truly eating one serving of snacks/foods I snagged a fabulous new tool. A manual food scale! I picked it up at Target for $5 and it weighs up to 11 pounds, SCORE! I have been drooling over digital food scales, but I cannot justify spending $50 bucks on one. Sure the manual takes up a little more space, but for the price I had to buy it. I do not regret it at all.

So instead of my normal half a bag of pita chips and quarter container of hummus, I measured out 2 tablespoons of hummus and weighed out 2oz of pita chips. Yeah, it was very obvious I had been over doing it. Which leads me to the whole "you don't need to count calories" method of weight loss. I truly beg to differ. I'm sure it's different for every person, but I've already proved to myself that if I'm not keeping a food diary and I'm not measuring out what a serving is, I cannot do this. When I do squeeze in time to eat on the no counting method, I overeat terribly. This weekend was absolute proof of it.

We ate out at SONIC, I love that place, but it did not like my new healthy habits. While I agree it's okay to splurge every now and then, what I did this weekend was probably more of a cardinal sin. My hubby surprised me with a box of Girl Scout's Thin Mints (absolute heaven), I'm sure you can guess the entire box is gone. So, yes, I NEED measurements to be my friend, if only for now. I'm still in the baby stages of my life long healthy habits change and I cannot afford to "think" that I'm eating the appropriate amounts if I'm not.

I also must make a mental note to myself, apple juice is an "okay" substitute for orange juice when you're out of o.j. and in dire need of a fruit smoothie. It's just not as sweet, so start buying a gallon versus the tiny individual bottles of orange juice, mmmkay?