Tag: E meals

Are you wondering how to fill up when eating Trim Healthy Mama E Meals? That’s one of the challenges for people new to the plan. It was certainly the case with me.

Eating healthy, moderate carbohydrates (“E” fuel) is important for the metabolism and energy levels. This is what makes TrimHealthyMama different from low-carb diets. Low carb diets often cause fatigue because they can mess with thyroid function. This happened to me, which caused me to drop low-carb, thankfully I found THM! Eating low-carb for even a few days causes me to have debilitating fatigue. And no, it’s not “low carb flu”. It never goes away.

Eating carbohydrates in your E meals and snacks prevents this. But some THMers struggle with E fuels, either because they find that E meals don’t fill them up, or because fattier meals (our “S”, or satisfying fuels) are more delicious! But eating too many S meals can cause a weight loss plateau and even mood changes (you need healthy carbs for brain health, it’s the abuse of cheap carbs that cause problems).

Getting enough “E” meals and snacks also helps you stay in your budget, since E foods (rice, fruit, on-plan breads, sweet potatoes) are inexpensive.

Here are a few tips.

Trim Healthy Mama E Meals: how to fit E meals into your THM diet

Devote one meal or snack per day as your “E” fuel.

I love having cream in my morning coffee, so I eat an S fuel breakfast every day so as to avoid a crossover. Because of that, I chose my lunch as my E fuel, since in the middle of the day is when I need the most energy for taking care of and homeschooling my kids.

Yours may be different. Maybe a lighter E breakfast works for you (you can enjoy a Trimmy beverage with your breakfast if you like a hot caffeinated drink in the AM).

On-plan granola recipes, oats, egg white omelets with fruit on the side or fruity smoothies are all E fuels. Or try a brown rice pudding – cooked brown rice topped with a little almond milk, vanilla extract and a bit of stevia is delicious for breakfast, especially in cold weather.

I also love having E suppers occasionally since for me, supper usually is a lighter meal. (I prefer to eat most of my calories early in the day and have a light evening meal.)

Lately, I’ve been making a lot of pork chops or pork tenderloin with a fruity glaze. For example, yesterday I cooked pork chops in a pan with a little chopped pineapple and soy sauce for flavor, served over brown rice with half a small sweet potato. It was so delicious!

Pork tenderloin is also low in fat, quick and easy to cook, and perfect as a protein source with E meals. Last week I made “caramelized” pork tenderloin by glazing it with soy sauce, garlic and a bit of stevia and baking it. So yummy and easy with vegetables.

Trim Healthy Mama E Meals: How to fill up

Get enough protein with your E meals and snacks

Protein is the missing link in making sure your Trim Healthy Mama E meals sustain you!

If you have oatmeal for breakfast, try serving it with Cottage Berry Whip. Or have a Trimmy beverage (FP) with collagen and/or whey protein with your E snack. Have a serving of 0% Greek yogurt after your E lunch, with a dab of stevia and freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice as a light dessert.

For lunch, try tuna with hot sauce or lemon juice as your protein, or a fish fillet pan-fried in a skillet with just cooking spray.

Keep gummy snacks made with gelatin on hand for dessert after an E meal. They’re usually Fuel Pulls so add few calories, but provide protein to fill you up.

Chicken tenderloins are handy for easy, fast “E” lunches and dinners. These can be purchased inexpensively frozen in large bags. They’re easy to season (use any spice you like; from Cajun to Herbes de Provence to lemon-pepper, or make a simple mustard sauce with a little white wine) and cook fast.

Cook low-fat ground turkey (browned, then rinsed) and store in portion-sized containers for quick and easy protein for meals. Just add brown rice, beans or a sweet potato and you’re all set.

And don’t forget cottage cheese, one of my favorite super frugal proteins. I like to whip mine in the blender so it has a creamy mouth feel.

See this post about my Fuel Cycle E day and also this one where I describe doing a Fuel Cycle. Those were the two days I ate only E meals.

3) Curate a list of your favorite Trim Healthy Mama E meals and snacks

I have some of my favorite E meals and snacks on a dedicated Pinterest board. Try making one for yours.  Some of my favorite Trim Healthy Mama E meals and snacks include:

• *Sweeties on Steroids (I make mine different every time, depending on what I have on hand.)
• Baked sweet potato fries
• *Apple-cinnamon muffin
• Oats, prepared as Banana Cream Oatmeal, Chocolate Oatmeal, or topped with *Cottage Berry Whip
• Brown rice (don’t forget this tip to cook brown rice in half the time, I always cook extra to reheat for the next day) with dinner, with a low-fat meat (pork chops, pork tenderloin, shrimp, chicken breast)
• *Quinoa Goes Cajun
• *Egg Roll in a Bowl (made with ground turkey, cooked and rinsed, served atop brown rice)
• White Chicken Chili with beans
• *Orange Creamsicle Shake (I loved this in summer especially, so refreshing!)
• Apple slices dipped in *peanut junky butter
• An orange for dessert (or a *Creamsicle shake)
• Tacos with low-fat ground turkey and beans
• Chili prepared with low-fat ground turkey
• Vegetable soup with chicken breast and garbanzo beans or other white beans (such as a Minestrone soup)
• Popcorn sprinkled with nutritional yeast
• Stir-fried shrimp and veggies on brown rice
• Brown rice for breakfast: warm it and add vanilla, stevia, almond milk, and egg whites for protein. It’s a THM-safe rice pudding.
• Cowboy Grub

(Recipes with an asterisk * come from the TrimHealthyMama cookbook. More E recipes can be found here.)

4) Don’t forget your non-starchies when you eat E meals!

Eating plenty of non-starchy vegetables with your Trim Healthy Mama E meals is also key to filling your belly and not getting hungry again before 3 hours is up.

To make things easier, I keep frozen bags of veggies on hand. I often can’t take the time to wash and chop veggies, and I find that the convenience of pre-chopped frozen produce means I eat far more vegetables, which is a good thing!

Stocking “seasoning blend”, which is onion/bell pepper/celery, as well as “fajita blend” (onion and bell peppers) makes things easier and faster. I also like Asian mix (for stir fries), and Cali mix (carrots, cauli, broccoli) and Normandy mix (cauli, broccoli, carrots, squash). Bagged, pre-washed salads are also super easy and convenient.

With lunch, I often chop up cucumbers and tomatoes to eat with tuna (tuna is an E fuel as long as it’s not packed in oil, and I mix it with Tabasco instead of mayo). Bubbie’s pickles are my favorite to have with tuna or low-fat turkey (on a *Swiss bread sandwich), and they are probiotic foods. I love them, as they’re real pickles, made with a natural fermentation process instead of with vinegar.

What are your favorite E meals and snacks? How do you make sure you get enough E meals on THM?