UNBREADED: Getting the Healthy Taste Off

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Getting the Healthy Taste Off

I don't have much of a problem eating low- or no-carb meals. As much as I hate salads, for instance, I can choke one down at the end of the day if it means getting some vitamins and losing some weight. The problem is that I do it assuming that I'll then reward myself for my "good" behavior with something I don't hate. Like ice cream! Or a cupcake! Or even an all-fruit smoothie! But that's not possible on a carb-restricted diet like Atkins or the Belly Fat Cure.

But I need a palate cleanser. It's not just that I haven't lost my taste for sugar, as is magically supposed to happen in the first two weeks of a low-carb diet. It's that I just can't stand to have a savory taste lingering on my tongue.

At home, I mix unsweetened chocolate Almond Breeze almond milk with a scoop of Smucker's natural peanut butter and a packet of Truvia, but those aren't things I have access to at work. Things I've tried there include:

• water
• diet soda
• sugar-free candy
• dark chocolate
• sugar-free gum
• coffee with heavy cream

All of these are fine, but they don't leave me feeling as if I've satisfied my need to stop tasting my lunch. I'll end up digging through the freezer later for some Ben & Jerry's left over from the last company birthday, telling myself that just one scoop is fine. But it's not, and I always feel bad about it afterward.

What do you follow up your meals with? Or am I the only one with this problem?

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Tracey · 765 weeks ago

It's probably both a good and a bad thing that you don't have access to low carb ice cream, because I find myself eating it too many nights in a row just because of this problem. Nothing does the trick like the combination of cold and sweet. And I could probably give up all desserts for the rest of my life if it meant I could eat unlimited ice cream forever.

I also think palate cleansing has been the source of my lifelong Pepsi addiction. I can drink water with a meal, but it does not give me that meal-finishing taste I need like soda does.

I'm not sure if you can really count on keeping stuff in your work freezer, but if you could find some sugar free popsicles or fudge bars somewhere, that might work. Or Jell-O cups or yogurt?

I know my cucumber slices suggestion probably isn't is as great as something sweet, but I'm putting it out there, too.

1 reply · active 765 weeks ago

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plumpdumpling 64p · 765 weeks ago

I'll tell you–I could live on those smoothies you make, and I would make one every night if it didn't involve a trip to the convenience store for ice. I also always forget that it's a meal in itself, and about halfway through an after-dinner one, I'll think, "What am I doing?" I wonder if I could use those as a meal replacement if I bought some Jay Robb protein powder or whatever it is you kids are using these days.

Downtown NYC sucks. There's one grocery store within walking distance to work, but it's a healthy/organic store that would never sell sugar-free anything. I could try to find some fudge bars near my apartment and bring them in, though. The genius of living in an area that has actual working-class people (versus Kamran's area) is that my grocery store does sell sugar-free ice cream at least. And I can even get sugar-free Jell-o near Kamran, but man, it just does not cut it for me. The creaminess is evidently a huge factor. Good call on the fudge bars, though, thanks.

I finished my lunch up today with a pickle, thinking of your cucumber suggestion, and it didn't TOTALLY suck. But it did suck.

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Kim · 765 weeks ago

Sugar-free chocolate snack packs.
I mean, I don't exactly follow a regular meal schedule/require palate cleansers, nor do I follow a low-carb diet (even though bagels terrify me), but if I did and I did, I bet those would be my saving grace. So good.

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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plumpdumpling 64p · 765 weeks ago

Even sugar-free pudding is too high in carbs for a serious low-carber because of the milk, but you're right–on something like the Belly Fat Cure, where you can have as many as 40 carbs per meal, I could totally have a stupid salad and then finish the meal off with some sweet, sweet pudding. Good thinkin'. I'll have to save that for the days when I feel like I'd rather die than chew a stick of gum.

I'd love to see you make a food diary. I'm sure it would horrify everyone, low-carb or not.

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Grace2882 · 765 weeks ago

Do you have a Kroger's near you? They have low carb yogurt that is only 3 or 4 carbs and very fruity. I take them to work with me and have them after lunch. Also you can try making jello with cream cheese and heavy whipping cream. It is very good.

3 replies · active 765 weeks ago

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plumpdumpling 64p · 765 weeks ago

NYC is a grocery wasteland! I miss the Krogers I used to have in Ohio before I moved here, but Tracey has one practically next door. I do know that I can buy plain Chobani yogurt, though, which has 7 carbs. Great idea!

What do you mean by "making" the Jell-o with cream cheese and heaving whipping cream? Do you mean topping it with those or mixing them in somehow?

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Tracey · 765 weeks ago

I'm not sure how Grace makes hers, but I've made it by substituting half the water in regular Jell-O with cream. Like, you still use the 1 cup of boiling water, but instead of adding the cup of cold water, make it a cold cup of cream (or a cup of plain yogurt, or a cup of softened cream cheese. Then chill like usual. I've only tried it with the cream, but it turns out delicious.

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Grace2882 · 764 weeks ago

I am sorry that it took me so long to answer. I was on vacation visiting my daughter in Virginia. The 3 layer jello recipe is on my blog. It is very rich and creamy. http://grace2882.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/3-layer...

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Ryan C · 765 weeks ago

I don't know how practical this is for work, but when I get that feeling, I usually make some unsweetened whipped cream with vanilla and put that on top of half a handful of blueberries. I also have to do this because cream is calorie dense, and I have a hard time eating enough calories since I'm never really hungry. But then again, I could drink a glass of heavy whipping cream because it's so yummy. YMMV

UNBREADED

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Getting the Healthy Taste Off

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