Can you please tell me exactly what you ate and did to lose the weight? That’s the number one question asked at We Beat Fat. I constantly say this but what worked for us may not work for you. It never hurts to try though. Also, we didn’t do anything fancy. We basically stopped eating at all those fast food joints, cut out the soda and started eating real food.
I thought this would be a good time to show you the stuff in our pantry. The pantry isn’t exactly organized but it works. Don’t pass judgement on us! People want to know what we eat, so here’s a look into our pantry. I have no shame!
The pantry is kind of tall and I wanted to get everything in the pictures but I didn’t. On the floor we keep gallon jugs of water and dog food! The top shelf which you can partly see is for storage and the place where I keep our tons and tons of oatmeal. I stock pile the stuff when it’s on sale. I might have a problem.
You see those Progressive soups up there? That’s just in case someone gets sick and we need to have the soup. Otherwise, I make my own soups from scratch. The only vegetables I get in cans are diced tomatoes. I like to have them on hand because I can’t always find nice looking tomatoes and I put tomatoes in EVERYTHING! Willie hates it but he’s learned to deal.
You’re looking at this and thinking they eat a lot of beans, right? The beans are mostly for me. I’m transitioning off of meat and beans are a GREAT source of protein and fiber. Goya is my brand of choice because it’s low sodium. I love chickpeas, kidney beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, etc. I wish I had enough time to make fresh beans every week but I just don’t. I cheat to save time and just take the sodium hit. Below the beans are more beans”, lentils. I love lentils!
From wikipedia:
With about 30% of their calories from protein, lentils have the third-highest level of protein, by weight, of any legume or nut, after Soybeans and hemp.
I love making meals with quinoa and lentils. I love them so much that it really has turned me off of animal proteins! I can’t say I’m going to go all the way, but 90% of my diet is meatless! AND I don’t miss it at all.
We eat Heinz reduced sugar ketchup because that’s really all ketchup contains is sugar. Condiments are not your friend. Most of them pack so many calories and fat, it’s not even worth it. You see the ketchup and salad dressings on bean shelf, but they are all reduced sugar and used sparingly. Willie doesn’t do salad dressing anyway and I buy this dressing for when I’m going out to eat. I just put a serving in a container and take it with me and if I don’t have it I just put vinegar on my salads. It’s not quite the big ordeal people it.
Other things you may not see on the left:
Peanut butter (for Willie) ,Bettr’ n Butter Peanut Butter (my FAVORITE), brown rice, Crystal Light Mix (I don’t drink it too often cause it gives me bloat but Willie likes it), Mrs. Dash marinades (low cal and LOW salt), nuts, split peas, instant sugar free pudding (it’s a weakness for me), pure pumpkin in a can (love it in my oatmeal), instant oatmeal (for my guests), salsa (I love it on my egg whites)!
Now for the other shelves (right picture). I drink A LOT of tea. I like to mix and match my tea bags so the whole left of that shelf is nothing but tea. Packs and packs of green teas (orange, citrus, grapefruit, regular green tea), black tea, and herbals teas! I can’t get enough of tea.
Next are the snack bars which seem to be controversial. We eat snack bars before working out at the gym. You have to be careful with these bars because of sugar and fat. Most bars are meant to be meal replacements so be careful with your choice of bars. Any bar over 48-50 grams in weight is meant to be a meal replacement. We’ve kind of become bar connoisseurs and its taken a long time to find bars we like for everyday eating. The ratios had to be right for us: low sugar, protein fiber and calories all had to be in check. My personal favorite brand bars are Luna, Larabar, Oatmegabar (all natural, gluten free) and Odowalla! Willie pretty much eats only Clif and Odowalla bars. We’ll have a post on bars later though. After hard workouts I eat PowerBars!
On the same shelf, I keep the vitamins and supplements. I take a multivitamin daily along with Vitamin D (bone/immune health), Ester C (immune support), Super B Complex (energy and nervous system support and a probiotic! That’s what I’ve been advised to take from my doctor.
And the dreaded bottom shelf is where we keep the stuff we don’t really eat aka the refined carb shelf. Sometimes I do crave salty stuff like pretzels or chips (only Pop Chips, SmartFood or Special K Cracker Chips in our house) and that is where it’s at. I also keep my baking supplies down there. I’m really bad because I don’t eat the stuff but I love to bake. So I make stuff and give it to other people who do eat it. I really only do it at Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I still do it. Sometimes I feel bad about it, others I don’t!
So that is what is in our pantry! I’ll show you our fridge and freezer too but that’s for another time. So what do you keep in your pantry? And what do you keep in your pantry that shouldn’t be there?
