Trip to Sprouts

Image courtesy of Almogaver/morguefile.com

Well, I got to Sprouts Farmers Market to pick some of their great bargains on fresh produce, but haven't made it yet to the grocery stores to complete my list.  As I shopped, I felt an excitement about starting up the accelerate cycle again.  Am I weird or what?



What did I buy and why? (All of these were on sale at Sprouts):



Cucumbers - I eat them sliced as a snack and also pile tuna salad on top, using them like crackers.



Red Bell Peppers - They were 49 cents, so I bought a bag full! I love them in stir fry, sliced to eat as a snack in the evening with fat free sour cream dip, and I grill them whole, along with zuchinni squash and eggplant, for dinner. The outside of the peppers roast quickly and are very juicy grilled).



Zuchinni Squash and eggplant - They both are good on the grill and in stir fry, but my favorite way to fix these vegetables is to slice, coat with egg white and then dip each piece in low fat parmesan cheese, and pan "fry" them on both side in a pan coated with spray olive oil plus 1 tablespoon olive oil (using one of my allowed fat servings). I spoon low sugar marinara on top of the eggplant. (I like it this way better than the eggplant parmesan recipe in the book)!



Celery - for snacking and the vegetable soup.



Head of Cabbage - for the vegetable soup, or steamed.



Lettuce - Iceberg and Red Leaf for salads.



Berries - Blackberries, blueberries and strawberries.  I eat these plain and also freeze some for the Kefir Smoothies. See previous posts for more on this.



Jicama - I don't think this veggie is listed on the 17 Day Diet's accelerate cycle, but it should be, since it is low on the glycemic index.  If you haven't eaten jicama, it looks similar to a potato, is crunchy and great for snacking.



Nectarines - 77 cents a pound! I love Sprouts Farmers Market!



Watermelon - I know this isn't supposed to be okay for cycle 1, but I did research when I lost weight on the medi-weight loss plan and the volume of water in watermelon brings down the glycemic load. (For info on the importance of the glycemic index when trying to lose weight, read my article "Understanding the Glycemic Index 101") I ate watermelon the whole 3 months during that diet and lost 40 pounds! (One of my blog posts on my Medi Weightloss Blog explains the low-glycemic qualities of jicama and watermelon.  You can read it here.) Up to you whether to include watermelon, but I am.



I need to finish my shopping and then I am ready to go tomorrow! This cruise vacation weight is coming off! Bye bye chocolate melted cake!



Note:

For my experience with the Medi Weightloss Program you can either go to "My Medi-Weightloss Tips and Recipes" blog or read the following articles (You'll find some good recipes that will work for the 17 Day Diet there):



"How Does the Medi Weightloss Program Work?"



"A Review of the Medi Weightloss Program"