Friday Favorites: Food Edition

I admit it.  When I participate in Friday Favorites, I'm usually posting about fun things like songs, products, links, humorous posts from pinterest, etc.  This week, it's a little more serious.  Because I gotta be serious about getting myself seriously healthy.  (That's a whole lotta serious in this post.)

Monday, I went to a dietitian.  I am a girl whose weight has been on a roller coaster ride for almost 20 years.  Too long.  That's an entire topic for another day.  Back to the dietitian.  We talked about portion control, which foods to eat and how much, which foods to eat in moderation, the Glycaemic Index, "discretionary foods", and so on.  She is a big proponent of not excluding any major food group, but balancing them appropriately for better health.

Source

So...we looked at those food groups and discussed my favorite foods from each group.  We discussed the "favorites" and how much (or how little) of them I should be eating.  I liked this plan of action.  I don't have to erase potatoes or cheese from my diet.  I just need to know the portions of potatoes and cheese I should be eating, and what other foods I should be eating with them.  Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to have just potatoes and cheese everyday.  I have a food diary and a follow-up appointment in three weeks.  I gotta do something, and I gotta do something now.  So, I'm doing it.

Vegetables - 5 serves per day:

My faves (when I made this list, I realized that I like a lot more vegetables than I thought because I had more to list, and of course, I can eat the others that I like too):

• potato (I can have potato...I just need to eat a small portion and eat more of the other options)
• sweet potato (see above)
• carrot  
• onion
• salad leaves
• corn
• green peas
• asparagus
• broccoli
• cauliflower 
• green beans
• artichoke
• pumpkin
• cucumber

Fruit - 2 serves per day:

My faves:

• grapes
• raspberries 
• cherries
• avocados
• pears
• green apples 
• bananas
• oranges
• watermelon
• blackberries
• blueberries
• nectarines
• plums
• cranberries
• I like fruit.

High Fibre Grains - 6 serves per day:

My faves (this surprised me because of all the people who seem to cut this category out entirely, plus this is most definitely my most difficult category to determine five favorites; this will definitely be my most challenging category):

• bread (multi-grain)
• pasta
• tortillas
• crispbread
• muesli

Protein (lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts, seeds, legumes/beans) - 2 1/2  serves per day:

My faves (serves are closer to the whole method of size of your palm or size of your hand depending on the item; and I'm to try to avoid "deli meats"):

• chicken (no skin)
• beef (lean, no fat)
• turkey
• various legumes and beans
• various nuts, especially almonds
• peanut butter

Dairy - 2 1/2 serves per day:

My faves:

• cheese ((I can have cheese...I just need to eat a small portion)
• milk
• yogurt
• creamy salad dressing
• sour cream

So, yeah, those last two are on the discretionary list.  Oops.

Maybe, next Friday Favorites, I'll discuss those discretionary foods.  Shall I?

Linking up with Amanda for Friday Faves: