Today was the second day I was planning on starting this apple challenge I heard about on Twitter. One of Book of Randomness’ followers on Twitter said that if you eat a large apple 15 minutes before eating lunch, you will consume on average, 170 fewer calories. Yesterday’s problem in starting was a lack of apples in the house, and no time to buy one. Today, I took an apple with me with the intentions of trying this out. But then I remembered what I brought for lunch and I thought… why would I want to consume LESS of my lunch… it is too delicious! Lucky for me, my lunch was also healthy.

Yes it IS possible to have healthy food that tastes GREAT. Every once in a while, you need a little reminder that you don’t need to run out to Yardhouse for a Mac & Cheese Squared* to have flavor in your life! Here is a great example to remind you why you don’t have to be confined to rice cakes and carrots.

Thai Crunch Salad

Ingredients:

• Broccoli Slaw
• Canned Mandarin Oranges – Halved
• Canned Water Chestnuts – Chopped
• Roasted, Unsalted Peanuts (If you can find raw, all the better)
• Shelled Edamame Beans
• Newman’s Own Lighten Up! Low Fat Sesame Ginger
• Chicken Breast – Baked and Shredded

You don’t have to worry too much about the measurements because most of this is good for you. Mix it all together and you are good. Just remember to go light on the dressing (just enough to coat the ingredients), and light on the peanuts. Go heavy on the greens and broccoli slaw because it will give you your vegetables, and the chicken and edamame will cover your protein.

And there ya go!! A great, easy to make salad!!! You can thank Hungry Girl for this one. Well the base of the salad anyway. I added/subtracted some things so it would taste more like my favorite salad at CPK.

I am still interested in trying this apple thing, and I will let you know how it goes. When I make healthier choices daily, it seems less important to worry about eating an apple before every meal. Frankly, before I start eating an apple to slow down my intake of calories, I need to figure out how to eat slower and LESS.

*If you are going to eat Mac and Cheese Squared from Yardhouse. Make sure that when you order, have them put half of it in a to-go box and put some kind of magical lock on it so you cannot open it until you have fully digested the other half. The pasta, cheese, chicken, and bacon combination is deadly!!! I made the mistake of enjoying it so much that I ate the entire plate. I don’t even want to know the calories in that sucker, but I can tell you one thing… it was not a pleasant feeling the next few days.

ENJOY the Thai Crunch Salad… Just remember moderation is the key to eating ANYTHING!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 10:50 pm and is filed under Cooking, Uncategorized, food, health, nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.