Friend of Julie: Where's the Beef?

When I first started this program I was not much of a meat eater. I wasn't vegetarian, but I never ordered red meat out and rarely cooked it at home. Imagine following a meat intensive program and hating meat. I had to get over myself and quickly if I wanted to be successful following Julie's program, as red meat is the top priority on her food list for losing weight, followed by pork and then chicken etc.

There were two reasons behind that decision. One reason: childhood memories of Mom's Sunday pot roast. My memory of her pot roast recipe, with my twisted sense of humor, is as follows:

1. Place bloody-as-hell pot roast in a roasting pan.
2. Dump 1 can cream of mushroom soup on top of roast.
3. Fill can with water and splash over roast.
4. Sprinkle roast with 1 package of onion soup mix.
5. Cover with foil and place in oven.
6. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
7. Serve with bloody drippings to your family.
8. Note to children who hate meat: wait until everyone is done eating and every time mom leaves the room, feed the dog another bite under the table.

There were children starving in China, so I had to stay at the table until I ate all of my pot roast. I never understood how my eating what was on my plate would help kids in China.

To this day, I lose my appetite if there's blood on the plate or the meat is red inside. I've had times where I cooked a burger at home and halfway through I can't take another bite even though the burger is cooked how I like it.

This brings me to my second reason for not eating meat: restaurants. Years ago I gave up ordering meat at restaurants because I tired of sending my meat back two and three times and eating my main course while my friends ate dessert. Sending my meat back took away from enjoying my meal. There are plenty of other items on the menu to order that allowed me to enjoy the same course as my friends and not have an issue with returning food.

Imagine the difficulty I would have following Julie's program if I didn't find a solution to my beef issues. I need to eat a lot of red meat often and Julie can't make me like meat more. I had to find a way around my bad memories of meat in order to follow the program. I asked a lot of questions the first night about red meat choices and started with my favorites.

Pepperoni is allowed, but since it's high in fat, I need to watch how often I have it. I used to have it a few times a week when I first started, then weaned myself down to once a week and now less than once a month. I only buy whole pepperoni sticks from Chef-a-Roni, my favorite Italian deli in Rhode Island. I like having a bit of cheese with the peperoni and if I have a veggie with them, I have either olives, coleslaw, carrots, or celery. In the early days of this program, I ate more cheese than I should have. At one of the sessions I heard Julie say "cheese should be treated as a condiment". That was a light-bulb moment. Cheese can't be the main course.

Meatballs are one of my favorite red meat choices. Yes, you can make meatballs with breadcrumbs. The same goes for meatloaf. I prefer to make meatballs as to eat them out, because I like my meatballs better. Restaurants often add pork or other meats to their meatballs; I'm not big on pork either. Although I have started having pork sausages and I really enjoy them.

I make a crockpot full of meatballs and I have no problem eating them over several days. I make a pan of meatloaf and do the same. I follow Julie's suggestion about tossing castup 30 days after buying it because I use up a small container within a month. The same applies to other condiments, I buy small containers and use them within 30 days. I always have a second container in the cupboard. The 30-day rule applies, because there are chemicals on top of the lid, which begin to break down into the food after 30 days. That chemical breakdown alters the food and then interacts with our bodies in ways that are not healthy for us. I'm not a chemist, so this is my approximation of the process. You can Google this for a better understanding.

In recent months, I've moved to organic/grass fed beef and chicken. Yes, it costs more, but if you do a Google search on this, you'll quickly understand you pay more now at the grocery store, but it tastes so much better and is much better for our bodies. I never thought I'd buy into this concept, but recently Temple Grandin spoke at Mount Holyoke College and I rented the video about her life and it changed my attitude about everything organic.

I ate out a lot when I started this program. It's amazing how my perspective of a menu changed. I see what I can have rather than what I can't have. I often went to Dunkin Donuts and ordered a sandwich without the bagel, a challenge for the cashier, but it worked for me. They put the cheese between the egg and the meat and include a knife. A few weeks ago I bought frozen sausage (small disk size) and I cooked the sausages in one pan and eggs in a poacher pan. I serve the eggs on top of the sausage and sometimes I make hollandaise sauce (from a package - be sure to add fresh lemon juice). This week I discovered fresh sausage in the meat section and they were much better than the frozen ones. I had eggs and sausage for dinner last night.

When I first started the program, I ate a lot, as Julie suggested "eat when you're hungry". I still follow this, but I'm not as hungry as I was back in Feb. I don't always have breakfast, though I usually have coffee. If I'm hungry, I eat. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat. If I'm going out of town, I often take day trips to visit my family in RI, I frequently bring food with me. I can eat out and stay on program, but it gets expensive quickly. I often travel with beef jerky, but I know where to stop for some if I get hungry on the way home.