Challenge Progress

Week 4 progress report:
Healthy Cooking Challenge is over. I made it all the way through. I learned a lot about substitutions and about using herbs and spices. My 4 long term goals are

1. Have 3 "emergency" go-to recipes for those times when the planned menu just doesn't work
2. Keep a fun and easy to work in kitchen
3. Learn to cook different kinds of fish (so we can eat more of it)
4. Include one lunch or dinner out in each week's plan (to keep things fun)

I've put the recipes I've found into a notebook along with the articles about substitutions, using herbs and spices, baking healthy, and hidden sugar and sodium. I've made notes on the pages. It's much like my calendar when I was working. The calendar was my journal. My Healthy Cooking notebook has replaced the calendar.

Taming Your Sweet Tooth Challenge week 4 began yesterday. I'm mulling over my long term challenges for this one. It's been a bit harder for me than the Healthy Cooking Challenge. Not only do I have my sweet tooth to contend with, but Ron's even stronger sweet tooth. I've tried 2 remade sweet recipes but all that did was aggravate my sweet tooth. A few things I've learned about my sweet tooth:

1. Artificial sweeteners set it off even more than real sugar
2. Diet soft drinks are real trigger food
3. Chocolate is what I crave most often.
4. Situations where sweets are handy are triggers
5. Boredom is a trigger
6. Greek yogurt satisfies the craving for ice cream
7. Grapefruit with breakfast helps to ward off cravings later in the day
8. A morning protein shake helps to ward off cravings all day

I may stretch week 4 out a few extra days to get my sweet tooth under solid control.