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Trade in your sandwich for a Trader Joe's salad
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Lunch used to be a lush sandwich. And growing up in south Jersey, I never passed up the chance to chow down on a gigantic hoagie, which was basically a mutant sub chock full of processed deli meat, sprinkled with little slivers of lettuce, and liberally doused in vinegar and oil, emphasis on oil. How my 5-foot, 2-inch frame could even hold one of those monsters is a mystery in itself. (I wonder if they call it a sub because it's as big as a submarine?) But I have a very accommodating constitution, and if I needed to stretch out my stomach to fit the monster meal, my body politely adapted. Lucky me. The bad calories from the oversized sub had a field day filling in those fat cells that I've spent years trying to shrink back to normal size.
From my research, I found that a Jersey (or Philly) hoagie is at least 1,000 calories—just about a day's worth of calories and an outrageously high carb count--about 120 grams. But these foot-long freaks of nature are a thing of the past. Yes, they are, or should I say, were, tasty. But bread costs you, big time. So now, I don't even eat sandwiches--big, small, or medium sized. One sandwich (depending on the size of the bread slices) would cost me at least two servings of my three allotted grain servings a day, and I'm not willing to spend it that way. And to be honest, I try to stay away from all grains—pasta, bread, rice—because I need my three little bran muffins a day.
So all of this to say that I'm a protein hound. And luckily, I've found that Trader Joe's has a bunch of salads that fit the bill, though occasionally you'll have to add a bit more protein.
There might be one or two more reduced-fat salads at Trader Joe's, but these are my current favorites. The Greek salad doesn't have as much protein as the first two, so add some protein, like 6 almonds or a hard-boiled egg. The good news is that they are inexpensive and filling. Check the dates before buying because the salads don't have a long shelf life.
Here are my salad picks from Trader Joe's:
· TJ Reduced fat Southwest Salad
· TJ Reduced fat Shrimp and Surimi Louie Salad
· TJ Reduced fat Greek Salad
· TJ Santorini style Egg White Salad (with spinach, feta, and parmesan cheese) or Egg White Salad with Chives. This salad doesn't have vegetables or lettuce; it comes in a little cottage-cheese type container. It's super tasty and low-fat. I eat the entire container (two servings), but it's pretty small and the whole thing is just about 100 calories.
Once I got in the habit of not eating a sandwich for lunch, my body adapted once again. I'm not even tempted to eat a sandwich these days. It looks huge and unappetizing. I'll stick with my salads for now and keep watching myself shed the pounds. Death of a sandwich; birth of a slimmer, fitter person.
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