Charity's Diet

Charity enjoys a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables (excluding raw tomatoes and olives). Favorite fruits are watermelon, frozen grapes, and berries. Favorite vegetables are colorful salads, asparagus, butternut squash, and Healthy Valley Garden Vegetable Soup.

Meats Charity usually eats are lean proteins, particularly chicken breast and beef sirloin, with occasional higher-fat cuts of beef. She likes using various marinades and rubs on grilled meats.

Charity's diet includes 2-3 servings of dairy each day. These are normally Braum's non-fat sugar-free yogurt, Braum's 1% milk, and cheese in limited quanities.

She also tries to include small (28 gm) servings of nuts in her daily diet. Favorites are pecans, cashews, macadamia nuts, almonds and Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter with Honey

The whole grains in Charity's diet come from oatmeal (usually old-fashioned, but occasionally instant) and Garden for Life sprouted grain products.

Healthy fats in Charity's diet come from Smart Balance Spread, olive oil and vinegar salad dressings, nuts (mentioned above), and the occasional avocado.

Chocolate is an important part of any diet, and Charity's favorite treats are Sugar Free Chocolate Fudge Pudding prepared with 1% Milk and Organic Dark Chocolate. She also likes to add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder in her morning coffee.

Beverages of choice are Ozarka bottled water or reverse osmosis water and green tea. She enjoys one cup of coffee daily containing 1/4 cup powdered milk and sweetner daily. She also enjoys an almost daily glass of wine.

To avoid food cravings Charity avoids refined sugars, flours and processed foods, especially those containing high fructose/maltose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils. She does use artificial sweetners including spelda, stevia, and nutrasweet.