Trim Healthy Mama Plan (10 page)

FUEL PULL FRIENDLY “PERSONAL CHOICE” ITEMS

W
ith Crossovers, you can bring back the pairs of grain-based bread and butter, oatmeal and cream, beans and cheese, baked blue corn chips and guacamole—yee-ha! Crossovers merge the two fuels of fats and carbs together for healthy tandem fueling. They keep to the E guidelines of carbs and add as many fats as desired. Of course…they're always anchored by protein.

Crossovers are not CHEATS—please don't let them hear you calling them that. You are not going off plan when you choose a—or even have an accidental—Crossover. They are kind to your blood sugar, but for most people they are not weight-loss meals.

Here's what a Crossover breakfast may look like:

Here's what a Crossover looks like on a seesaw.

There are the rare few
people who will eat only Crossovers for their entire THM journey. Who is in this minority? High-metabolism folk, you know who you are—sitting there struggling to keep five pounds on rather than off. You probably get a lot of jokes from others saying they wish they had your problem, but it can actually be a serious struggle for you. The temptation for you is to give in to eating high-carb or sugary foods because you think you can or even need to. Spiking your blood sugar is not solving the problem, it is just adding another one. Keep protein-centered Crossovers in for all your meals and if you still cannot put on or maintain
weight, include a tablespoon of raw honey and pure butter at every meal. Natural, sugar-free peanut butter before bed won't hurt, either!

Next on the list of those needing mostly Crossovers are growing children without weight problems. They will thrive beautifully on these meals and maintain healthy blood-sugar levels, which are important for their brain growth and function in early years, for their hormones as they near puberty, and for avoiding insulin resistance in adulthood. Reminding children to always consume nourishing amounts of protein at every meal and teaching them to keep carbohydrates in safe zones is teaching them healthy, healing habits for life.

Pregnant and nursing women, as well as maintenance Mamas, won't have to use Crossovers at every meal but will benefit from sprinkling them in with regular S and E meals. See
Chapter 23
, “Heads Up: Pregnant and Nursing Mamas!,” and
Chapter 27
, “Heads Up: Maintenance Mamas!,” respectively, for more details on how to include Crossovers.

Now for the rest of us.

They're bound to happen especially when you are learning your THM ropes and you somehow merge your S's and E's. No biggie. This happens to all of us when we start. But even intentional Crossovers during weight-loss mode are okay sometimes. You won't want to include them too often, but having a Crossover every now and then can add to the metabolic fire in your body by changing things up once again. Before goal weight is reached, you could even play with one or two Crossovers a week; but this is completely
up to you, and if it stalls or slows you down too much, just go back to the basics of the weight-loss part of this plan and remain true to S and E meals until you are at or closer to goal weight.

It's quiz time again:

Okay that was too easy, of course you picked C. So let's ramp up the challenge with something trickier.

If you picked A, you've gone over your rice quota. Remember, even brown rice can get a little bullish on your blood sugar when not reigned in. A true Crossover would stick to the three-quarter-cup brown rice limit, keep in the chicken and sauce, but include veggies on the side if you wanted to fill up further.

If you picked C, those flour-based noodles are not going to do your blood sugar any favors. Lasagna is easily converted to a delicious S-style meal using spinach, zucchini, eggplant, or layered Wonder Wraps as the noodles. Wonderwrapful Lasagna and Lazy Lasagna are two delicious S recipes in the “Oven Dishes” chapter in the
Trim Healthy Mama
Cookbook
. If you eat an S lasagna, you can turn your meal into a Crossover, by having a garlic-buttered sprouted dinner roll or two on the side.

D? You learned in your E meal list that two slices of plan-approved, grain-based bread is a healthy maximum we want you to keep to. We understand that two pieces of bread often come in well under forty-five grams of carbs. We want to teach you not to be a “Bready.” Bready Mamas don't have a limit; the toaster starts popping and keeps on going. The two-piece max is bread-sane, a simple wise habit to practice. If you do desire extra carbs in your Crossover, add a piece of fruit—and enjoy!

So there you have it, the answer is B, and it's making us hungry!

T
his is a quick little chapter because you already know what an S meal is. Basically all you need to know is that you add a little more carb to your meal for pleasure's sake, but don't add so much that it becomes a Crossover meal. The S Helper is worth getting to know after you make some progress in your weight-loss journey. It is an optional little blesser. We call it an S Helper as opposed to a Hamburger Helper
(giggle)
, and it makes life a little more fun and freeing.

Here is an
example of what an S Helper breakfast might look like.

In practical terms, S Helper meals may look a little sumpin' like this:

Breakfast—
Your protein might be a breakfast sausage with sautéed mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and ⅓ cup cooked quinoa, all tossed together in butter or coconut oil.

Lunch—
Your protein might be grilled chicken on a large leafy green salad topped with half an avocado, an olive oil–based vinaigrette, and a ¼ cup of brown rice.

Dinner—
Your protein might be beef stew with one piece of buttered, sprouted bread or toast.

Here is what an S Helper looks like on a seesaw.

S Helper meals can still be used for
weight loss but they do not work as well as your regular S meal. S Helpers allow for weight loss because they add just enough
carbohydrate to your meal that your body is able to swiftly burn through it, yet still is able to burn more fuel (that is, body fat). Once you've burned the fat in your meal—you know the drill—you'll get down to the task of gnawing at your own adipose tissue.

Due to the fact that all meals on the Trim Healthy Mama Plan are solidly anchored with protein, even people who have suffered from hypoglycemia symptoms for years often experience a miraculous improvement on plan. But some people who may not be used to eating meals with lower amounts of carbs may at first find they need S Helpers to help their bodies gently adapt to the pure S meal.

Take this quiz:

Obviously, the answer is D. While Lydia can add some S Helpers to her diet here and there, too many S Helper meals might make her slow weight loss even slower.

S HELPER
FOODS LIST