Congrats, chicas! It's Day 8 of our 31 Days of Latinas Losing Weight challenge and you deserve a pat on the back! By now you have given up sugary drinks for lots of water, started walking more each day, added at least one veggie or fruit to your meals, use coconut oil for healthier meals, cleaned out your closet for exercise and learned how to lose 100 calories quickly! It's time for Tip #8!
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Although I always remind people that it's much easier to lose weight if you're a vegetarian or at least eat mostly vegetarian (assuming you're sticking to eating mostly vegetables and fruit), it doesn't mean that I don't indulge in my meats. Growing up Cuban, I know just how difficult it is to not have any red meat in my diet. That's why, even when losing weight, I allow myself some beef–but only when I cut my intake by half!
Here's the plan: Whenever you make a dish with ground beef (like slow cooker picadillo), make sure you're using low-fat ground beef but also only use half of it. Why? Well, because you're going to substitute the other half with something much healthier: either protein-packed COOKED red lentils or chopped mushrooms, which are low in calories and full of vitamins and antioxidants, which raise your metabolism and improve your immune system.
By adding something healthy to your ground beef (which you should, of course, still be limiting), you're actually doing yourself a favor by improving your body's health while losing weight. This simple trick will still keep you satisfied and enjoying some of your favorite Latin meals, but without all of the extra calories and fat that comes with eating a full beef meal. Plus, to be honest, when everything is mixed in together, you'll barely be able to tell the difference. And that's DEFINITELY a healthy choice I can keep making!
So go ahead and take another bite of that beef-and-mushroom or beef-and-lentils mixture, then come back for tip #9 tomorrow!
Image via Corbis
