Month: January 1997

Typical Day’s Menu

Posted by Doug – January 27, 1997

What I might eat in a normal day:

Breakfast:

  • Shredded Wheat & Bran, or Grape Nuts, or Fiber One, or bacon and eggs. Recently, I found a whole-wheat pancake mix that’s great (with sugar-free syrup, of course).

Lunch:

  • Usually, a chef’s salad or grilled chicken salad with a no-sugar dressing I’ve made at home. Some commercially available dressings contain 1 gram or less sugar per serving, you just have to look for them. Paul Newman’s Newman’s Own Original is 1 gram sugar per serving, his Balsamic Vinaigrette is good, and most of the Cardini brand dressings are 0 grams.
  • Sandwich with real whole-wheat bread. Most store-bought whole-wheat breads use half whole-wheat/half enriched flour – not acceptable.

Mid-afternoon:

  • Apple or orange. Yes, there’s sugar in them, but you’re not eating it with anything else, so there’s not a problem. Bananas and raisins, however, are a still a no-no.

Dinner: Almost anything, keeping sugar and carbohydrate content in mind.

Some examples:

  • Whole-wheat pasta with a sauce containing 1 gram or less sugar per serving.
  • Mexican dish using whole-wheat tortillas.
  • Chinese dish using brown rice (white rice unacceptable).
  • Cheeseburgers with whole-wheat buns (or no buns).
  • Broiled or baked chicken or fish.
  • Steak, salad, and baked sweet potato (ironically, the high fiber content of the sweet potato makes it an acceptable food.)
  • Grilled or boiled seafood and steamed veggies (no carrots or potatoes, though).

Dessert:

  • Sugar-free Popsicle, or sugar-free Jello. There’s a no-sugar-added Klondike bar, too.

Evening:

  • Cheese.
  • Some dry-roasted or mixed nuts.
  • A nice Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Shiraz (red wine, in moderation, is acceptable).

There are many more things you can eat besides these, my main point here is to illustrate, in a few examples, that you don’t have to starve on this diet. But, this doesn’t mean you can sit down and eat unlimited quantities of the foods that are acceptable, either. You are trying to lose weight, aren’t you?

The trick of this diet is not to eliminate foods from your diet so much as it is to find readily available sugar-free or complex carbohydrate substitutes for them. I like to make my own whole-wheat bread and pasta, even though some store-bought versions are acceptable, and have even made whole-wheat tortillas when I couldn’t find them at the grocery.

You can dine out and still maintain this diet (I don’t mean fast food). You just have to learn the few things that aren’t acceptable and try to substitute for them if you can.

What’s really neat is that we still observe the weekly pizza night. I make whole-wheat pizza dough and bring it to the pizzeria. Other than the sauce, most pizza ingredients are no-sugar. I just ask for light sauce. And it tastes great. (It also re-heats better than regular crust.)

Eating Out

New Orleans-area restaurants and businesses that support Sugar Busters:

  • Byblos Market 2020 Veterans Blvd, Metairie, LA 70002-6317 (504)837-9777 has whole-wheat wraps for gyros, and sells them frozen as well.
  • Copeland’s 1001 S Clearview Pkwy, Jefferson, LA 70121-1008 (504)733-7843 and other locations. The steaks are great, and they will substitute sweet potato french fries for the baked potato.
  • Dorignac’s 710 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie, LA 70005-2884 (504)834-8216 stocks the Sugar Buster-approved line of bakery items.
  • The Galley Seafood Restaurant 2535 Metairie Rd, Metairie, LA 70001-5444 (504)832-0955 offers whole-wheat flour and other whole-wheat substitutes for Sugar Busters. The pecan catfish dinner, with sweet potato fries is killer.
  • Piccadilly Cafeteria 2222 Clearview Pkwy, Metairie, LA 70001-2437 (504)454-6271 and other locations, has several selections in all categories that fit Sugar Busters. You’ll have to take the sugar-free Jello� if you want dessert, though.
  • Rouse’s Super Market 5245 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie, LA 70006-5122 (504)885-2022 has a section filled with SB items. They also feature several prepared SB entrees in the deli. Check out the wine department while you’re there.
  • Zea Rotisserie Grill 1655 Hickory Ave, Harahan, LA 70123-2114 (504)738-0799 owned by the Semolina folks, has whole-wheat penne, wheat wraps, and many Sugar Buster items.
  • Zuppardo’s Economical Super Market 5010 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie, LA 70006-5121 (504)887-1150 has (had?) a 16-foot shelf filled with all SB-friendly items. They also feature prepared SB entrees and side items in the deli section.