It’s important to have a healthy relationship to food. Food isn’t an evil force that will force you to be fat. Food isn’t dirty (except when you pull it directly from the ground). Food is something that gives us fuel. Whether we over-eat, or eat things that make us feel bad is on us. Problem is that learning how to balance what we love, with what our body loves is a difficult 
task, one that takes lots of time and self-care and reflection.
A more concrete way to manage your diet is to goal set a 20/80 rule. Food track for a typical week, then create a ratio of how much of that food was junk food/take out, and how much of that food was not junk food. Afterwards try and take out a couple of items to get you closer to that 20%. Don’t aim for 20% right away if you’re at 80 or 70%. A gradual decrease often leads to long-term success. Now with that tool on your belt, you can get happy tracking!
Sweet Potato Breakfast Casserole
Makes 12 Servings
Ingredients
- 1 package of low-fat sausage, or vegetarian sausage (i.e. Tofurky)
- ½ cup water, or more as needed.
- 4 cups shredded sweet potatoes
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- 1 ½ packages shredded, reduced-fat mild cheddar-mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup finely chopped onion\
- 1 cup finely sliced spinach leaves
- 1 container low-fat small curd cottage cheese
- 8 eggs
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
- Place sausage in a large skillet and pour about ¼ inch of water; cook sausage over medium heat until water evaporates, and sausages are evenly browned, 10-15 minutes. Crumble sausages into a bowl.
- Mix sweet potatoes and butter together in a bowl; evenly spread into the bottom in baking dish.
- Stir cheddar-mozzarella cheese blend, onion, spinach, cottage cheese, eggs, and crumbled sausage together in a bowl; spoon over sweet potato layer.
- Bake casserole in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and eggs are set. About 1 hour. Cool 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Amount/Serving: 268kcal Total Fat: 14.3 Total Carbs: 13.8 Protein: 21.9
Strawberry Trifle
Ingredients
- 1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
- 3 cups of cold milk (skim)
- 1 inch angel food cake, cut in cubes
- 4 bananas, sliced
- 1 package of frozen strawberries, thawed
- 1 container of low fat whipped topping
Directions
- Prepare pudding with milk according to package directions. In a trifle bowl, or other glass serving dish, layer half the cake pieces, half the pudding, half the bananas, half the strawberries, and half the whipped topping.
- Repeat layers.
- Cover and chill in refrigerator 4 hours before serving.
Nutrition
Amount/Serving: 242 kcal Total Fat: 6.5, Total Carbs: 40.2, Dietary Fiber: 2.2g , Protein: 4.6g
