whoa, pizza?

Heya! How are you feeling this morning? Hopefully pretty darn good! I know that I am (well, actually a bit sore ;) because I am off for the next four days. I of course I have a million things to do but will be havin fun while I am doin it! Today's post will be about pizza! You know you love it. You also know it doesn't love you. What to do when the foods you love make you hate your waste line. If I have said it once I have said it a million times....You can still have the foods you love, just different. With my birthday around the corner I realize that my food should age too. I know this sounds funny but this thought came to my mind this morning. It would be a shame if people never grew older, became more mature and changed their opinions on things. Looking back, I am so different than I use to be. Boy am I glad! I would be missing out if I didn't challenge myself, push my self beyond my limits and allow myself to be mold able. After all, we all need a little change in our lives from time to time, even if someone else has to do the pushin for you ;)

With this all being said I would like to enterrtain some thoughts this morning.

The old pizza. I would eat about four slices. Dip and dip some more in the garlic sauce. Then feel like crap. Yes, it was heaven to eat the chewy dough, extra cheese goodness. This is how I use to roll.

I would get a napkin and dab the slice to make myself feel a little better. Who am I kidding??? Only half the time I would...

Four slices of this pizza and I would have to lay down for about a hour and was so full that I would feel like I was about to pop. It is so weird how something that was so good at the time could make me feel so bad. In more ways than one.

Food is a love hate thing for me. Always has been, always will be.

That is until I decided that I was not going to allow food to be in control. That I could and would still let myself have the things that I like. I had to find that healthy happy medium so to speak. Boy, am I glad that I did! I will admit, it wasn't the easiest for me to make my adult version of my kid favorite. At first I thought "this is not even pizza!" Well you know what? You never forget but you do re-learn. Just like the old saying "30 days and it becomes a habit." The same is true. After having my new way of pizza a few times I didn't even miss the other version. In fact, I cant even imagine myself having a slice now. That is the weirdest thing to me. If you would have told me this a few years ago I would have never believed you. That was then and this is now:

The first time that I saw a pita pizza I laughed. I was not use to having a pizza that I would be able to finish. Honestly, a large pizza would last about two days and I thought "this is great because I can get two meals out of this!" I was wrong.

This is a Ezekiel pita! I love to have this for dinner or lunch. During the winter when it is too cold to think about fruit (and it doesn't taste that great anyway because of it not being in season) you can have a cup of soup with it or hummus and carrots or even two of these babies! This lunch that you see here is only 350 cals. Can you believe that? Ezekiel makes a pita that is a 100 cals and you can load it up with whatever you want! NOT REALLY, but close.

Remember folks. SALSA is your friend in times like these. Marinara sauce is fine don't get me wrong but this is a good way to start changing in a small way so that you will be able to choose another option when the going gets tough. I took one of these:

I flatten it out with my hands (remember that this brand is found in the freezer section in the health food isle) and that you need to keep it in the fridge after you buy it!

Take the pita and spread two tablespoons of salsa (or marinara sauce) on the pita. Then layer it with as many veggies as you like. Top it with light cheese (just a little). Even better use cottage cheese and make sure you include some lean source of protein.

This pizza is just pita, 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese, garlic powder, sliced tomato and some Italian seasoning. No sauce was even needed for this one!

Bet you never thought of that!

This is a vegetarian version but still very filling. It is fresh spinach, red pepper, yellow pepper and light cheese. Again, no sauce.

This is a simple pizza. It is marinara, hummus (bet you didn't think of that one) and sliced chicken.

Hummus is another option instead of salsa or cheese.

Here is a kid friendly version. I would go with a veggie variety of peperoni but if you wanted the real thing it is ok. You are saving about 1000 cals on the cheese, grease and bread. Go for it.

This is marinara, light motz, red onion and veggie pepperoni.

This is scrambled egg whites, mushrooms and some cheddar cheese.

I bet you didn't know there were so many options using pita bread!

I even have some desert ideas using the pita! Here are a few of my other breakfast or desert options. I am telling you guys, there is a ton of options!

This is egg whites (three), broccoli, one Roma tomato, yellow onion and garlic. Top it with some spicy hot sauce and you have yourself awesome start to the day.

This is another way to use the pita! I wanted to throw in there one more idea. I have a egg pita on the weekends (go with the egg whites ladies) and pile on the veggies! It is awesome and a great way to fuel a workout!

My favorite combo: Banana (1/2) with two tbl spoons of naturally more pb and some coconut. Add a few raisins and you have a awesome desert. Go even more crazy and pop it in the microwave or oven for a warm treat.

Here is PB, sliced plum and coconut.

Get creative. You cant really go wrong! If you want more protein and more "creaminess" then mix your pb with some cottage cheese.

You will thank me later!!!

See, there are some grown up choices to be made and honestly aren't you glad that your food is growing with along side of you? I don't want to eat the things I did when I was a kid. I want to show my kids (when I have them) that there are other options other than the greasy version. These are just ways to change your typical meals into food that with be nice to your waist line and fuel your day.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I will be back on Wed! Till then, eat up!

-Heather