What do Weight Watchers and Mason Jars Salads Have in Common?

Photo courtesy of linked article

After trying on some clothes this weekend and not having ANY of them fit right, I have decided to go on a diet. My diet will be based on Weight Watchers. I really believe Weight Watcher teaches me how to size my portions and also vary my foods away from TOO MANY breads & pastas.

I will be primarily using the WW App on my phone to accomplish this goal. My long term goal is to lose a total of 50 pounds. Right now I will be thrilled to lose 20 pounds. I do not go to the WW meetings and such is for lots of reasons.

1. I don't have the time to go. I am going to need that extra hour a week to plan my personal diet. 

2. I don't like getting on scales in front of people and having them record my misery or reward me for losing 1 pound. My reward IS LOSING 1 pound.

3. AND most importantly, I get into arguments with people at these meetings because I REFUSE to eat low, reduced, fat free or light foods and condiments. Why? Here is a great article to help me explain my bullets below. 

• Taste gets taken out with the "fat"!!!
• They take out the good fat and you are left with chemicals laden products instead of real food.
• They are over processed with artificial ingredients to cover up the bad taste and aren't even nutritious anymore.

4. I cannot buy their chemically laden foods they sell there or use their recipe ideas cause of my real food stance, so going to the meetings is pretty pointless to me. I stay accountable to my dear friend back home and that is enough for me. No offense to WW or those who use their products and low fat foods. You do what you have to do, but I cannot eat them and they literally make me sick to my stomach due to other diet changes in our family. That is a whole other post that I will have to write up.

 

I do not cook with vegetable or Olive oil because they have low flash points. These low flash points turn the oils into carcinogens when heated to their max (which is "low" on a gas stove and about medium high on an electric stove). This is the temperature which I typically cook my meats. I use Raw Organic Grapeseed Oil. I get my oil from Wildtree. Coconut Oil also has a lower flash point but that would defeat the efforts of me doing WW.


Ok, so back to Weight Watchers. I have to plan my meals with the "full fat" of the foods we eat and still stay in my points. This may sound hard, but I found it quite easy because when you eat REAL food that you prepare yourself, you are eating good nutrient rich food which fills you up. I stay in my points because I eat better food, instead of larger anounts of Fat free food. 

In walking through the store looking for lunch the other day, I thought of some really great salad ideas. I made one at my mom-in-laws house this weekend and she even said that my lunch looked yummy, but she doesn't have the kind of time it takes to make salads each day. Then I realized, neither do I. AHHH.

Over the last year I remember these salads in mason jars posts on FB and they seemed to be a pretty good idea in theory, but not one link on Facebook or Pinterest showed you HOW to make them. So, I looked up the How to and this is what I found.

I found an article that shows the How and Why to make Mason Jar Salads. It even has ratios & recipes for you to try. I have my own recipes and such but I loved the article. I thought I would share this article with you guys who read my blog. 

Whether you are wanting some new ideas for making regular salads or how to make it work for lunches at work, Enjoy! I also linked a page on Pinterest that I am going to try some ideas from. 

My experiment is to see how many different yummy salads I can make to stay within my WW points. Then I will post my findings here for you. If you decide to take this challenge, let me know in the comments section below and leave me a link to your blog / Facebook page so I can follow you. Good Luck!

Denielle