Hopefully you’ve had a chance to read yesterday’s post and now know your Caloric Goal.  Did you take a minute and memorize your numbers? 

Today is the day those numbers will change your life! They will now work to drive your decisions regarding healthy choices within a balanced menu.  An Exchange is a serving. So all of those numbers you memorized are telling you how much food you get in each food category each day. 

A serving is a measured amount of food or drink.  It’s different from a portion – which is the amount of food you choose to eat. This is important to remember. The secret to succeeding when using an Exchange Plan is to align your portion with a serving. Your portion of the potatoes (the amount you choose to eat) is often different from a serving. How much is a serving? Good Question!  We’ll go down the list provided on yesterday's Caloric Goal table.
Starch
·      Sliced Bread     1 slice
·      English Muffin   ½ muffin
·      Bagel   ¼ bagel (if you eat a Bagel Thin, you get ½)
·      Rice, Couscous  ⅓ Cup
·      Beans & Lentils   ⅓ Cup (count as 1 starch AND 1 protein)
·      Pasta, Bulgar  ½ Cup
·      Corn, Potatoes (white or sweet), peas  ½ Cup
·      Popcorn – unbuttered   3 cups
·      Pretzels   ⅓ Cup
Protein
·      Medium Fat (beef, pork chops,          etc.)  1 oz – i.e., ½ size of a cell phone
·      Extra Lean (breast meat, fish filet, shell fish, canned tuna in water)   1 oz  - i.e., ½ size of a cell phone
·      Lean (dark meat, fish, lamb, ham, lean beef)  1 oz -i.e., ½ size of a cell phone
·      Egg (1 egg, 2 egg whites, ¼ c Egg Substitute)
·      Beans & Lentils (count as 1 starch AND 1 protein)
·      Cheese 1 oz (equivalent to a pair of dice)
·      Soft Cheese (ricotta, cottage, etc.)  ¼ Cup
·      Tofu  ½ Cup
·      Meat stock  1  Cup
Vegetables
·      Cooked ½ Cup
·      Raw (including salads)  1 Cup
·      Vegetable Juice  1 Cup
Fruit
·      Fresh  1 unit (oranges, apples, bananas, etc. are so smart!)
·      Berries or Melon    1 Cup
·      Jam or Jelly  1 Tablespoon
·      Unsweetened Juice   ½ Cup
·      Sweetened Juice is just sugar – avoid it!
Milk
·      2% (or lower)   1 Cup
·      Yogurt  ¾ Cup
Fats
·      Butter, margarine, oil, mayonnaise  1 teaspoon
·      Cream Cheese, Salad Dressing, Reduced fat mayo or margarine   1 Tablespoon
·      Bacon   1 slice
·      Olives, any kind   8-10
Your Choice
·      Choices should be made from the food groups above. Do your very best to avoid candy and soda.
·      Alcohol  1 shot = 2 fats    Mixed Drinks  1 Cup = 3 fats AND 1 starch
·      Ice cream    ½ cup = 2 fats AND 1 starch
·      Brownies    3” square = 2 fats and 2 starches

These exchanges can get you started on evaluating what you already eat. When you do this, it becomes fairly clear that you got fat because you were doing it wrong!  (haha  At least it did that for me.)

Which brings up an additional point. You really need to keep track of what you’re eating.  If you want, you can use a food tracker or you can write it in your day planner or just on a piece of paper.  Start that food diary and evaluate what you’re eating.

Tomorrow – putting some of this together. We’ll look at exchanges for “mixed” foods and we'll even share a list of foods you can eat all day without having to claim an exchange! 

The The American Diabetes Association and The American Dietetic Association got it right all those years ago when they presented the first Exchange Program for diabetics. Dieters quickly realized how useful an Exchange Plan can be when one hopes to lose weight via a healthy, habit-forming diet plan.  

Using an Exchange Plan works because you start learning to recognize a portion and, right off the bat, you start putting together your daily meals with real food – and food that you’ve chosen! Once you’ve finished losing weight, you’re already doing what you need to do to maintain your new weight.

So what’s the catch?  There are two, really.

First, you have to use self-control to ensure your success. It’s easy to say, “I want to lose a few pounds.” It’s more difficult to actually convince yourself of that when you can’t get your mind off the ice cream in the freezer.  But you’ve got this!  You can make it happen this time!

Second, you need to learn how to work your exchanges. It’s  fairly simple; but it does take some time – and at first a lot of thought.  We’ll get you started! It’s fairly straight forward but it’s like playing Pente - easy to learn yet a lifetime to master. But really. Once you have this down, you’ll find that it’s kind of fun (in a challenging way) to fit together the pieces of your nutritional health on a daily basis.

Here is how is works:

Step 1: Figure out how many calories you should be eating each day to reach your goal.  Calorie Calculators will calculate your caloric intake needs based on your gender, height, weight, and weight loss goal. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. It only take a few seconds.

• Do you like to use Apps? You might want to check out Noom for androids or Noom for iphone. 
  
• Do you prefer on-line Calorie Counters? Here is one of our favorite Calorie Counters that you can use right now.   

Step 2: Memorize the Numbers Under Your Chosen Caloric Goal.