PodCast with Jimmy Moore and Friends

Hi Peoples,
Here's the the link to the PodCast that I participated in with Jimmy Moore.
There's links at the bottom to listen to it on itunes or download it.
(It's 30 mins long, so go pee first! LOL)

Vitamins and Supplements

I don't like to use any kind of added things in my foods that some people use. I have been asked about it a lot, have I ever used corn husk, or cod liver oil or this or that.... ummm no.... none of it. I have considered a protein powder before but never used one. I would rather just get my nutrients from normal food. I try to use foods that I prepare myself or as in their normal state and try to avoid processed foods to some extent. I have lunch meats, sandwich cheese and low carb ice cream, I am not a health nut/organic person by any means but over time I have watched what happened when I had certain foods more and I noticed a difference when I have more processed foods vs. more foods in their natural state. I want to know exactly what I am eating so I can put it into FitDay. I even entered in the information for my vitamin into FitDay. I like FitDay!

 I avoided taking vitamins for a long time. I had been told by my doctor and also my trainer to take a multi-vitamin and I was being sooooo bad about that..... I had them for a good 2 months before I finally opened the bottle to take one. I just don't like taking them, they smell funny and I don't like taking medicine or anything really. It wasn't that I was forgetting them, I was avoiding them! Anyway, I have been taking them again daily for the past week and I don't know if they really help or not but my nutrient report in FitDay showed that I was lacking in a lot of nutrients, so I decided to give it a try. I figure it shouldn't hurt me. But the vitamins have some caffeine in them, so I learned not to take them before bed. lol

I am not totally sure if the two are related, but I had been stalled for almost a month, maintaining but not losing anything and I go to the gym a lot and it was making me mad. Normally I won't care if I don't lose a pound or two as long as I keep losing inches, but I had a month where I only lost 1 inch over all my measurements. So I had been looking at everything, my foods, could anything be hidden in what I was eating, was I counting all the ketchup and seasonings and everything, yep, I was, nothing was getting missed. Was I sleeping enough... well no, but I never have when I lost the rest of my weight either, so well... OK, I should sleep more, but that's probably not the issue. I exercise a lot so that wasn't the issue either, plus I had changed up my workout, added things and increased time and distance and weights. I wasn't doing anything "wrong" so I just thought ok, I was stalled and the scale would move sooner or later.

Then all of a sudden I lost 10 lbs within a week's time and thought ok, now we are getting somewhere again! Then I retained water and the numbers was going up .3, .4, .5 a day and I was getting annoyed but my inches were staying the same and then my inches went down but my weight went up 2 lbs and then I thought ok, am I just building muscle? Retaining water? What's going on here..... Then I realized something.... when my weight suddenly started going down again was when I had started taking my vitamin, but then I stopped taking it for awhile. Since taking it again this past week my weight has been less each day, yet I didn't change anything with the foods I normally eat, how much I eat, or how much I exercise, if anything I exercised less this week because of being dehydrated.

Reports like these are just another reason why I  like FitDay! (If you click on the charts they will get bigger, then just hit the back arrow to come back to this page)

RDA Nutrition % Before the Vitamin:

RDA Nutrition % After the Vitamin:

Total Nutrition Before the Vitamin:  
(The Red numbers shows a deficiency)

Total Nutrition After the Vitamin:  
(The Green numbers mean you have enough)

~So is the vitamin related? Maybe.
~Does the vitamin help weight loss? Maybe.
~Could it just have been water the whole time and it is a coincidence? Maybe.
~Am I gonna keep taking my vitamin? Yes.
~Would I suggest that you find a vitamin that you like? Yes.
~Should I also consider a calcium supplement even though I am still young? Yes.
~Am I going to take a calcium supplement? I dunno, I should but I don't want to yet.
~Should I take a potassium supplement? Yes.
~Am I going to take a potassium supplement? I dunno.....
~Am I going to try to get more sleep? Maybe.....  but not likely for awhile anyway.
~Is CJ stubborn? VERY!!!!!!!!!!!!

List of Meal Ideas

I am going to abreviate "Check The Carbs" as (ctc) for this post, meaning different brands are different carb counts and this can totally ruin your 20 carbs or less day if you don't watch it. Like salad dressing some ranch is 1 carb per serving while others is 9, 10 or 11....... BBQ Sauce, Ketchup all of that can really sneak up on you. Even different lunch meats and cheese can have more carbs then others. I can do a detailed list of what brands of things I prefer later on too. Also depending on your plan sausage may or may not be ok. I think the extra salt in the pork might be why.

But for now I just want to get this posted because I have had a few requests for it in pm's and from people who know me and don't know me. I do read all comments and to those who have commented, pm-ed, emailed either on my blog or on the forum I appreciate all of the kinds words and each and every one of you can get healthier for yourself, even if you sometimes might feel like you need a boot to your butt, I need that myself sometimes too! If anyone has questions feel free to ask and I will try to help as best I can. You can also email me (LowCarbCJ @ gmail ) and I won't say who asked the question but I will likely respond to it with a blog post because your question might be a question that others are asking as well. The whole point of this blog is to try and help people so before this post gets any longer..... here is that quick list of food ideas.

Breakfast Ideas:
~Scrambled Eggs with Bacon and/or Sausage(check the carbs though).
~A skillet style with Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage (ctc) and even a teaspoon of Salsa (ctc) or diced onion and bell pepper for some added flavor.
~Omelet with Cheese, Bacon, Sausage(ctc) and you can add carb friendly veggies if you like. You can also use Ham if you make sure it doesn't have many carbs and is not Honey Ham.
~Chorizo (The Mexican style not the Churico kind) and Eggs, just no tortillas, but later on you can add low carb ones.
~Hamburger patty with Cheese, Bacon and an Egg on top.
~Hamburger patty with ketchup (I don't know why but I like them for breakfast or any other meal too)
~Boiled Eggs and 5 or 6 Baby Carrots(ctc)
~Egg Salad on "Cheese Crisp" carb free crackers. The Cheese Crisps are just melted cheese nuked on wax paper or melted in a non-stick pan until it gets bubbly and then it cools into a cracker form. You can also make taco shells out of them.
~If you are in a hurry or don't feel like eating, don't skip breakfast, grab a boiled egg, string cheese, few slices of deli meat(ctc) and your water bottle. It is important to eat and keep your body fueled.


Lunch/Dinner Ideas:
 ~Tuna with Mayo and Lettuce
~Salad with Tuna and Boiled Egg
~Salad with Grilled Chicken and Bacon Slices
~Salad with Pepperoni Slices
~Salad with Ham(ctc) or Turkey(ctc) or both
~Salad with Fajita Chicken or Fajita Steak, just careful of the seasoning on the meat(ctc)
~Salad with Taco Meat either Ground Beef or Chicken and Sour Cream(ctc) and Cheese 
~BACON!!!! I <3 Bacon
~Hamburger patty or two with Cheese, Bacon on lettuce or a plate with Mayo.
~Hamburger patty or two with Mayo, Mustard or Ketchup(ctc)
~Hamburger patty with veggies.
~Grilled Chicken breast with veggies
~Chicken Salad, on lettuce or on "Cheese Crisp" crackers
~Steak or Steak Tips and a side salad or veggies(ctc)
~Cheese steak without the bun
~Pepperoni with melted Cheese
~Fake pizza, basically meat with melted cheese and a little pizza sauce(ctc)
~Shredded Beef with mayo and mustard or a lower carb bbq sauce, wrapped up in lettuce instead of bread
~Shredded Beef with a veggie or side salad
~Shredded Chicken
~Shredded Pork
~Italian Sausage and/or Grilled Chicken with a few grilled Tomato slices, sauteed Onions and Bell Pepper topped with melted cheese.(ctc) If you opt for this I would keep the other meals of the day to something like tuna and lettuce for lunch and eggs and bacon for breakfast or have this for lunch then a meat and veggie for dinner.
~Unbreaded Chicken Parm, easy on the sauce, so add extra cheese.
~Grilled Chicken topped with Bacon and melted Cheese with a veggie or side salad
~Ribs just seriously watch the BB sauce!!!!! Just lightly brush them with a low carb sauce.
~Steak, Shrimp or Chicken Kabobs just (ctc) in the veggies you use!
~Grilled Chicken cut into cubes and covered with melted Monterey Jack Cheese with crumbled Bacon pieces and Ranch dressing mixed in with a side of Green Beans. You can put bacon in the Green Beans too if you like and even a tsp of chicken stock for better flavor when cooking and if you want to and can spare the carbs a little diced onion too.
~Roast Beef, either sliced in a lettuce wrap or eaten plain with a veggie or salad.
~Tacos either Chicken or Beef in a "Cheese Crisp" fake taco shell. I fold it over while the cheese is still cooling and I don't make it as crispy as the crackers.
~KFC Grilled Double Down or make your own at home with Chicken Breast, Bacon and Cheese
~Fast Food Burger minus the bun and other toppings


When you get to a point where you can eat low carb tortillas.....
~Then you can make low carb enchiladas, cut one tortilla in half and STUFF it as full of meat as you can get it then smother it in cheese and only a little sauce and nuke it to melt the cheese and then add a little bit of sour cream if you like.
~Toast a low carb tortilla in the oven for a few minutes and then spread a tbsp of pizza sauce on it and top with toppings and lots of cheese and then melt it like you would a normal pizza.
~Various wraps with all kinds of things.

*Just a note:
I am not really into organic foods, but I try to keep my food intake as "natural" as possible, meaning more foods in their natural state and less processed foods. I also try to limit the number of "low carb" items I use now too. At first I used a lot more of them to help me break my carb addiction, but now I would rather be in control of what I am eating and be able to ignore cravings for things. The one exception I make often is low carb ice cream. I occasionally do low carb yogurt, but I am debating if I do better without it, I have not come to a conclusion on that yet because I hadn't had it in a few years until a month or so ago. I tend to like a certain food and have it a lot and then change it up once in awhile.

I definitely migrated to more of a do my own thing plan but just making sure to limit the carbs to 20 or less. I have also done some rotations of 30 carbs a day and then 10 carbs a day, depending on how I was feeling during my on going weight loss process. And you know.... I hate to say it, but I really think I lost weight faster at first when I was skipping the gym. Sounds odd I know, but when I added the gym back in more heavily then my inches went down faster and I am a lot more toned then I was before and have more energy. So I would rather stick with going to the gym and slower weight loss at this point being so close to my goal. I can feel more definition and more toned parts of my body every week and it is a great feeling. :)

Chicken Sausage Penne (Dreamfields Pasta)

I tried some of this pasta about 5 years ago and I didn't care for it then, but I liked it this time. You have to be careful in the cooking process and not cook it too long or it can make more of the carbs be digestible. There is also some debate over reheating it and baking it once it is boiled can have the same effect.

I was only cooking the low carb stuff for myself so I split the box of 6 servings of pasta into 2 bowls. Yes, I actually counted the dry noodles to make sure it was even..... Someone saw me doing this and laughed at me, but I take my food tracking seriously since getting closer to my goal and working out more I pay attention to everything that I consume in a day. But when I first started I only counted carbs. I was getting dizzy at the gym because I was only eating 700 to 900 calories per day, which is way too low..... I was not trying to be that low, it just happened over time with me cutting my portion sizes down. Anyway, I don't eat it unless I add it to my tracker now.

This isn't a "Low Carb" sauce per say, but out of the entire grocery store selection it was the one with the lowest carbs on the shelf at 4 carbs per 1/2 cup:  (and yes Fanny Meat Sauce made me giggle a bit)

I put the extra pasta in a sandwich bag to cook another time and I put half the jar of sauce in a container and put it in the freezer:

The cooked pasta. I boiled it for exactly 10 minutes, turned the heat off at 9 minutes and it was still boiling at 10 minutes. I drained it right away and hit it with the kitchen sprayer with cold water immediately. This stops the cooking process and keeps the pasta from breaking down into the stage where your body can absorb more carbs. I rinsed it for a few minutes, drained it and let it sit in a separate bowl without any hot ingredients touching it:

The Grilled Chicken Breasts, seasoned with Fresh Ground Black Pepper, Garlic and Italian Seasoning:

The Chicken cut up and ready to go in the sauce. I used 12 ounces of chicken::

Half the jar of sauce before the chicken went in it. (If I make this dish without the pasta then I would add grilled onions, bell pepper and fresh garlic to the sauce, but I didn't want extra carbs and didn't feel like chopping them all up and didn't really have time to either.):

The sauce with the chicken added in:

The cheese was added to the sauce, I used 1 cup of Mozzarella and 4 Italian Sausage links were cooked and then chopped up and added to the sauce. I nuked the sauce and cheese for a minute before adding the sausage:

Then I separated the sauce, sausage, cheese and chicken mixture into 4 equal portions, about 1 cup each:

Then I separated the pasta into 4 equal portions and yes I counted the noodles again....I put the 3 extra servings in the fridge for later with the extra sauce/meat/cheese mixtures.

My thoughts behind keeping them separate is so that when I go to re-heat them I can just nuke the sauce mixture and not nuke the pasta. Then I can make sure the sauce is not too warn and stir in the pasta and eat it right away. I have worked too hard and I am far too strict on myself to take a chance in overheating the pasta to where it has a negative effect on me. You don't have to be as strict as I am, this is just my choice. I have also broken this down into 8 total servings per box and jar of sauce, when it should be 6 servings. So you could also eat more then this if you wanted to. I would rather keep my portion of the pasta smaller and then eat some green beans or a salad if I wanted something else with it.

Here is the finished product, it was yummy.
 Chicken Sausage Penne:

I cooked this Monday night and had it again on Tuesday night. It was still the same size portion right about 2 cups but I put it on a dinner plate instead of in a bowl just for visual comparison. I figured most people eat their dinner on a dinner plate instead of a 2 cup bowl or a salad plate. I also added green beans and it was too much food for me to eat at once. I got full, but a few hours later I was hungry again so I finished the rest of it then. I could have easily broken this down into 5 servings instead of 4 and just add a small side salad. Which would make 10 servings per box/jar instead of 8 or even the suggested serving size of 6 servings per box/jar. Also the keeping the pasta separate for reheating worked very well. So far I have not seen any ill effects from this low carb pasta, but it was also cooked correctly. I would just suggest being careful with it so it doesn't over cook and then limit yourself, it is good and it would be easy to keep going back for more. I wouldn't recommend it on induction. But it is a nice treat once in awhile on on going weight loss or maintenance for sure.

This is what was left that I ate a few hours later, I didn't reheat it, I just ate it cold and it was still good. I don't sleep much and I am awake really late so I am not afraid of having a snack at night if I am hungry and going to be awake for awhile.

This is the excel spreadsheet that I used to figure out the nutrition information per each serving based on my serving size. Again, don't let this part scare you, to do low carb you only have to count carbs, not calories and everything else. I do this extra work for me because I like to keep track of the data so I can look at it later. I use FitDay, there is a link to it on the right in the side bar.

FitDay - Fitness Log (Food & Activity Tracking)

I have been asked a lot of questions about food tracking.
Do I do it?
Do I count calories?
Do I worry about fat? etc....
Well, Yes I do track my food intake and also my activities, but this is only a recent thing for me within the past few months. I use FitDay and it did take awhile to get it set up the way I wanted it and I entered a lot of custom foods to make it easier to use. I gathered up all the foods I normally eat with my laptop on the counter and started entering the nutritional values for all of them. Then I combined things together that I normally put together in one meal, so I could just select the meals I always have prepared the same way in the same portion size and not have to select each individual ingredient separate. It works great, it is so handy and I like being able to look back and see the past data and see what I ate when I finally lost a pound after being stalled for a few weeks. Or check and see if I had a lot of sodium that resulted in water weight gain.

I had always just counted the carbs and not paid attention to anything else. I didn't realize it at first but I had cut so many things out and my portion sizes are small and I was only consuming 780-920 calories a day and I was getting light headed at the gym, but I wasn't hungry. I never intended on getting my calories that low and it is not healthy and it was not making me lose weight. It actually made me stall for a couple of months. My body wasn't getting enough calories and I was likely putting myself into borderline starvation mode even though I wasn't hungry. So I started to try and vary up my selections a bit more and not just live on tuna and grilled chicken, especially on days that I was going to the gym. I have to have a meal or a snack 30 minutes to an hour before going to the gym. It is usually something like boiled eggs, hamburger patty, baby carrots, a 2 oz. chunk of cheese or bacon.

In looking back at all this data next to each other and thinking about the foods I was eating most often when I was losing the most weight, I was having about 1500-1600 calories a day and about 100 to 150g of fat and staying under 20 carbs per day. Over time I had changed what I was normally eating almost every day and was just not eating enough anymore. I didn't ever think someone would tell me to eat more food! lol. That was a shock to hear for sure, because when I was 525 lbs and still eating carbs I would eat huge portions and still be hungry all the time. Anyway it was kind of fun to go get a bun-less Baconater and actually NEED the additional calories that it had instead of being afraid of having too many like a lot of people are when they think about eating a Baconator while losing weight. I love being low carb!!! I get to have my bacon! I <3 Bacon!!!


Anyway there is a link to Fit Day on the right hand side of my blog, or just go Here to sign up on FitDay.com I just use their free version and I like it, but I have been curious about their paid version. I might try it for a month or two and see if the added features are worth it. Before that I would use an Excel spreadsheet and I think FitDay is easier for comparing the data. My only real complaint is that is does not subtract the dietary fiber from the carbs, so I just manually adjust it by editing the food entry and if it was 10 carbs with 6 grams of fiber then I will just enter the carbs as 4 grams instead of 10. That way my numbers are accurate for the daily total.

Don't let the thought of tracking your food overwhelm you, especially if you are new to low carb. Just keep counting your carbs and get more comfortable with what foods you can have and what you need to avoid. But as you get closer to your goal and the longer you are low carb you will find yourself being less hungry and if you get to a point when you stall then you might want to take a closer look at everything you are consuming and see if you notice any patterns like I did with the extra sodium from. Different things affect people differently and tracking your food is not a requirement, but I highly recommend it. I am so strict on it now that I won't eat something unless I can enter it into my FitDay. During the day I will look at it and it often determines my dinner choice that day.


Some examples of the reports you can run in FitDay:

This is my own personal nutrition information as viewed like a food label. Information like this lets you see which nutrients you are deficient in and better evaluate if you want to take a multi-vitamin or not.

Just thought I would add this, if you happen to be on another plan like Weight Watchers that counts points, you could easily make FitDay work for you to help you track your points as well. Just pick one of the nutrients that isn't one you care about tracking like maybe "Monounsaturated Fat" since it is not commonly listed on food labels anyway or one of the minerals you don't want to count. But if you want it viewable on the main preview page then use something like the "Protein" value's slot. Then enter in the food values as normal but for that nutrients just enter the points value and know that, that nutrient really stands for your points. Then FitDay will add it up for you like normal and you will have a daily record of your points.

Dehydration, Do you drink enough water?

We all know that we need to drink enough water or water based drinks like Crystal Light and that it helps vital organs, digestive system, muscle tissue and helps our body dissolve nutrients and get rid of toxins. But do we really drink enough? You can find calculators online based on body weight but some people claim they get too full or feel sick when they drink as much water as it says for them to drink. Others drink more then it says and feel bad if they don't drink more.  Personally I carry around a 32 ounce water bottle and I usually drink 3 of those a day, sometimes more. I even carry an extra water bottle and drink mix packets in my car in case I need them.

My favorite water bottle with Sugar Free Cran-Grape.

The extra water bottle and drink packets in my car.

 
Well.... the past week or so I have been busier then normal it seems and I am so use to drinking a lot but I guess I didn't even think about it. It was hotter today and I started feeling like I was getting a headache, I was really thirsty and I felt really hungry. Then my legs started feeling a bit crampy..... When I put it all together and I knew those were some of the signs of deyhdration.... I kinda thought really? me??? How could I be dehydrated when I drink so much??? Then I thought about how I have been thirsty but I would be busy and just keep working and not go get a drink until I was really really thirsty. I looked over at my water bottle and it was empty and I realized I had not filled it up since the gym. Then I realized that filling it up before the gym was the first time I had filled it up all day..... So I went and filled it up and I have sucked down 32 ounces of sugar free cran grape and still thirsty so I am working on my second one now. I did have two 24 ounce cups full of Diet Sunkist with dinner, but soda doesn't seem to help hydrate me as well. The Diet Sunkist was good though. :)




It's kind of ironic that I get dehydrated after telling 3 or 4 people in the past week to make sure they are drinking enough water..... Perhaps I needed to listen to my own advice! When I was talking to my Mom about it she brought up drinking too much water and how she felt sick. Well, it is possible to drink too much water and get water intoxication and I guess it can be tricky to find the balance but apparently some people sweat more salt then others and if someone does not have enough sodium in their diet then they can't properly absorb the water and are more at risk for the water intoxication. So like if someone doesn't eat much sodium but they sweat a lot of sodium then it can be harder for them to drink more water. But if you have too much sodium in your diet then you can retain water.

So I guess you just kinda of have to look at how much sodium you normally get from food and other drinks and then see if your sweat is salty or not. I know someone who leaves white salt stains behind from their sweat. Come to think of it that person craves salty foods, maybe it's because they lose so much in their sweat and they tend to sweat a lot too. My sweat is not like that and I don't crave salt at all, apparently this is like everything else and everyone is different to a certain degree. A few weeks ago I was drinking some Powerade Zero's and I was very thirsty and they were cold and good and I chugged 4 of them in one evening. They are 32 ounces each and the next day I woke up 5 lbs. heavier! I lost all that water weight the next day, but I felt like I was in the ladies room way too much! lol. After that I checked the bottles again and while they did not have any calories or carbs, they did have 800 mg of sodium per bottle! and I had 4 of them..... One a day by it's self when I go to the gym would probably not be bad at all, but I won't ever have 4 of those in one day again. We do need some salt in our systems but I don't think I need an extra 3200 mg worth. lol

The more active you are and the hotter it is the more water you need. I am pretty active and it was hot today so I guess it makes sense. I have read that you should make sure to stay hydrated before exercising, during exercise and after exercise and that when you are exercising your body is losing a lot of water. I didn't drink much before and not as much as usual during and not much after either. The harder you are working, the more you sweat and the longer you workout, the more water you are losing. I need to remember to drink more before the gym and more after. I have always heard that you need to drink something even before you are thirsty, because by the time you feel thirsty then you are already starting to get dehydrated. Also you can feel hungry when you are really thirsty and so if you feel hungry you should drink something and then see if you are still really hungry or not. This can also help with weight loss because if you are not truly hungry then you shouldn't be eating, unless maybe your work schedule requires it or you won't get any food at all or you are sick and don't want to eat, but if that is the case you probably need to eat at least a little bit of food. But in most cases it is not a good idea to eat unless you are hungry.

Anyway I find it easier to drink more water if I use a Crystal Light type drink mix, there are a lot of varieties out there. Here is just the selection I have at home, the Ocean Spray Cran Grape is my favorite. Some people have trouble with artifical sweeteners but the drink mixes I use have not bothered me at all. There is one kind that bothers me, but it isn't in the drink mixes I use. I don't drink a lot of soda but I will drink Sprite Zero or Diet Sunkist or sometimes Diet Root Beer or a Diet Pepsi once in awhile.

 If you have trouble remembering to drink your water you might set reminders in your phone or your calendar at work and a google calendar at home. Just set it as a reoccurring event with a reminder "Drink Water" a few times a day that you might not think about drinking like between meals. The reminders can get annoying, but they work. :)  I knew a lady who would put rubber bands on her water bottle, one for each bottle of water she wanted to drink. When she finished the bottle she would remove a rubber band. It helped her not to lose count. I use to use the calendar reminders but stopped a few years ago, maybe I need to re-think that!

Did I mention that drinking enough water helps with weight loss??? As does getting enough sleep, which I am lacking in and have not been to bed yet. I am definitely not a good example to follow on sleeping habbits. >_>

Low Carb at Olive Garden

OK, I have to admit this was not as hard as I was expecting it to be! Someone wanted me to go to Olive Garden with them and I was dreading it thinking I would be craving the pasta and be tortured sitting there watching the person I was there with eating Chicken Alfredo and bread sticks. Well..... I already knew I was not going to touch the pasta or bread sticks, that was never a question or even an option that I was going to allow myself! But I thought the temptations would be harder to resist once I was there. I knew I wasn't gonna eat it, but I thought I would want it more, but I didn't want it at all. The pasta did smell good as we were walking by the other tables though. 

I knew they had a steak dish and chicken and fish so I looked for those on the menu right away. I found one that looked ok except for the potatoes so I was going to ask for veggies instead, most places are always willing to do that instead of fries, potatoes or rice. I noticed the bottom of the menu said to ask the server for nutrition information, so I did. They brought out a pamphlet called "The Garden Fare Guide" and it has options listed for substitution for lower fat or lower carb. I didn't have time to research this online before I went there as going to dinner was kind of a short notice thing.

 The Lower Carb section:

My Salad:

 
I used my bread plate to hold the unwanted croutons from the salad:

I got the "Mixed Grill" that has the broccoli substituted for the potatoes and I also asked if I could substitute broccoli for the grilled vegetables, the grilled veggies was squash and zucchini. You have to ask for it that way or else they will still bring the potatoes because it is a normal menu item. The description of "Mixed Grill" is skewers of grilled steak and chicken marinated in Italian herbs and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables.

The Mixed Grill with 2 sides of Broccoli:

This was what was left and came home with me for later:

-CJ
(Sent from my Droid, please excuse any typos!)