Your favorite meals & snacks while dieting (I'm a vegetarian)?!
I generally eat pretty healthy. As I said before, I'm a vegetarian, but I pay attention to nutritional information so I'm sure I'm getting what my body needs in the amounts it needs. In fact, before I was vegetarian, I RARELY ever ate meat (unless at a guest's house for dinner (often invited place, not often for dinner) which was like once every 2 months). So I didn't may attention to making sure I got enough iron, protein, omega-3's, etc etc that I needed. But, now I'm much more health-oriented.
I currently exercise 30 minutes a day, combination speed walking-jogging. But I don't consider that "diet exercise." Hahaha. I just consider that "you can't sit around on your butt all day exercise." You know, the exercise everyone should be getting. In fact, 30 minutes probably isn't enough. Probably should be either 40 or 60 (honestly can't remember right now) normal non-diet exercise.
Anywayyyyy (haha, now I feel so lazy that I admitted that). My question was more on meals & snacks. I'm just not creative. I have my own apartment, I'm in my 20's, life is pretty good overall. I'd like to drop about 15-20 pounds. Technically in my "normal weight" range now, but I'd like to be slimmer. I'm not a fussy eater (except for the vegetarianism (I do eat eggs & dairy)). I'll basically try anything that is not meat or seafood atleast once, and I generally like it. So I consider myself easy to please.
I've NEVER really enjoyed pop, cookies, chips, chocolate, gummie candies, alcohol, etc. They just never appealed to me. I live with my fiance, and he keeps a "junkfood" cupboard with things like chocolate and chips and such (he has an overactive thyroid, so lucky for him, he can eat this stuff, tho that doesn't make it healthy). I've NEVER had any desire for it. I see it every day when I reach into the same cupboard to grab other food for meals, but I never desire it. So temptation won't be a big problem.
& I don't smoke. =)
Answers:
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
My weight varies by just a few (about 4) pounds before I change a few habits. When I am lower I'll reach for nuts and seeds for snacks and when higher I reach for fruit and veggies. When I'm lower I'll eat larger portions, when higher, smaller portions. I don't deprive myself (I'm just as happy with the fruit, I only eat the nuts so I don't go underweight), so I am never "on a diet." This is how I expect to eat for the rest of my life.
Brian Wansink is a researcher at Cornell who recommends changing your environment so that you eat less without even noticing. This would be a permanent change. He offered several dozen possibilities based on his clinical research, for example, use skinnier glasses or smaller plates, make a rule that you only take seconds of vegetables, and so forth. You just pick a few changes, any of which should save you 100 calories per day. You lose weight very very slowly, but the idea is that you don't even notice you're eating less and your body never goes into starvation metabolism mode which is what kills most diets.
You also might find the free MyPlate calculator handy. You can enter a meal or a few days and you might find something you're eating is suprisingly caloric. I used it once to decide what snack to have.
Brian Wansink's web site: http://mindlesseating.org/
My comments on his book: http://expandingcircle.wordpress.com/201…
http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/
TMI
We didn't need to know that you don't smoke and how you SHOULD exercise in order to tell you some healthy snacks.
You should eat raisins, celery with peanut butter, apple slices, carrot sticks and dates as healthy snacks.
Some more are olives, pickles and tofu. Get firm (not silken) tofu and bake it with garlic and onions, or your favorite flavors. You might want to put pepper on it. It's great.
Another one is slicking up a Portabello mushroom and giving that a quick spice-up with pepper and tarragon or turmeric and pop it in the toaster oven for twenty minutes.
Continue to eat peanut butter, beans, and eggs (at least the whites) to get your proteins.
You should aim only to be healthy not slimmer - what a lot of time and energy spent stressing about your waistline when you could be out living your life.
Anyway I love brown rice, peas mushrooms and tofu topped with soy sauce yummy I have itcevery day but I swap the protein around - egg or nutmeat is also very good
Hummus and pita (bake the pita if you want it crispier) or hummus and raw veggies as a dipper.
Lowfat cheeses and fresh fruit
whole grain crackers with almond butter
flavored rice cakes (like caramel and white cheddar)
popcorn! Do something interesting with it. My favorite thing is to sprinkle it with cracked black pepper and a bit of parmesan cheese - pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds to melt the cheese a bit
make a snack mix from a couple types of cereal, nuts, raisins, dried cranberries and apple chips.
If I am reaching for snacks I go for a few thin slices of cheese, cheese wedges (Kraft, Laughing Cow)
sampler pick and mix etc.
Fruits I go for a few cherries, grapes, apricots and other small fruits.
I don't buy many chips but do like a few as a snack and will buy a packet of 12 small bags that you would put in a kids lunchbox
Nuts are always good, I have what I call my nut jar which I will fill with a few ounces of cashews or peanuts etc It is better than buying prepacked bags.
