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I buy the resealable large bag of Blue Diamond Natural Almonds. They're not dry roasted and not salted. I use the Snack Size Ziplock bags to bring one serving of almonds to work. Am a fan of herbal teas. This time of the year I drink peppermint tea. For a change of pace, I'll have one of the other flavors. To add flavor to my water, I use Real Limon (brand name) Limon juice. It's cheaper and healthier than other water flavor additives. I love tuna, catfish, and crawfish (I am Cajun). If you enjoyed seafood, you could widen your choices.
I do have teas but I've been told to stay away from caffeine, (another reason I should not eat Peanut M&Ms). I have green tea and someone told me it makes you...er...well, if you're not used to it...you should be at home...if you catch my drift. Maybe I'll try some on my four day weekend coming up. I bought it and then got too chicken to try it. lol Also, I tend to use TONS of sugar or Splenda in teas...which I was just told I'm not allowed to use Splenda anymore. (Dang, that stuff is expensive, too!)
Limon...is that the lemon/lime juice in a jar? Never tried that...maybe I will.
Sorry, it's a no go on the fish/seafood. I've tried just about everything: trout, salmon, tuna, catfish, carp, (is there something called carp?), halibut, mahi mahi, shrimp, lobster, crawdads, calamari, etc. etc. I just don't like it. Everyone says, "Oh you haven't tried this! You'll love it!" Or, "you just haven't had it cooked right", or, "You have to try it the way I cook it, you'll like fish/seafood after that..."
No.
It never works out well. I just don't like seafood/fish. The ONLY way I can stand to even barely hold it down is if I do like Gorton's Fisherman breaded stuff, drowned in ketchup so I don't taste the fish, (which, is not benefiting me at all), or if I do tuna fish, it has to be smothered in miracle whip...which, again, does me no good. Some of us out here just can not stand seafood/fish. It just is that way.
I WISH I liked it. Red Lobster commercials sure do make it look good..but, alas, it never works that way in real life for me.
What?! Not a single thing in my dinner tonight was "high processed packaged food" with exception of the 7 croutons.
I'm at a loss here.
This is the part I responded to, where I said you could've done a little better in the snack department:
Quote:
some Special K thing that you can add to your 16.9 oz of water to give it flavor, some shake things, (protein), about 110 cals per container, some granola type bars, mixed flavor box, about 130-150 cals per bar, some fruit chew things, (not the Welche's, I stayed away from kid brands because they add extra sugar), some natural brand and they make it out of apple juice concentrate and strawberry juice and make it in to some chewy thing...equals one serving of fruit and it's like 40 cals per pouch, got some peanut butter for the celery, (100 cals per serving)....
...bacon bits in case I get bored of not many croutons, two packages of chicken breasts, and then I got some kind of juice drink from the "health food" aisle....not a lot of cals and it might be something I can have or breakfast a few days, (it's strawberry/banana "shake" like drink but it comes in a carton and I think it's made of soy milk)
"No sugars added" doesn't mean no sugar. Remember I told you, fruits contain fructose. That's where the word "fructose" comes from. It's fruit sugar. In the brand you specified - Nature's Place Fruit Twists - I checked the Raspberry flavor, which has the apple and strawberry juice concentrate.
It has 70 calories per serving. Over 50 of those calories are sugar. There are around 4 calories in 1 gram of sugar, and there are 13 grams of sugar in one serving. It's not "added sugar" - they get away with saying that, because the fruit juice concentrate is naturally LOADED with sugar. So basically, those fruit chews are mostly pure sugar with vitamin C added.
In fact, the ONLY good thing about those twists, is that they have 50% of your daily allotment of vitamin C per serving. There's nothing else in it other than a few wasted carbs, a tiny amount of sodium, and 1 gram of fiber. Sugar makes you hungry. Eating sugary snacks - regardless of where the sugar came from - encourages your appetite, and won't hold you over til your next meal - which is what a snack is supposed to do.
Your shakes that come in a carton - are heavily processed. The powdered water flavors - are heavily processed. Bacon bits aren't even really food. Solidified soy protein with artificial flavor and color and tons of sodium.
That's what I meant about doing better with snacks. The fruits are great, but the flavors, and shake powders, and shake mix cartons, are not going to help you lose weight, or help you feel full for very long.
This is the part I responded to, where I said you could've done a little better in the snack department:
"No sugars added" doesn't mean no sugar. Remember I told you, fruits contain fructose. That's where the word "fructose" comes from. It's fruit sugar. In the brand you specified - Nature's Place Fruit Twists - I checked the Raspberry flavor, which has the apple and strawberry juice concentrate.
It has 70 calories per serving. Over 50 of those calories are sugar. There are around 4 calories in 1 gram of sugar, and there are 13 grams of sugar in one serving. It's not "added sugar" - they get away with saying that, because the fruit juice concentrate is naturally LOADED with sugar. So basically, those fruit chews are mostly pure sugar with vitamin C added.
In fact, the ONLY good thing about those twists, is that they have 50% of your daily allotment of vitamin C per serving. There's nothing else in it other than a few wasted carbs, a tiny amount of sodium, and 1 gram of fiber. Sugar makes you hungry. Eating sugary snacks - regardless of where the sugar came from - encourages your appetite, and won't hold you over til your next meal - which is what a snack is supposed to do.
Your shakes that come in a carton - are heavily processed. The powdered water flavors - are heavily processed. Bacon bits aren't even really food. Solidified soy protein with artificial flavor and color and tons of sodium.
That's what I meant about doing better with snacks. The fruits are great, but the flavors, and shake powders, and shake mix cartons, are not going to help you lose weight, or help you feel full for very long.
I'm taking baby steps.
Right now, I'm in the process of becoming a non smoker AND working on eating better. If I make it too hard, I know I will totally and completely say, "Oh forget it" and go right back to the way I've been doing things. If I take this little bits at a time, I'm far more apt to be successful.
The shakes were also as a breakfast at some point. I'm not going to eat a banana every single day for breakfast and I am not going to get up any earlier than I already have to get up...serious, 4am comes dang early! I'm being realistic with myself as I adjust.
Everyone says, "You have to have breakfast!!!!" Well, I don't eat breakfast. But, I'm trying it your way, (general your...forum your, not YOU, Anon, personally), and getting SOMETHING for breakfast whether it be a banana or a protein shake drink, (it's a meal replacement like Atkins or the Special K drinks or even Slim Fast...it's just the one that had the least amount of calories), or that fruit juice soy thing I got.
That's why I picked those things up.
The Special K water flavor is pretty much just that...flavoring the water. There's no sugar in it. It gives the boring, bland, blech water a little bit of flavor. Ideal? No, ideal would be, "drink water only" but again, baby steps. This is so I don't drink pop! Let me wean myself off the pop, first, then I can worry about what flavors are bad and what are good. Or if I can stand to drink plain old boring water all day long.
I'm changing a lot all at the same time...if I try to change too much at once, it's more likely it won't work. Any nutritionist, doc, whatever will tell you that.
It's not going to be perfect but I'm finding healthier alternatives. Which is worse: those fruit things or a bag of chips? Flavor my water or drink pop all day? Skip breakfast entirely or have something in my stomach, even if it's a meal replacement shake drink?
As I learn how to eat healthier and find things to eat that are not boring, I'll get better. Right now, I'm just focusing on calories. I'm focusing on not smoking and cutting down on calories. I HAVE to count my calories because if I do not, I will eat more than I should and not even know it. That is what caused me to gain 30 pounds!
And even though what I got is not perfect, can I get some credit for dinner? Something?!
Your shakes that come in a carton - are heavily processed. The powdered water flavors - are heavily processed. Bacon bits aren't even really food. Solidified soy protein with artificial flavor and color and tons of sodium.
That's what I meant about doing better with snacks. The fruits are great, but the flavors, and shake powders, and shake mix cartons, are not going to help you lose weight, or help you feel full for very long.
I checked the soy juice shake thing and this is what is in it:
Soy, filtered water, apple, pear and strawberry juices from concentrate, banana puree, natural cane sugar, pectin, citric acid.
This is a "protein" drink...which is what I thought we were talking about way back at the beginning...getting some protein in and having something for breakfast.
Also, the water flavor...don't misunderstand. It's not that I'm going to use it for every bottle of water I drink. I'm going to drink water most of the day but there will be times when I want flavor and instead of going to the pop machine, I think it would be better to do this, instead.
Three Wolves - it is pretty easy to just eat a boiled egg for breakfast with a small cup of mixed berries - you pack a lot of protein and anti-oxidants with such a low calorie meal and will be far better than a protein shake if you just don't want to eat much at breakfast. I think you did pretty good with your shopping. Like you said, take baby steps. You don't have to cut out EVERYTHING you love (carbs ) but just eat tiny portions of them, and don't eat more than one type of starch per meal. Try to have some meals with no starch. I am a starch lover and I am getting used to eating lightly of starches and feeling great! I did have pasta for dinner, but limited it to a cup, with a lot of grass-fed beef sauce!
Rotisserie chicken is a great option. A fist size of rotisserie chicken with veggies and a roll.
I avoid eating out for dinner. Restaurants are double sized meals for dinners. I only go out for lunch. Choose veggies for sides and avoid fatty condiments such as mayo and ranch dressing.
Three Wolves - it is pretty easy to just eat a boiled egg for breakfast with a small cup of mixed berries - you pack a lot of protein and anti-oxidants with such a low calorie meal and will be far better than a protein shake if you just don't want to eat much at breakfast. I think you did pretty good with your shopping. Like you said, take baby steps. You don't have to cut out EVERYTHING you love (carbs ) but just eat tiny portions of them, and don't eat more than one type of starch per meal. Try to have some meals with no starch. I am a starch lover and I am getting used to eating lightly of starches and feeling great! I did have pasta for dinner, but limited it to a cup, with a lot of grass-fed beef sauce!
Yah, I really wish I would have bought eggs. I won't have time to get more until next week...unless I somehow miss all the horrid traffic on the way home tomorrow...maybe I can try to get to the store and get some.
I think a banana one day, a hard boiled egg and the fruit the next day, a bit of the vanilla yogurt and more fruit the next day...that could work. I'm no expert...I thought I was doing good. Oh well.
I was just on Loseit (dot) com putting in my dinner...it's all I had today. Sorry, still trying to get used to eating more than once a day...failed there, too.
I totally did not even come close to getting the required calories today.
I got a total of 377 calories today, (give or take a few), from the dinner I had. That's all I had today. I KNOW, it's not enough. I probably will get someone telling me I slowed my metabolism down by doing that. It wasn't on purpose...trying to get the hang of this. By the time I went to the store and got home, put everything away, made the dinner and ate it, it was like 4pm or something around there.
Now I'm too afraid to eat anything I got since it's wrong. So, I did not get the amount of cals I was supposed to get. I'm waiting for the lecture.
It's too late to eat more now, I have to go to bed in about 30 minutes.
I do have chicken already made for tomorrow and I got containers for lunch so I already have the salad in a container, (about two cups, just like I had today), and a tiny container for the dressing and a tiny container for the croutons. (And I mean TINY.) So if I'm allowed a chance to actually grab that for lunch, I'll eat it tomorrow. (Sometimes we don't get to go back to the fridge and get our lunch...we are just taken straight to the "chow hall" I will call it...which means I will eat even LESS because that food is disgusting!)
I will have a banana for breakfast tomorrow, hopefully my chicken and salad for lunch and then dinner...I don't have a clue. Maybe a meal replacement drink since all I'll want to do is go to bed.
We'll see how it goes. I'm sure I'm going to get some stern talking to for not eating enough if I don't get to eat my chicken and salad tomorrow at lunch.
Once I get my regular shift, it will be a lot easier...right now I'm up against where they take us and how little time they give us while we are in training. And people say government work is easy. HA! No!
Edit: In my dinner tonight, did I have more than one starch? I would assume the croutons are starch...but the rest of it? OH SHOOT, the damn milk. GAR! Man, this is hard.
Last edited by Three Wolves In Snow; 11-18-2012 at 06:45 PM..
Rotisserie chicken is a great option. A fist size of rotisserie chicken with veggies and a roll.
I avoid eating out for dinner. Restaurants are double sized meals for dinners. I only go out for lunch. Choose veggies for sides and avoid fatty condiments such as mayo and ranch dressing.
I have lost 30 lbs in 6 months.
Wow! Good for you! Congratulations!
I think I should stay away from McDs because those potatoes, (fries), are very, very, very hard for me to stay away from if I go in there. Maybe later on down the line I could do something like that but I think I should stick with trying to do it right for at least a month or two.
I can't afford to eat out for dinner so that's not an issue. LOL.
Yah, I don't get to eat my ceasar salad dressing anymore but the vinegar/oil dressing I got today wasn't so bad. I kind of liked it. Who knew!
Our store has that chicken...maybe I could do that at some point. That's a good idea. I guess I have to get the plain, not the one slathered in bbq sauce...right?
A lot of "diet fans" will say I'm out of my gourd..and the wheat-belly freaks will protest, and the gluten-intolerant people will whine, and the "natural whole foods only" people will complain, and the "con-agra is teh evilz lolol" crowd will have a conniption. But here's my foolproof breakfast:
1 cup (or less, as long as it doesn't go over the serving cup) of Maltos Frosted Shredded Wheat Minis (these replaced the old "white generic label" of the 1970's but are actually chock-full of nutritional supplements, and are otherwise just plain wheat, with a little sugar), a splash of plain whole white milk, and a cup of coffee with another splash of plain whole white milk and 2 teaspoons of normal cane sugar.
That combination, because the cereal is fortified, gives you a solid morning's worth of protein, vitamins, minerals, is filling, tastes good, doesn't involve any cooking at all (other than flipping the ON switch for the coffeemaker), and is easy to eat QUICKLY and get out the door in time for work.
Chomp down half a banana in the car and suck down a 1/2 litre bottle of spring water on your way to work, and you'll be pretty much good to go til lunchtime.
Three Wolves, you are doing fine. The fact that your are taking steps and trying, all while quitting smoking, is awesome! It's all a learning process. And as you can readily see, everyone has their own opinion about what makes a healthy menu. And research can show something and then be contradicted the next week, depending on who funds the research or how (in)valid the studies are.
Part of this is to experiment and see what works for you. For me, I have found that an Atkins-type way of eating works best. The first two weeks are hard, but the cravings for simple/processed carbs does lessen over time. The good fats makes me feel satisfied. I can get hypoglycemic if I have too much of certain carbs, and of course those are the ones I have a very hard time controlling. Others are on the low-fat bandwagon. Personally, I think that movement is one reason why Americans are larger now. It's still the "wisdom" coming from bariatric centers and many doctors and nutritionists. Maybe it works for some.
In general, I think trying to eat as many organic foods as we can, avoiding as many processed foods as we can, concentrating on good fats and proteins, and veggies and some fruit, while drinking plenty of water will certainly help. None of us is perfect -- do the best you can within the confines of your budget and tastes and lifestyle. Kudos to you for trying!
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