Also remember "free" foods. Carrots take more calories to digest than they provide, so they're a great delivery method for vitamins with no caloric footprint. Sugar free Jell-o is also a free food, and celery is in that category as well. Be extremely careful of rice. Current health guidelines say no more than a quarter cup of uncooked rice per adult twice a week because the rice coming from the pacific rim tends to hold a higher concentration of arsenic. Rice is also a stealth sugar, so it can cause blood sugar issues. Substitute barley for rice in dishes if you need the starch or grains, and if you must use rice then think about brown rice instead of white. (Yes, it's crunchier, but it also carries a lot more nutrition) I'm currently letting go of excess weight (I won't say lose, as most things we lose are things we try to find, like keys, pets, and love interests) and I'm having great success with fairly compartmentalized foods in small pieces. My tactic is one of slowly decreasing what I take in, so I might eat ten of a particular small item for a meal one week and then drop to nine the following week. This provides a gradual drop in stomach size. Also eat every three to four hours to help stave off hunger and keep a food diary so you know exactly what's going into your mouth. Weigh once a week on the same day each week, and join an accountability group where you post your weight loss and goals. Also include eight hours of sleep a night and at least 64 ounces of water per day. (Current research says one ounce for every two pounds of body weight, but for most folks 64 is all they can handle at first) Here's a trick to play on your mind. Many people with weight issues are food obsessed. To help break this obsession, leave a bit of something, at least one final bite, of each thing served for the meal. This will help break the chain of placing too much focus on food. "Have you cleaned your plate?" is fine for energetic children, but for adults who have slower metabolisms it's sometimes a problem. One more thing. Cheat once a week. Don't cheat to the point where you undo all of your hard work for the rest of the week, but give yourself a treat one time a week, and eat what you crave, because cravings tend to be specific and relate to something the body needs or thinks it needs. This provides a relief valve from the monotony of dieting. Oh, and make your dietary changes a part of your life. The act of dieting creates a form of addiction, as many of the eight key symptoms of addiction are forced upon the person dieting, so try to make it so your changes are lifestyle changes. Choose to drop certain things from your diet for the rest of your life, with the exception of special treats, instead of thinking that once you're off your diet you can start eating French fries again, for example.
-----Original Message----- From: Cookinginthedark [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 8:58 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [CnD] special recipes needed. Hi, Tom, There are some simple things you can do to cut back on carbohydrates and fats. If you get too hung up on exchanges it will be hard to continue because you will become frustrated. Exercise common sense when planning meals: have two vegetables and eliminate the potatoes and bread for example. Have half a bagel instead of a whole one or only one piece of toast instead of two. Oh and by the way: corn is a grain, not a vegetable. One of those vegetables can be a salad. Be careful of those so-called "lite" dressings that are low fat. They are high in sugar. You're better off making your own salad dressing using good quality olive oil, balsamic or red wine vinegar and herbs. Eat whole fresh fruit, but be careful of the ones high in sugar, grapes and bananas. The fiber in the whole fruit, such as an unpeeled apple, digests more slowly and leaves you feeling satisfied for longer. With the warm weather arriving, you can have salads as meals, a chef salad, or a salad with cooked chicken or hard boiled eggs and a little cheese. You can be creative. Good luck! Alice _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list [email protected] http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark _______________________________________________ Cookinginthedark mailing list [email protected] http://acbradio.org/mailman/listinfo/cookinginthedark
