I wrote this several months ago to a friend. This is what I do, and still do and I still am losing weight. I have lost 85 pounds doing this and I want to lose about 23 more pounds. I am never hungry eating this way and I always include exercise. I walk daily or use a walking-in-place video. Exercise is important. Hope this helps others.
Sherrine
I want to give you some hints on dieting. I have been doing it nearly all of my life and counting carbs is the easiest and I've lost weight and kept it off. I not only count carbs, I check the fat and cholesterol, and the sugar, too. I try to stay as healthy as possible. I was put on my first diet under doctor supervision when I was in fifth grade, was on diet pills by seventh grade, and was 170 pounds by ninth grade. When I went away to college I was nearly anorexic by drinking only one can a Metrical a day...250 calories for the day! I tried Nutrisystem, Atkins, hypnotism, a diet psychologist, became nearly addicted to amphetamines under a doctor's care, and numerous fad diets but still ended up weighing 265 pounds! I then found out about counting carbs..not eliminating them. That's the key for me!
I try to keep my carbs to a minimum but, when I go out to eat, I pretty much eat what I want. I do use portion control and zero in on salad. Many times, I'll ask for a container when they serve a large portion of food and I put half of the meal in the container before I start to eat. That way I can enjoy the meal two times without stuffing myself. I eat Italian food and casseroles but not very often. I stick mainly to lean meats that have been grilled, broiled, or roasted and rarely fry anything. If I fry or saute, I use only about 3-4 tablespoons of canola oil. Canola oil is the very best oil to use with olive coming in a close second. I like canola oil since it isn't as heavy and doesn't lend any flavor to what I'm cooking. I do use it when I'm doing something Italian. Below is a sample of what I eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Breakfast
I eat eggs several times a week and try to limit myself to 4-5 egg yolks per week. This helps with cholesterol. I will use one whole egg and one egg white. I will thin it with a little water, instead of milk, since that makes the eggs fluffier. I use regular cheese in omelets because I think the fat free cheese is awful! If I'm going to put the calories in my body, I'm going to enjoy them! LOL When I have eggs I have Oscar Meyer's Canadian Bacon with them or I'll buy the Oscar Meyer Real Bacon Pieces and use them in omelets or eggs. ( I also use the Real Bacon Pieces to make BLT's since there is far less fat!) The Canadian bacon is really good and not salty and nearly no carbs. I also use the Canadian bacon as a sandwich meat instead of ham.
I enjoy a toasted English muffin with a thin layer of peanut butter on it for another breakfast idea.
I rarely eat cereal. If you read the labels, you won't believe the carbs and sugar in them. I do eat Cheerios as a snack sometimes...dry. I also will have Honey Bunches of Oats, but I do measure it out.
I always have fruit. You are fortunate that you are not diabetic. Fruit spikes my sugar. You can eat fruit several times a day and really enjoy it.
Lunch
I don't usually have large lunches. I Iike to save the carbs for my dinner. I will take sandwich meat, a slice of cheese, a condiment, and wrap it in a lettuce leaf. I'll slice radishes with it that gives me the crunch I really need. If I have a left over vegetable, I'll have some of that too.
I recently discovered Campbell's Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup. When prepared, it makes two bowls, so I eat one and save the other. Today, I had some left over chicken breast so I cut it up and added it to the soup. It's 10 carbs a bowl. I also had left over green beans so I had them too. Home made soup is good too, if you don't put all the pasta in it that I do! LOL
I love avocados and they are one of the best foods you can eat to help your cholesterol. I hope you love them too. They are high in fats but it's the good fats! They lower the overall cholesterol and the bad cholesterol but they raise the good cholesterol! There are 3 net carbs in a whole avocado and a lot of fiber! Did you know they were a fruit? The small Hass avocado is the one that has the most vitamins, potassium, and photochemicals that help protect against cancer. (I put a link at the bottom of this email all about avocados.) I will sometimes slice avocado, fresh tomato, cucumber, sweet onion, and seasoning and drizzle with the vinaigrette that I make and that will be my lunch. I use the Good Season Italian and use red wine vinegar and canola oil. I rarely use bottled dressings. I also will take a couple of heaping tablespoons of 2% milkfat cottage cheese and slice avocado over it, a little salt and pepper, and my sliced radishes again for another lunch. Another lunch is I'll make a salad with avocado and blue cheese crumbles. Add left over meat if you have it.
I will get zucchini and summer squash, slice it and saute it in a little margarine and canola oil with fresh sliced mushrooms and sweet onion. Right before I serve it, I give it a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
If I really want a sandwich with bread, I buy Wonder Light Italian bread. It's really pretty good. Nearly all regular bread has about 18 carbs in a slice and one slice is considered a serving! LOL This has only 9 carbs per slice...6 1/12 net carbs! So, I can have a sandwich and still stay pretty much under 15 carbs for the meal. I'll use this at breakfast sometimes, too. I keep it in the refrigerator because I don't eat it that often. It will last a couple of weeks that way.
Dinner
Ahhhh...my favorite meal of the day! I generally have meat or poultry, a potato or pasta, and a vegetable or salad. I grill, broil, or roast my meat (and fish). If I really have a craving for something, I eat it, but not huge amounts of it. I don't deprive myself of anything. That's a sure way to have a diet failure. Actually, this isn't a diet for me. It's the way I choose to eat. I'm never hungry, either! For example, last night I had two pork ribs, a half of a split chicken breast (with skin removed) three small red potatoes, and a salad with avocado, blue cheese crumbles, and my vinaigrette. You can eat as many veggies as you want. They're so good for you.
Snacks
I will usually have a small snack in the afternoon and maybe in the evening. Some of my choices are:
Dean's Lite French Onion Dip served with celery, carrots, or cucumbers
Pop Secret 100 Calorie snack size popcorn
A small handful of nuts. (They have fat but they are good fats, especially almonds and English walnuts.)
Philadelphia brand Salmon with Cream Cheese served with celery and carrots.
Popsicles or Jello with Reddi Whip
Quaker Cheddar Cheese Mini Rice Cakes
Salsa using celery or green pepper for the dipping
I will buy the snack size packages of the "forbidden carbs" that are made for children's lunches. They
have potato chips, Doritos, Fritos, and Cheetos in them. One snack bag has 15 carbs but it
satisfies my cravings. I will only have one bag, even though I could eat the whole thing! LOL
There is an easy way to count carbs without memorizing all of them. Meat (the size of the palm of your hand), a regular size potato, or 1/2 cup serving of mashed potatoes or rice or pasta is equal to 15 carb each. A half cup serving of vegetables is 5 carbs.
These are some of the things I enjoy and find satisfying. I'm never hungry and generally have good energy. I know I've talked about fat and carbohydrate a lot but I think that is so important, too. Some the the low carb diets want you to cut nearly all carbs out of your diet and they also say you can eat a lot of meat and fats. That doesn't make sense to me. I have always been taught "Everything in moderation." You need carbs for the cells to give you energy. There is no test to see how the fat is clinging to your veins and arteries but is sure does that. My husband died of hardening of the arteries at age 51. His mother always made him a bacon sandwich for breakfast, fried nearly everything, so it took it's toll on him. So, I use tub margarine (Parkay), since it doesn't have as much fat and I read labels to see how much fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and sugar there are in a product. I also check the portion size, too. It's a pain at first but you get to know the good foods and the bad ones. I don't buy many prepackaged foods either. (Barber Foods does have a great asparagus and cheese stuffed chicken breast that has only 16 net carbs in it. I had one the other day with a baked potato and a salad with avocado. It was great! It's in the frozen food case. By the way, that meal was under 40 carbs!) I prepare things from scratch so I know what's in them. I rarely have cakes, pies, donuts, any desserts, but I do love ice cream and have it when I get a craving. I don't get the fat free, though, because it's awful. If I'm going to put the calories in my body, I want to enjoy them! When I'm on vacation or go out to eat, I'll eat what I want for the most part. I keep the carb info in the back of my head and decide if I really want something badly. If so, I'll get it.
One last thing. This morning, on the news, they said that you should eat some carbs and some carbs are very good for you! They are the "resistant starch" carbohydrates. They resist digestion in the body, increase fat burning, and reduce hunger! These carbs are potatoes, yams, corn, brown rice, barley, and bananas (slightly green ones). They also said that green beans are THE best in fat burning and not allowing other carbohydrates to absorb and add to your fat. There have been over 130 studies done on this! I guess the article is in the Prevention Magazine this month. I found that very interesting, so I thought I'd pass it on.
Well, I hope you have learned a few things that will help you. If you have any questions, just email me. Also, if you have some good low carb ideas, please pass them along. Have a good evening!
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=5