Low cal Food/recipies/ideas

Lil

Well-Known Member
I personally feel better when I eat meals that follow a 30% protein 30% fat 40% healthy carb ratio.

I keep seeing this and my brain couldn't wrap around 30% fat. It just seems like SO much! But, then I went to the "goals" on myfitnesspal, and I'll be darned if my goals aren't set at 50% carbs, 20% protein and 30% fat! I had no idea it would be so high.
 

Jabberwockey

Well-Known Member
Yes we should. Just a reminder to all about how different foods can be. Had green beans yesterday with my lunch. Rather than open another can for one serving we used a serving of frozen corn. 80 calorie difference. Then again, less protein and potassium in the green beans with more sodium.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
I gained a pound this week. UGH so mad.

Well I have not cheated on food but think the wine is putting me over the top. Switching to vodka and zero lemonade for a few weeks and seeing if that makes a difference. Weekend cocktails only but they can add up I guess.

I will not be discouraged. I have to tweak and tweak what goes in my mouth until I get it right!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
One thing to ask about is the very low fat diet. Really much below 30% fat is considered very low fat. One problem with it is satiety, or feeling full. Fat tells your body that you are full. If you do not have fat in your diet, your body often will not experience feeling full and you will have more cravings and you will over eat and binge more often.

We all got so scared of fat but it truly is an important part of our diet. Our bodies simply don't work without it. Most of us eat way too much of it, especially in the US and other developed countries. But going to no fat or even very low fat diets does not work. It puts our bodies into starvation mode where every single calorie is hoarded and then it is even harder to get the weight off. This puts excess strain on all of our organs, especially our hearts.

My father in law used to put on about 15 or 20 pounds every winter and then he would go on a low fat diet and lose it in the spring. He did this for about 8 years. Then he had a heart attack. In going through his history, the main contributing factor to his heart attack was this weight yo-yo with the very low fat diet and the excessive workout regimen every spring. It just overly stressed his heart, which otherwise had very few risk factors, and gave him the heart attack. Now he eats sensibly most of the time and he made overall lifestyle changes rather than following short term diets.

Having that 30% fat in your diet helps you. It means you don't overeat because you feel full. That little sprinkle of cheese on your salad means your eyes tell your brain you are getting a treat. Your mouth has that mouthfeel that tells you that it has something rich, your body thinks it is getting enough to sustain it until it gets food again. There is a reason we want fat, that we crave it. Fat isn't evil, it is just overdone in most of our diets. We have to learn to moderate it and use it where we get the biggest bang for our buck.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Hard boiled eggs are a pretty good source of protein. If you don't want any fat you can eat only the whites. I mostly hate egg yolks so I tend to not eat them (taste/texture thing - I can tolerate the yolks in some things but not just by themselves).

Right now eggs are pretty cheap, especially at Aldis. One of the big stumbling blocks with hard boiled eggs is how to cook them so they peel without the whites sticking to the shell. The Pioneer Woman has a method that works amazingly well. My J has been using this and peeling a couple of dozen eggs at a time. My husband and son will grab them before work or whatever and it is super convenient.

You bring the eggs to room temperature. Then put them in boiling water and boil for 13 minutes exactly. Then put the eggs into an ice water bath immediately until you can hold one in your hand and it does not feel warm at all. Then peel or store in the shell. Use within a couple of days.

This would be great for lunches, to add protein to a salad or to make a sandwich or even for a quick snack.

And for those of you who have chocolate cravings, remember that dark chocolate is much healthier for you than oreos or cookies or whatever. I was reading a magazine at the doctor's office where they looked at a celebrity's diet and commented. All a nutritionist could find to gripe about for some celeb was her after dinner treat of 3 oreos. The nutritionist wanted her to have dark chocolate instead. I keep little ziplocs from the craft store and will take a bag of chocolate chips and divide it into 50 or 100 calorie portions per ziploc so I can grab one when I get a craving without going overboard. I also will buy the Milky Way Dark Miniatures because I can eat 1 or 2 of those when I get a craving and it will be enough to satisfy me. Much more and I end up feeling sick, actually. But having them portioned out makes it easy. I just keep them in a secret stash away from my kids and hubby because otherwise things "magically" disappear.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
One thing to ask about is the very low fat diet. Really much below 30% fat is considered very low fat.

I did WW once back in the late 80's/early 90's, when they had "exchanges" in stead of points. You got 3 fats servings and 4 protein and 2 sugars - or something like that. Well, after a few weeks, I said to the leader, "My hair is so brittle and my skin is so dry and I just feel awful!" She looked at my food log and had a fit! I had determined that it was in my best interest to not use my "fats". So I'd bought all fat-free items, fat free cheese and mayo and margarine, etc.

Yeah...bad idea. You definitely have to have fat in your diet. I just thought 30% sounded like a lot, but thinking about it, it's really not.

And for those of you who have chocolate cravings, remember that dark chocolate is much healthier for you than oreos or cookies or whatever.

I told Jabber the other night, a bag of Dove dark chocolates in the cupboard would do me just fine. I tend to forget candy in the cupboard, but if I really want chocolate, sucking on one of those and letting its silky yumminess melt in my mouth...:drool: Yeah...that would work for me. lol
 

Jabberwockey

Well-Known Member
Actually Suzie, I'm not intentionally going low fat. That's just how its worked out on My Fitness Pal. We see the nutritionist next week so can adjust from there if we need to. I have several things I want to talk about.

Right now, my breakfast keeps me full all morning without a problem so don't need to worry about that. The nutritionist figured out a very high protein breakfast for me that works very well. As it takes a lot for me to burn out on a meal, especially breakfast, variety isn't really needed either except for Lil.

Yeah, sweets are my downfall. I can open a bag of the miniature candy bars and polish the whole thing off if I'm not paying attention. I haven't found anything yet that really curbs my sweets cravings without me going overboard. The best thing for me so far has been peanut butter and syrup. I mix creamy peanut butter with Mrs. Butterworth's sugar free syrup and eat it. Reasonably healthy as long as I pay attention to portion size. Which I am prone not to do, but working on it!
 
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