Your Best Diet Tips

[Goalie]

Post your best diet tips here. ;D

I was always told you could eat as much fruit and vegetables as you want from 8am to noon, have a good lunch and supper and then nothing but fruit and vegetables after 6 pm. This is suppose to work.

[gemic]

I borrowed this from my diet place. These are my daily "free foods" that I can eat in addition to my diet plan.

Beverages:
your beverage of choice should be water…it's the best for hydrating you and quenching your thirst. Recommendations are for eight 8-ounce glasses daily. We advise you to limit caffeinated beverages to one or two cups daily. You can replace 2-4 glasses of your water with any of the below:

* low sodium bouillon or broth
* Sugar-free drink mixes
* Sodium-free club soda or seltzer
* Herbal tea or decaffeinated tea
* decaffeinated coffee
* Water: (add a squeeze of lemon or lime for flavor)

Sweets

* 1 sugar free gelatin dessert (limit to 3 daily servings)
* jam/jelly sugar free (2 tsp)
* Nonfat sugar free whipped topping (2 tbs)
* Sugar-free gum (1-5 sticks daily)

Condiments
You can buy many of these items as low sodium items.

* ketchup; horseradish, mustard, dill pickles, salsa (1 tbs)
* vinegar
* Lemon and lime juice

Veggies

* unlimited raw salad (see Salad & Vegetables)

Other

* non stick cooking spray

[niaru]

goaliemom said:

nothing but fruit and vegetables after 6 pm.

Oh my I've been doing it all WRONG all these years!!

And it's all hubby's fault. He hardly eats any lunch, and then he wants a big dinner, preferably with pasta or rice or potatoes.

I was raised with a "normal" lunch (lettuce, meat or fish, veggies, cheese and or dessert) and a very light dinner, such as salad, soup, etc.

Grrrr.

I should stop eating bread, pasta, corn and sweets...then I'm sure I'd lose weight. If only I could do it!

[Smay]

I don't know guys - I just heard TODAY on some tv show that research shows eating big meals after 6 p.m. doesn't change a thing about how you metabolize it. They've been saying for years and years that if you eat late, you will store the food as fat. I guess that just ain't true. Good thing too, cause I eat dinner real late. And I have dessert too!

[gemic]

Research comes and research goes though. I have noticed that if I hadn't eaten some of my daytime snacks, that if I ate them at night instead, I didn't lose as much weight the next day, usually gained some. So I try not to eat too much in the evening.

[niaru]

It probably depends a lot on individual metabolism.

For instance, feed Smay lots of fatty food and candy, and she'll remain as lean as ever.
Now if I do the same thing I'll turn into a ball. lol

I try not to eat too much too late because then I can't sleep as well. Plus I feel awful.

[Shelby]

I like Weight Watchers, where you count points, both for what you eat and also have exercise counting. All foods are a go, but it also teaches you how to get the most "bang for your buck", so to speak. I chose healthy choices, heavy on 0-Point veggies (as many as you like), and after 6 pm a light snack of tea and a few low fat cinnamon grahams, either plain, if I use a bit of honey in the tea, or some apple or pumpkin butter if having my tea w/o honey.

[Kim]

So, would an apple be a good snack? Or does it have too much natural sugar to keep your blood sugar level?

[Smay]

Sometimes when I want a treat I eat sugar cubes...

HAHAHAA!!! I am not kidding unfortunately.

[gemic]

Kim, it does have natural sugar, but I believe the glycemic book I have encourages small apples with skins. The skin helps keeping bloodsugar stable.

[sarafina]

duct tape across the mouth AND the fridge....

[gemic]

Lol I don't think hubby would like the duct tape on the fridge. Across the mouth might work!

[niaru]

yes but it doesn't quiet rumbles of the stomach...

[mom2flash]

Here are mine:

Keep moving all day long. Between riding horses three to four days a week, my barn chores like mucking stalls, etc., keeping the house and raising our kids, I literally never sit still.

Eat lots of small meals throughout the day. It increases your metabolism. I call it "grazing". It can be difficult to do this, depending on your job, though.

Eat slowly and recognize when you are full. This sounds simple enough, but lots of people eat until they're miserable, not just satiated. Here's a trick, when you've finished half of the food on your plate, wait for about 3-5 minutes before finishing. You may be surprised to find yourself feeling full already.

Cut sugar out of what you drink and increase your water intake. Most people don't pay nearly as much attention to the amount of calories in their beverages as they do to the amount in the food they eat. So the calories from beverages really add up.

It's ok to have a cookie for dessert, but not a plate full of cookies (my DH is guilty of this and has the gut to prove it).

[gemic]

Also try using smaller plates and bowls. You get a smaller portion, but you don't feel robbed by a half empty plate when it's dished up.

Have your salad while dinner is cooking, you'll be happier with the smaller serving when you dish up.