Do you all have any suggestions for breaksfast foods (fast breadsfast) that do not involve alot of carbs? I seem to get blow my carbs out of the water from just the first meal; either cereal or yogurt. Each are around 40g carbs per serving...

thanks!

Try one egg, two egg whites and veggies and make an omlette. You can add some low fat cheese too. It is pretty yummy!!

Cassie, for the most part we are eating together, but I have to be really strict with breakfast and lunch to do so, since I am having a hard time counting calories in those types of meals. Our family meals are so redundant as it is, I should really make the time to search online for something new and healthy. I am soo bored. Meat, potatoe or rice side, garlic bread or crossaints, and veggies. Blah, blah, blah. Sloppy joes, tacos, quesedillas, hamburger helper, spaghetti. That about sums it up. I don't mind cooking, but it has to be like 5 normal ingredients or I'm out!! haha. Any ideas?

How We Define Healthy Living in the Kraft Kitchens

Check out this site, lots of easy recipes here,

Figuring out calories and such for a meal is actually pretty simple. It's not exact, but it is close. What you do is to check each ingredients nutritional information per serving. Add all the information together and you have your number.

My wife and I are staying at about 1500 cal/day, and our meals are family meals. We have two boys. Our dinner is usually under 500 calories. We also create a menu for the week, and post it on the fridge. Not only do I now have a shopping list, but I can figure out my calories per meal that way. It also helps curb the spontaneous dinners. We were notorious for saying "what do you want for dinner"? 50% of the time it was fast food. Since we started this menu, we have only eaten fast food (pizza) once since the end of December. The added bonus is we spend less on food by not eating out!

Haarvik-So you just assume that you will be eating about one serving of each ingredient then? I guess if you are trying smaller portions that could be fairly accurate. Are you and your wife losing? I know what you mean about dinner...That was TOTALLY us. Fast food wayyy too many meals per week, and we ain't talking Subway! I'm noticing the difference in the checkbook too. Thanks for the tip.

Kathie-Thanks for the website. Going to check it out tonight after the kiddies go to bed, that is...If I don't grab Twilight and start reading it AGAIN! ;)

Hey, Scndtonun... I get what you are saying. Sounds like some new creativity from Kathie's site might be what you need. With the recipe calculator in the link I gave, you enter the ingredients (search by name and it puts in the nutritional value automatically), then put how many servings it makes; it calculates total. Like, for instance, I make a chicken pot pie and consider a serving 1/6 of it. Other people may say a serving is 1/4 or 1/8...it's completely up to you how to put it in. Then you can put it into your Custom Foods here and put in how much you eat. (I know that sounds really confusing, but go to the recipe calculator and try it).

I just try to make modifications and eat with the family. Like tonight, the guys had steak, potatoes, salad; I had steak, brown rice, salad, broccoli. It was only a couple extra things to microwave without changing the whole dinner or being disappointed with a frozen meal (that really would send me for the chocolate!). Or if they want tacos, for instance, I will make a big taco salad for myself. Same food, basically...different format. If there is something that's hard to modify, like pasta, I just plan ahead for it and compensate the day before or after as well...you don't have to just stick to restricting breakfast and lunch on that same day. Or throw in a bit more exercise.

You will probably surprise yourself at what you come up with. Recipes are everywhere. I like to try new ones and we classify them as "keepers," "let's not do this ever again," and "keepers with some tweaking." But you are right, it does take time and effort to find them. You will do it and soon it will be second nature.

Haarvik, great idea about preplanning! I am guilty of leaving dinner till the last minute sometimes also (or forgetting to take something out of the freezer). That can wreck my plan. I should jot down the dinners on the calendar on the fridge; then I can make sure I have the ingredients, that things are thawed, and also can balance my other meals out. Thanks!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned insulin sensitivity. I recommend you Google it and educate yourself all about it -- too long to go into here.

For most of my own weight battle I suffered the same problem, Kathie. I'd try every ruse under the sun to lose fat while avoiding giving up my high-carb triggers altogether. Then, keeping it short and simple, two things happened: I finally convinced myself that I had to get tough about it because keeping the triggers in my plan was torpedoing the plan, and I discovered, learned about and incorporated the principle of insulin sensitivity into my eating.

Short version: Learn to love the Glycemic Index. In brief, every food has a glycemic index number. This is a quick way to assess how fast a food reaches your bloodstream. The longer it takes, the better for fat loss. The rule of thumb: Don't eat anything with a glycemic number higher than 55, period.

Doing this will have the effect of "smoothing out" your insulin release. It's the insulin spikes that happen when you eat say white pasta that keep you craving more of the same. (I'm trying to keep this short, so I'm way oversimplifying.) When you restrict yourself to low glycemic-number foods, you cultivate a nice, low, slow insulin release that -- and here's the big good news -- eventually will cause you to lose the cravings for the high glycemic stuff, the very foods you're having a problem with. It will take awhile, but not a long while.

Google insulin sensitivity, Google Glycemic Index, and become an expert for yourself. Then, make up your mind that for two weeks you will never never ever eat any food above 55. Then watch the results. Unless you have some sort of metabolic condition, like diabetes or pre-diabetes or some such, in other words, if your digestive system is "normal", I [B]promise[B] you, your carbaholicism will either disappear altogether or be reduced sufficiently that you can handle it.

Honest. Would I lie to you? :)

carbs
 

Hello

Way to go, I find I eat healthy carbs at end of the day is too much, how much carbs did you have each day.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks