Your diet can't do without foods
 

Hi guys & gals,

am looking for some thin-speration :) food wise as am getting a little bored with eating the same things. Can you please tell me the snacks and meals that are your diet "can't do withouts".

Mine are:
salad
diet coke
sugar free jelly (sometimes with added fruit, orange jelly with tinned orange segiments is delish!)
apples
almonds
raw carrots
cherry toms
very l/f cheese spead
cuppa soups & ww soups
tea
chewing gum
boiled egg and tinned toms on toast (weekend breakfast treat!)

all suggestions welcome!

pistachio nuts (almonds, too)
Greek yogurt
chicken breast
cayenne pepper & Old Bay seasoning
Cabot reduced fat cheese
frozen yogurt
strawberries (all fruit, actually)
raw spinach
shrimp
brown rice
herbal tea
FitDay (lol!)

That's what I can think of off the top of my head...

yes, chicken and prawns - great l/f protein. hmm will try the frozen yogurt/greek yogurt and mixing up my fruit/nuts. Cost is an issue though and apples and carrots are just so cheap!

thanks for your reply cassie

Hmm..

Greek Yogurt
Chicken breasts
Ground turkey
"Perfect Pinch" no-salt spice mixes
fruit, especially bananas, apples, strawberries
shrimp
fish (esp. tilapia and salmon)
beans
multi-vitamin
Laughing Cow cheese
Skinny Cow frozen treats (for when I must have ice cream)

That's off the top of my head - FitDay and nutritional calculators too!! Support and information, definitely two must-haves.

Good One..

Lemons
Stevia
Homemade Frozen Yogurts
Coca cola zero
Any fruit and Vegie
Whey Protein (I'm out for now)
Goats Milk
Dry roasted Chickpeas
seedless golden raisins
my instant coffee lol
lowfat/ no fat yogurt
Any type of fish or chicken
Vitamins

These are pretty much the things I eat on a daily basis to help me overcome the muchnies, nip the sweet cravings, flavor my water, or do a quick meal replacement smoothie. :D If I didn't have the things in this list I'd be totally hopeless here lol Also my electric Grill and hand mixer!

Lean Pockets!
 

For me, it's Lean Pockets. There are SO many yummy flavors and it's an easy way for me to keep my calories in check at lunch time. Since I work full time, it's easy to grab and eat at my desk with a serving of light pringles and a diet coke!

35 calorie whole wheat bread
flatout wraps, lite original 90 cal ea
tuna packed in water
fresh fruit (whatever is on sale)
deli slices (honey ham and turkey)
Kraft ff American cheese slices 25 cal ea
Laughing Cow cheese wedges 35 cal ea
Jell-O sugar-free pudding cups 60 cal ea
Fiber One 4oz yogurt cups 50 cal ea
Slimbuns 100 cal ea
Fresh Mushrooms
Hard boiled eggs - deviled eggs
ff Miracle Whip
Mustard
Pickle relish (for egg, tuna and chicken salad)
Unsweetened almond milk 35 cal/cup (for coffee creamer and smoothies)
Dannon Lite & Fit yogurt
Splenda with added fiber
Spray butter
Chicken
Greek yogurt, Dannon plain
ff cottage cheese
Special K crackers
Ak-mak crackers
Breton low fat crackers
reduced fat micro popcorn bags
frozen blueberries
spaghetti squash
green beans (in the freezer from last summer's garden)
salsa
ff sour cream
rf peanut butter
almonds
pistachios
Pure Protein bars
EAS Whey powder in chocolate and vanilla (bag of each)
Canned soup (any kind so long as the whole can is less than 350 calories)
Diet hot cocoa packets
tea bags
coffee

Fabulous, now I'm hungry.

This is something I figured out while trying to increase my protein. I never ate this my entire life but I eat the every week now. I have it as a snack or dessert.

1/2 cup canned pineapple chunks, liquids drained
1/4 cup fat free cottage cheese
add a sprinkle of Lawry's Seasoned Salt. (I know salt is bad, but it's what makes this so good)

The whole thing is about 95 calories.

It's also good on cantaloupe, too.

Other must have items:
Apples, Strawberries, Bananas, Grapes
Almonds
Chicken, Turkey, Fish - Tilapia and Salmon
Brown Rice
Sweet Potatoes
Legumes
Oatmeal
Eggs
Skim Milk
Water

fat-free cheese (cottage cheese, american cheese, mozzarella, cream cheese, and so on)

100-calorie bags of microwave popcorn

liquid egg whites (buy in a carton at the supermarket)

bran crackers

plain, unflavored whey (Bob's Red Mill is just one example) for making fruit smoothies

bags of pre-washed salad greens for a quick, easy salad

individually wrapped chicken breasts, already frozen, to keep in the freezer

chicken broth to make a non-cream soup with various vegetables

Low-fat Lay's potato chips (contain Olestra, which can cause some people to have a digestive reaction - don't know what that is, but I've never had it and these things are unbelievably tasty for a potato chip lover....!)

Pellegrino/lemon

almonds

rice cakes~~sour cream/onion and bbq

sugar free jello pudding with fat free cool whip ( but I stopped buying the cool whip cause I was getting carried away.) :D

carrots!!

Babybell lights

turkey tacos

Almost all my "skinny" food have already been listed, but one I didn't see above are Alternative Bagels and pitas. They're a little hard to find, but they finally started selling them at my grocery store. They're high in protein and fiber and a little lower in calories and carbs. I top them with whatever I have around... tuna, turkey, or natural peanut butter are a few options.

some great answers which I will be transferring to my shopping list! :) :)

I forgot:
canned tuna
low-cal hot choc
salmon, sweet potato mash with carrots and brocolli makes a great & healthy (&easy) dinner

A new just discovered food
 

I went to the store for some crackers to have with my beautiful salad for lunch, the Special K Crisps were on sale, so I tried them, 110 calories for 30 of them, and 10 was plenty to accompany my salad. They taste somewhat fake (like rice cakes?), but fill a potato chip desire!

Other go to foods - Mashed Cauliflower.
Dr. Praegers Spinach pancakes,
Cottage cheese with hot salsa (an acquired taste!)

If you can find them, Flatout Crisps are great...high fiber, whole grain, protein, and good fat; a healthier nutrition profile than most of the crackers out there.

oat bran
dried coconut, no added sugar
cacao nibs
tons of fruit (i love them all)
tons of veggies (eggplant, leafy greens, and red peppers are my fav)
olive oil
lemon
dry rubs
chicken thighs, no skin
whole grain bread
veggie and bean homemade soups
cheese (in moderation) it keeps me full
canned pumpkin
all nuts
olives
pickels
all natural peanut butter with cayenne pepper on top of beans, served hot! :)
any kind of plain yogurt (greek or not)--i stay away from the fruit flavored ones bc they have too much sugar in them. instead just add your own fruit. also, i think the ones with fat in them are healthier for me bc they keep me satisfied.
1% low fat milk or almond milk
tea
lots of water

apples
eggs
almonds
I love spinach salads!

These are the things on my diet I never get tired of:
Bacon
Coffee with heavy cream
Oven roasted cauliflower - yummm
Green bean crisps
Artichokes
Palm hearts

I read somewhere that human beings were meant to only eat vegetables based on the type of teeth we have.

Also, communities whose citizens live longest only eat meat once a week, according to one Time Magazine article. Just a thought ;)

soft boiled eggs on whole wheat toast
lentils
spinach (cooked, in salads, everywhere)
broccoli w garlic & lemon
bananas (love after workouts, or before runs if I've not eaten, or @ night if I've got the munchies)
ham
tuna w/ green onions & celery
greek yogurt
tilapia
shrimps (w garlic, paprika, lemon & olive oil)
turkish coffee
frozen berries
whole grain mustard
broth

I love tomatoes, but can't find any nice ones. Thinking of growing some instead, but it seems complicated...

Oven roasted Brussels sprouts, and any other vegetable roasted for that matter.

Lentils (eaten with the vegetables).

Eggs of any kind (except soft boiled) or egg whites, often as omelets with veggies such as mushrooms, broccoli and onions
Broccoli, usually steamed
Nuts- usually almonds or pistachios, those cocoa covered almonds save me when I am craving sweets
Nitrite free bacon, I found one that is soooooo good
chicken, chicken and more chicken
Burgers of any kind, minus bun nowadays
sugar free mayo
stevia -there's a brand online my friend gets with no bitter aftertaste, not promoting product just saying
fish, usually grilled
sardines
soup, homemade whenever possible, very filling and good: I try to find or make lowish sodium
pure soy powder add to soy milk to make shakes (dairy allergy)
strawberries, cantaloupe or other fruit, thank goodness for fruit

Finally, a little cheat now and then to keep me going: my cheats of choice: pizza (often with veggies) and dark chocolate, gotta have a cheat -not in marriage just on diet

I love how Cassie added Fitday as a "can't do without"

I've only been doing this three weeks so I'm not bored yet, but here are some of the foods I am very fond of.

Miso soup, made with fresh miso paste, red Thai rice (healthier than most noodles; I'm sure other rices are good too, I just happened to try this one and was blown away), random veg, tofu if I have it in stock, plus a bit of seaweed (wakame) and sesame seeds, some ginger purée if I fancy it. My local Chinese supermarket is shut for a month, I have run out of miso, and I am sulking about this.

A bar of very dark chocolate kept in the cupboard for occasional treats. The one I'm using at the moment is 85% cocoa as I wanted to go fairtrade, but you can get 90% and even 99% cocoa. At this level, I don't want to eat more than a small piece anyway.

Houmous in various incarnations, e.g. on rice cakes, using it as a dip with carrot sticks and other appropriate veggies.

Strawberries, grapes, cherries, and any other fruit of that nature - my partner and I love to eat these curled up in bed to watch TV last thing in the evening, so I associate them with silly programmes and plenty of snuggling.

One of my comfort soups is made easily by sautéing a chopped small onion in olive oil, adding some quinoa flakes and stock (I use Marigold bouillon powder), and some frozen peas when it's nearly done. Very quick and easy.

Almonds and raisins, or sunflower seeds and raisins (green raisins are particularly good), or very occasionally, almonds and little bits of chocolate - haven't had these for a while, actually.

Salad made with chickpeas, carrots, tomatoes, other veg as desired, and various bits and bobs such as sundried tomatoes, olives or raisins.

Pasta, green pesto and green peas or baby soya beans.

Sauté a chopped onion, add garlic and spices (cinnamon, cumin and coriander), throw in a tin of green or brown lentils, and serve on pasta. This makes 2-3 portions and is a good hearty dish with lots of protein that my partner's very fond of, and ooh, I might make it tonight.

Chocolate tea - if I'm off chocolate apart from the aforementioned occasional tiny pieces, I want to get my chocolate fix from somewhere!

Just checking here, but I've only ever heard "thinspiration" used by anorexics. Are you struggling with an eating disorder?

This sounds amazing! I've been wanting to attempt to make miso soup for ages.

I don't consider myself on a "diet" but I am trying to stick to whole foods with less meat. When I do eat processed foods I only eat a small handful (like these pretzels I just got...to DIE for!). I've been cooking from scratch more. When I want a sweet treat I bake it myself and I make healthy adustments.

It is amazing how much more satisfied you get when you eat "real" food instead of processed food (crackers, cereal, chips, cookies, etc).

I love Greek yogurt and I second whoever said that they have to eat it with fat...the 2% Fage is AMAZING. I put in a little spoonful of all-natural jelly and some fruit.

Miso soup is fantastic stuff when it's fresh! High in salt (my blood pressure tends to be low so I'm OK with that), though no more than processed foods I'd imagine, but also rich in electrolytes and probiotics and so forth. The way I make the soup is to put the chopped veggies in a smallish pan, add just enough boiling water, simmer until they're done. If I'm using ginger purée, that goes in the pan too. Meanwhile, if I'm using wakame seaweed, the first thing that happens before I start to chop the veg is that a bit of that gets crumbled up into smaller pieces and goes into the bowl together with cold water. By the time the veg are done, the wakame has rehydrated. Then I put in a good spoonful (tbsp?) of fresh miso paste and mix it to a thinner paste with the small amount of water left in the bowl (don't worry about the wakame, that doesn't really get in the way), still doing all this in the bowl. Add a tiny dash of toasted sesame oil and mix that in too. Finally I pour in the veg together with the water they're been cooking in, mix it all up together, add more miso if needed, add some diced tofu (you want nice fresh tofu with a good flavour), and a teaspoonful (possibly less) of sesame seeds. That's the basic soup without the rice or noodles, which I usually add. For the rice, just put the rice on ahead of time in the pan you're going to use, then add the water and the veg. For noodles, I generally go for fresh udon noodles, and you can sling them in the pan shortly before the veg are ready. If you are cooking veg of different hardnesses, such as carrot, mushroom, mange tout, add them one at a time. Apart from putting the rice on advance, the whole thing takes about five minutes and is dead tasty. It's more substantial with that red rice I mentioned, and no doubt healthier than those refined white noodles. I've used dried and fresh rice noodles in the past too. I think you can do pretty much anything with this. No idea about adding meat or fish, I've been veggie for 2/3 of my life, but I'm sure you can look up miso soup recipes easily enough.

Note that you're not boiling the miso, wakame or the tofu. Miso is delicate and is meant to be damaged by boiling, while I find that tofu gets rubbery if you put it in to boil. Diced fairly small, it warms up in the soup very quickly. As for wakame, it gets slimy if it's rehydrated for too long. You only need a small amount, it absorbs a lot of water.

I suspect this of having thermogenic properties, since it always warms me up and often brings out a sweat, but I've never found much info about it online. Who cares, it's delicious and healthy!

Fat free cottage cheese with pineapple, Greek yogurt, strawberries/all fruits!, thin-cut pork chops with no fat, wheat germ (goes on a lot of things), frozen veggies of all kinds, occasional steak (filet mignon, no extra fat), fat free milk, whole grain cereals, almond granola bars, Crystal Lite drink mixes, Laughing Cow cheese wedges, low-fat Triscuit. I have an incurable sweet tooth and have found that Newton Fruit Thins cookies are exactly what I need to satisfy it. About 45 calories each. Diet ginger ale. Baked potatoes with yogurt instead of sour cream. Subway subs now and then.