kodokan

Ditch your ridiculous volumetric measuring system, and do nutrition info per 100g, like the rest of the civilized world

scrubbedexpat091

We have a mish-mash here in Canada. Serving size of yogurt (youplait is the one I have) is 100grams, but serving size of bread is 60g and cereal is using cups and a serving is 1/4 cup, but the other brand of cereal uses grams and their serving is 30g..

I would not mind a consistent way like per 100 grams, would make things easier.

sir_eccles

One trick is to avoid "diet" foods. Too often they are low fat but high in sugar. They therefore give you a quick fix but don't satisfy you so you end up hungry sooner. Full fat is better for you, takes longer for the body to process so you feel satisfied longer.

All in moderation of course.

Hotscot

Good point.
I'm with the eat healthy food till you're satisfied crowd.
Just had a large salad with boneless Buffalo wings...

scrubbedexpat091

I eat all day which is my killer, but I did switch to mostly veggies to snack on now so figure it can't be too bad anymore. I am a grazer and can't eat just meals, or I end up hungry most of the day. I admit my snacks before were crap, but I think it takes a lot of carrots to even come close to the calories in what I was snacking on...

Doesn't help that a medication I am on causes increased appetite...lol

WEBlue

I agree about carrots--I cannot stomach the texture and weird flavourlessness of a serving of cooked carrots, but I love them raw and snack on them all the time. Wish celery was cheaper and less loaded with pesticides, because I used to love that raw too but hardly ever buy it now. Celery's another one that I dislike cooked--too squishy.

However...I will say that when I make vegetable soups I chop up all these--yes, even carrots & celery--and cook them up along with onions (essential) and dried (soaked) beans plus whatever herbs I have around, and those formerly-hated cooked veg become magically delicious. I guess it's the chopping them small & mixing them into all the rest of the flavours.

kodokan

Is it genuine hunger, do you know, or more habit snacking? If habit, or that sense of 'I just want some taste/ texture in my mouth' then sure, veggies are a good choice - hardly any calories and lots of vitamins. Other alternatives could be sugar-free gum, or making a hot drink (green tea apparently actively helps weight loss a little).

If it's blood sugar crashing - that sense of being slightly shaky and suddenly grumpy - it's not hunger per se (real hunger feels different, more like waves, as I've fascinatingly learnt from fasting days). Avoid meals that are too carby - breakfast cereal, say - and swap in some proteins and fats. They'll help level out blood sugar spikes, and suppress hunger for much longer. A small handful of nuts - about 12-15 almonds - or a couple of thin slices of cheese would probably leave you hunger-free for hours.

My daughter's quite susceptible to this; my son isn't at all. He can breakfast on pancakes, syrup and orange juice, and be perfectly happy all morning. She needs to add in a few nuts, or a strip of bacon, or a hard-boiled egg, else she's a total wreck by 9.30am.

N1cky

I started at a bootcamp last night, I had to fill a questionnaire out at the beginning, and one of the sections was,

1) would you say your weight is gradually decreasing/increasing or staying the same?

2) how much do you weigh now?

3) how much weight have you gained in the last year?

4) if you continue your weight gain at the same rate as the last year, in 5 years you will weigh?

Yikes! #4 was scary

GeoffM

I have IBS issues, have had for 20+ years, but usually I might have a 3-day bout and then nothing for months. But in the last few months it's been almost constant and I can't pin down why. My dr, aside from ordering a CT scan of the belly and blood tests, wants me to go on a FODMAP diet which, frankly, looks like hell. I'd rather die young and relatively happy than old and miserable!

Anyway, one thing I am trying is to avoid the diet sodas. I can't stand full fat coca cola as I find it too sweet and a nasty aftertaste so I always drank diet coke, just for the taste of it. Now I'm switching to full fat to get off the aspartame and suchlike that diet stuff has as I suspect that might be a problem for me - and, admittedly, the scaremongering going on about aspartame turning to formaldehyde in your brain kind of puts me off a bit! Full fat Pepsi is not so bad in taste for me.

shazbot

Without a doubt. I've gained so much weight. I don't eat out much but when I do, I want ALL the food. Mostly though it's due to inactivity. I don't drive and its just impossible to get anywhere here in Houston on foot, sidewalks just disappear onto highways. Crossing is a game of chicken. I try to go to the gym everyday but honestly, some days, I just can't find motivation to shift my lazy butt off of the sofa. Vicious cycle.

NatashaB

I put on tons when I got here - a combination of being on a food shopping budget, eating too much of the American foods I love, and it being too cold to go to the gym in winter. I have shifted 45lb since January by eating clean, but it really is tough here, it's so hard to find unprocessed foods and very expensive to shop at Whole Foods! I have also started (for the first time ever) resisting the urge to eat everything on my plate at restaurants - now I usually take half home for lunch the following day.

Hotscot

Two years ago...234 Ibs.....(beer)
Three weeks ago...223 Ibs
Today 216 Ibs

Target...195Ibs....(weight when I came here.)

Dinner time is either salad, or vegetables and protein. Nothing boring, lot's of variations.
For example, over three nights.
1. Stuffed clams, sauteed zucchini and red onion.
2. Grilled fish and grain salad, (quinoa, brown rice, almonds, tomatoes.)
3. Tonight, grilled lamb chops with pomegranate/shallot reduction with Lima beans. (The reduction from my own garden.)

(Should be easier coming out of the summer, less beer, more hiking. Also, not all fat but building muscle in the gym and yard work.)

Michael

If you haven't tried it, I'd try a diet of Gatorade/PowerAde which contain electrolytics, 0% yogurt with multiple active and live probiotics such as Chobani Greek yogurt, rice, dry toast, and applesauce and stay completely away from milk products except for the yogurt for about a week before trying FODMAP. You can also try blueberries, asparagus, and pickles which are also contain probiotics.

Chobani - Fruit On The Bottom

Although I never had IBS but had regular stomach cramps/diarrhea for over 2 weeks but once I started on that diet, the cramps disappeared and the problem was completely gone in two weeks.

petitefrancaise

[QUOTE=My dr, aside from ordering a CT scan of the belly and blood tests, wants me to go on a FODMAP diet which, frankly, looks like hell.

Anyway, one thing I am trying is to avoid the diet sodas. I can't stand full fat coca cola as I find it too sweet and a nasty aftertaste so I always drank diet coke, just for the taste of it. Now I'm switching to full fat to get off the aspartame and suchlike that diet stuff has as I suspect that might be a problem for me - and, admittedly, the scaremongering going on about aspartame turning to formaldehyde in your brain kind of puts me off a bit! Full fat Pepsi is not so bad in taste for me.[/QUOTE]

I'd go with the CT scan and blood tests before starting any diet. If you change your diet and then have blood tests, the test results won't reflect your "real" diet. Drs can also figure out quite a lot from testing your blood - if you go to see a gastroenterologist they'll quite likely tell you to go away and eat "normally" for 3-6 months before testing you (been there )

Ditch the soda and if you want the caffeine - drink coffee, much better for you!

GeoffM

Coffee

As it happens I just got back from the CT scan. Told to book in at 7:30 for a 9am appointment. Got there 7:15, nobody about. Waited for half an hour before I was checked in. Eventually at 8:15 I get the barium drink and I drink it within 15 minutes, about a litre I guess - and told that it'll take 1.5 hours to get into the system, so about 10am. Finally I get scanned at 11am. Grrr. Half a day gone again.