August 16, 2006

The Snackies (Day 3)

The 5 Day Diet

It's day 3...and I'm finally convinced; this diet is less of a "torture" than I initially thought it would be. Breakfast is my favorite meal. I usually get myself a good bowl of fat free yogurt and yummy fresh fruit on top. After a couple of hours....I get restless and need to munch! Not because I'm hungry; but *shrug* ....eating is fun! *laughs*
Here's some of the snacks I've set aside as tidbits for everyone to snack on throughout the day.
  • We each have a jar of dried fruit and a mixture of nuts to last us 5 days.
Seems there's barely a nut out there whose health benefits aren't being touted these days. That's because while nuts are relatively high in fat, they're high in unsaturated fats, including omega-3s, and also high in fiber. In recent years numerous studies have linked eating nuts to better heart health and improved cholesterol levels.

What About Calories?Yes, nuts are calorie-dense. But studies show that people who eat nuts actually tend to be thinner than those who don't, perhaps because nuts are so filling that eating them helps you eat less of other foods.
But don't go overboard. Aim for 1 to 2 ounces of nuts (1 ounce is about 7 shelled walnuts) as a daily average, and try to eat them instead of other sources of calories, rather than as an addition. (Readers Digest)
  • Light yogurt with canned fruit in natural fruit juice.
Calcium, the body's most abundant mineral, plays a critical role in bone health, but it does much more than that. Calcium permits cells to divide, regulates muscle contraction and relaxation, keeps the heart beating and the brain working, plays an important role in the movement of protein and nutrients inside cells, helps control blood pressure, and is essential for blood clotting. Calcium also seems to protect against heart attacks and certain types of cancers.
Both men and women over age 50 should be eating 1,200 mg of calcium a day. The chart below shows the calcium content of some common foods. (Readers Digest)
Food
Amount
Calcium
Yogurt 1 8-oz. container 400 mg
Low-fat milk 1 8-oz. glass 300 mg
Green beans 1 cup 60 mg
Orange 1 50 mg
  • Cold vegetable sticks and cherry tomatoes for something to munch on. I love these crisp and cold in the fridge.
  • Quick Oats with dried fruit and berries. (which everyone is too lazy to make on their own! Haha)
In the lexicon of weight loss, the term "good carbs" refers to complex carbohydrates. These are foods like whole grains, nuts, beans, and seeds that are composed largely of complex sugar molecules that require lots of time and energy to digest into the simple sugars your body needs for fuel.

One of the biggest benefits of foods rich in complex carbs is that they also contain large amounts of fiber. Fiber, in bas
ic terms, is the indigestible parts of plant foods. It is the husk on the grain of wheat, the thin strands in celery, the crunch in the apple, the casings on edible seeds. Fiber protects you from heart disease, cancer, and digestive problems. Depending on the type of fiber (yes, there are more than one!), it lowers cholesterol, helps with weight control, and regulates blood sugar.

Snack on dried fruit every day. Tasty, chewy, satisfying, easy to eat on the go -- and loaded with fiber. Try dried apricots, dates, figs, peaches, pears, and bananas.

(Readers Digest)
  • 97% fat free Fruit and snack bars....honestly; these are probably the worst tasting of all the other snacks we have! *sigh* wish I never bought them. They aren't cheap either! $ 4.50 for 6 bars?! *gasp*
  • Light crackers topped with low fat tzatziki and tuna flakes in springwater.
Not only are fish and seafood wonderful, low-fat replacements for higher-fat meats, but they're the best source of omega-3 fatty acids you'll find. You don't have to get fancy; tuna -- even canned -- is perfectly fine. In fact, in one study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, people who ate 8 ounces or more of fish per week -- mostly from canned tuna -- lowered their risk of a having a fatal heart attack by 40 percent over those who didn't eat fish regularly. But buy your tuna packed in water; when you drain oil-packed tuna, you also drain as much as one-quarter of the omega-3 fatty acids; draining water-packed tuna removes just 3 percent. (Readers Digest)

8 comments:

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

Personally, I wouldnt buy them again....but ive had people telling me they quite like them! LOL I guess I just expect too much from fat free food.

Yan said...

I don't like those fruit bars... Besides from being too expensive (I can finish one bar in two bites LOL), it is also usually sugar laden.

A lot of people think fat free is good and usually it is. However, that's not the case when it's 98% fat free and yet the manufacturer adds more sugar and other things to compensate for the loss of flavour. Try reading the food lables, aim for those with the lowest sugar content per 100g (usually underneath the 'carbohydrate' heading). You'll be surprised with how much sugar they add to your food!

Jen said...

yay... you can make it, not long to go!

Unknown said...

Suyin, check this out.

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

Yan: LOL I didn't see that!! god...no wonder they were so sweet. Still werent tasty though :(. Haha Id go for the fresh stuff anytime! Hehe

Jenjen:THanks jen...2 more days! I'm getting ready for the gelato classes ;) hehe

Puspha:Oh WOW!! sounds fun!! thanks for the link! haha I wouldnt have found it on my own...hehe I'll definitely set aside some time for that. Id be away for the weekend so i'll try to come up with something after that

Lex said...

hey su yin! tuna in water and wholemeal bread is great!!! :D
I love it and btw, I've tried ur big cookies and I posted bout it on my blog.. tell me what u think :D thanks

Anonymous said...

wow ur meals dun actually look too bad~ looks quite yummy~!! ganbatte!
vonzi

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

lex: woW! they look great! haha nice job. tuna in springwater isnt exactly my favourite *blregh* hahaha

vonzi: haha thanks :) Our last day tmrw! Cant wait!