Tasty Low Cal Foods

[bab]

Well, I've started a diet, and it's started out fairly well. I always miss bold flavors that I can't seem to get from "healthy" foods. This time around I had a couple of strokes of genius while in the grocery, and I was looking to see what everyone else has. Most of the low cal recipies are either extremely time consuming to make, don't taste great, or are not really low cal afterall. Here's are my "secrets"

 

1. I don't like lettuce, so I don't really like salads, and definitely not without dressing. But, I've switched from lettuce to Baby Spinach which scores well in the low cal and nutrition and taste departments. Instead of salad dressing, I've used fresh squeezed lemon juice over my spinach, carrot, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers. Tasty and less than 100 calories.

 

2. Grilled Chicken breasts. I've always marinated them, but most marinades have at least 30-40 calories a tbsp, which adds up fast when you are smothering a chicken breast in it. So, I've switched to chicken/rib rub, which has a tasty bold flavor, but no calories. (yes, lots of salt, so careful if you need to limit salt intake)

 

3. I also have pickles for a before dinner snack. Also 0 calories. At least this is what the jar says, but anyway, there can't be many.

 

So, what other type of diet "secrets" do you guys have? I'm hoping to accumulate quite a few so that I can keep my food interesting and tasty at the same time.

[Naive]

Well...water has no calories:p

[EnigmaXOXO]

I love the kick of Tex-Mex. :love:

 

I often use cumin or chili powder to flavor lean meats instead of salt. Fresh Salsa, with it's hundreds of varieties, is a great substitute for gravy and really adds a lot to both cooked vegetables and fresh salads.

[alphamale]

chili is usually low fat if made with lean meat. it is tasty, hearty, with lots of protien from the beans and has lots of flavour and little fat.

[JS17]

They do just about everything and anything with tofu these days. I can imagine it would be harder to find a lot of it outside of metropolitan areas but there are some low cal tofu things that I just can't live without. My current obsession is Smart "Chicken" strips. I turned my mom, who is adamantly opposed to tofu, on to smoked "turkey" salad.

[witabix]

chili is usually low fat if made with lean meat. it is tasty, hearty, with lots of protien from the beans and has lots of flavour and little fat.

 

 

Oh Alpha, so dissappointed with that reply.

 

Come come now:D you can do better!

[JS17]

Oh Alpha, so dissappointed with that reply.

 

Come come now:D you can do better!

Actually, that stuff's pretty fattening

[witabix]

Actually, that stuff's pretty fattening

 

Only for nine months or so though! :bunny: :bunny:

[bab]

Mmmm...Salsa, that sounds like a good idea.

 

I actually found a couple of websites that mentioned that Chili can be a great food depending on the ingrediants. Which makes sense, beans, ground turkey, tomatoes, and chili powder wouldn't be that bad.

[Outcast]

Eliminate the meat from meals and you can drop a lot of fat. There are tons of veggie chili recipes, for instance, and tofu's ideal to go in any strongly-flavoured food such as chili.

 

I finally learned to love tofu - I cut the firmer kind in very small cubes and when I'm sauteeing vegies (in very little olive oil), I toss in the tofu cubes for just a few moments. Any other fried tofus I'd had previously had been fried too long and were tough and icky but if you cook them briefly until they're beginning to brown around the edges, they're quite good. But you can do Tofu Joes or add it to scrambled eggs even! You get the protein you need minus a lot of fat.

 

Also go find Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss books - they have tons of good ideas for healthy foods with low calories. Cooking Light magazine is also great - they'll take fatty recipes that people love like pound cake and rework them to be much healthier besides having lots and lots of original low-fat low-cal recipes.

[Tangerina]

I am a vegetarian and I actually love all of the "rabbit food", so I do pretty fine in that department, but I have found that you can incorporate heartier foods too if you do it right, and it keeps you full longer.

 

 

Here is a magic sample:

 

Breakfast: 305 total cals

2 eggs 140

toaster waffle 90

1/2 Tbs syrup 25

half banana 50

 

light lunch 1: 310 total cals

bumble bar 230

grapefruit 80

 

light lunch 2: 300 total cals

1 c delicious creamy tomato soup 100

potato & veggie fries made in the oven dipped in ketchup 200

 

dinner! 400 total cals

1 c brown rice 170

1/2 cup pinto beans 100

low fat cheese 80

salsa 20

saute'd veggies 30

 

See, all of that is only 1315 cals but it is totally satisfying because you combine low cal foods with heartier ones in smaller proportions and so you are full and you get the yumy flavors... at least that is my philosophy....