Little changes to my diet

[mycatis]

I'm trying to lose a bit of weight (just a little bit) I drink about 8 / 9 cups of tea a day with one sugar. I am happy to stop drinking tea for a while but wonder how much difference this will make. Also I dont want to go on a full blown diet, so I'm just looking for ideas for little changes I could make.
Hope that makes some sense lol

[shaneystar2]

Cutting out those eight spoons of sugar will be a big help !!
Try drinking a herbal tea or tea with lemon.I have lost six kilos in six weeks just by cutting out fat.Mind you I have had to do this as instructed by my doctor.But just by cutting out,cream,butter,white bread and all stuff that I love like sponge puds and things and eating more veg ,fruit ..has made a big difference.
I use low fat spread instead of butter,pass on mayo and stuff,no chips (sob)! Choose low fat yoghurt etc and look at the packets of stuff and how much fat some things contain.I was amazed.A big bowl of porridge every morning will fill you up for ages ..made with skimmed milk of course !!

[mycatis]

Great cheers shaneystar2, thats exactly the kind of stuff I meant :-)

[Toadstool]

why dont you just replace the sugar in your tea with splenda or sweetner of some kind? teas good for you afterall. fry stuff in low cal spray instead of oil, use salsa as a sauce instead of other things, cottage cheese instead of normal cheese, nimble bread....depends what foods you like but im pretty good at coming up with alternatives if you want.

[Scarlett]

Try having half your plate filled with either vegetables or salad for dinner every night. You will have less room on the plate for carbs and stuff that you may usually have too many of. The veg will fill you up, with far less calories, and be good for you!

Also, eat porridge for breakfast. It contains oats- slow release carbs, so will keep you fuller for longer. Wholemeal bread has the same effect, as does brown rice. "Fry-light" has only 1 cal per squirt, and works perfectly fine for frying- so I always use that. Grill instead of fry, spray Fry-light on potatoes to roast them..

I think the main one is listen to your body and stop eating when you are "content" rather than "full". Don't worry about leaving some food on your plate!

[rosyrussell]

If you cant do without chocolate, have a funsized bar and cut it up into little pieces on a plate. Savour each piece slowly and you feel that you have had a real treat!

I could also mention the Fat Fighters adage - cut everything in half and you get half the calories - and then of course as it is half the calories you can have twice as much....

[bluejonjo]

You could cut the sugar from your tea. Its left over psychological behaviour from childhood. If you cut it out slowly over a week or so, you will forget within a month why you ever had sugar in you tea in the first place. You dont really need to replace it with anything, least of all that *****.

[maximo]

I totally agree with Blujonjo. I stopped putting sugar in my coffee about 10 years ago, and today I could not drink it any other way ( and I drink a lot of it, about 5 full cups a day ..bad me ! ). Sugar in coffee just makes me wanna puke. Yuuuk ! It's soooo much better without, I really don't know how I was ever able to drink it with sugar ! ( feeling sick at the thought ! lol ).

[mycatis]

Thanks people,
Toadstool - I dont like those sweetener things, so wont use them, this morning I had hot water with half a lemon squeezed into it lol, it was er, interesting. I do like bread, rice and potatoes, any ideas for the "healthiest" way to eat those?
Thanks Scarlett - I do usually grill rather than fry stuff and like porridge
rosyrussell - chocolate isnt a problem for me, dont really eat it :-)

bluejonjo and Max - Imight try that, I used to take 2 sugars in my tea and couldnt now, bleurgh

(when I was a teenager I took 3 YUCK!)

[shaneystar2]

I still eat bread; rice and spuds mycatis..but I opt for brown rice and wholemeal bread .Potatoes ...well.. I used to love them smothered in butter or roasted but now I go for the jacket potato option and have low sugar baked beans on it or tuna.
Lately I have been doing a lot of roast veg.I make a big amount
and we can all eat it Cut your veg into chunks..I use one of each colour bell peppers ,mushrooms,courgette.celery,shallots,and either sweet potatoes or butternut squash. and cherry toms.Bung it all in a baking tray ,,,show it a drop of olive oil or walnut oil and roast in the oven until the veg is just tender. Half way through stir a bit of salsa in. I eat mine with fish or cottage cheese while my menfolk eat greasy things like sausages with it ! You can also pile this on top of some brown rice.
Vegetable stir fries are nice too with brown rice.
Keep up the good work ..let us know how you get on.

[mycatis]

Another great answer shaneystar2 thanks, that all sounds great, will try the roast veg.

[Scarlett]

Bread, rice and potatoes...

Wholemeal bread, brown rice and sweet potatoes are the way to go!

[msemma]

Cut out artificial additives - especially sweeteners and the like - they just make you crave more of the same junk foods and make you want to eat more full stop. If you take more care looking at ingredients in the food you are eating and stop to think about it, you'll find that yes, there are fewer things to eat, but that what you are eating is much more wholesome and filling. Just try to really think about what you're eating instead of going on automatic pilot and going for the everyday, easy choices. Don't get caught up in the cycle of buying 'diet' versions of foods - they usually have less nutrients, and more artificial addidites which will leave you feeling run down and glum and lacking in the vitamins and minerals. Try drinking green tea - good for dieters.