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Holiday Snacks and Other Ideas
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Do you have a problem with snacking, or are you the kind of lucky person who can snack all day and not gain weight? Perhaps you actually eat many small meals a day instead of three large meals? If you are trying to maintain or lose weight, the important question to ask is whether you are aware of what and how much you are eating on a daily basis. There are what are professionally called individual differences, and that only means that meal and nutritional needs are not going to be the same for everyone. However, there are some general guidelines that the majority of folks can use, some with a bit of adjustment.

Pretzels are supposed to be a lot healthier than candy and cookies, right? Maybe.

Eating two or three fistfuls of pretzels while sitting on the sofa in front of a satellite TV with its thousands of stations will increase your weight by more pounds than a large slice of pie that you really want. This is because the pie would have been a conscious decision, while you do not pay attention to the pretzels. This non-attention to snack eating can be more dangerous to your weight goals and your health than cheating on your diet once with a piece of pie. This is because you will usually eat more than you think you are eating, especially if you think the snack is healthy, like pretzels.

Scientists now believe that people in general usually make 200 food related decisions per day, but guess that think they make 15. So, be aware of how much and what you consume. Plan your eating, at least most of the time, and you will be able to eat enough and cheat on a diet less often.

To begin with, if you want a snack, eat a piece of fruit first. I changed my diet by eating fruit for breakfast some years ago. I found almost immediately that I had no snack cravings at all in the middle of the morning, and had no trouble waiting for lunch. During the holiday season, I make light fruit cakes, with no molasses and with light brown Sugar Twin, reduced carb flour, and light fruits like dried pineapple and apricots. I have a slice of that for breakfast sometimes and am still ok for the week.

Here are some other ideas and suggestions for daily eating.

MORNING

Put the box of cereal in the cupboard or pantry immediately after the first bowl is poured and do not get it out again. A cereal box in front of you makes it easier to eat more. Actually, you should think about other breakfast choices you make, instead of looking at the paper or TV in the early morning. For example, cut the 10 spoonfuls of sugar in your coffee by half!

I knew a woman who put 15 spoonfuls of sugar into her 8 oz cup every morning! She was sick all the time. Remember, a spoon of sugar contains 16 calories and an extra 25 calories a day can make a person 2.5 pounds fatter by the end of a year. That will adversely affect your health. There are miles and miles of extra blood vessels in every extra pound that put more work into your heart's day.

Choosing Your Daily Outfit

The clothes you wear can affect your weight. Baggy clothing allows you to gain weight and not notice it. Avoid baggy clothing and elastic waistbands.

Lunch

Lunch is not the time to cut calories, because you need enough energy to get through the rest of the day. Eat more for lunch and less for dinner. Have a bowl of soup and a salad, not just the salad. If you eat out, do not buy dessert until after you have eaten the rest of your meal. You might not want it then, or feel too stuffed.

Coffee Break - Smoko, in Australian

A bag of chips, a donut, or a candy bar are not great choices. However, eat fruit first and see if you still want them. If so, just have one. Women who are stay at home moms often raid the fruit rollups, chips, or snack cakes. Put them up high or at the back of a cabinet where they are harder to reach!

Dinner

Tasting during the cooking process is traditional and may be necessary sometimes, but it is unthinking, in attentive eating. Eat a piece of fruit or a pickle before cooking, chew gum, or drink some cold water with lemon while preparing the meal. Then think about using smaller dinner plates on which less food will look like more.

Late Nite with Cravings

Women often fall victim to cravings for nightly carbohydrates. If this craving is physical in origin, it is probably caused by lack of enough vitamin B in their diets. Carbohydrates are a good source of the B vitamin group and will stance those cravings. Ask your doctor to be sure in your own case, but a daily multivitamin can fill your daily need for the B vitamins and may decrease nightly cravings.Some food cravings are emotionally based or triggered. If you ate in the past three hours, you are probably not physically hungry.

Anyone can have a craving for sweets or salty snacks, or any other kind of food. You probably know your own cravings better than anyone else does. That means you can do something about it!

Decide to know if you are absent-mindedly sabotaging your weight goals and adding inches to your body overall by indulging in these snacks and other food too often or too much at a time.

Happy Holidays!

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