I'm a new member, and am looking for some help in the food department of dieting and calorie monitoring. Up until just over a month ago, I worked in a fast-paced business environment. Everything was go, go, go, including the food. Now that I look back, fast food wasn't just a small, "treat" part of my diet...it WAS my diet. I had no idea about snacking, eating a number of small meals per day, or calorie counting.

Can someone please give me a few examples of healthy snacks, good meals, etc? I've started with some grilled chicken with lemon, salads (only a small bit of dressing), soups, crackers, etc. I really like fruits and vegetables as well. A favorite is a half cup of strawberries, one medium sized banana, and 2-3 cubes of ice all blended together (makes a super thick smoothie).

Thanks in advance!

A free account from FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal is very useful for honing nutrition.

I suggest that you read the nutrition section. Many people believe that they are eating a balanced diet (when they believe that they are eating healthily) but there tends to be room to tighten things up.

I know that within nutrition my friend Kara has just started a cheap eats series of healthy tasty food ideas that have the added bonus of not being too expensive.

The forum also has a recipes section.

If you check the postscript to any of Kara's postings you will see that she has a link to her food blog which I would suggest is well worth you seeing too.

You may be interested to learn that there is no advantage from a weight loss perspective in eating a number of small meals compared to fewer larger meals. The only real benefit is if it is a more convenient way for you to eat your food and stay within daily calorie limitations. The only important thing is not to have too many calories in the day while eating nutritiously. It can be eaten in as many or as few meals as feels right for you.

Thanks for the mention Margaret!

Hi RS! Sounds like you're already ahead of the game in that you like and will eat veg and fruit. A lot of people start out not wanting to eat those things.

I second Omega (Margaret's) recommendation to register with fitday.com and start logging your foods. It really helps to see the values of what you're eating as you go. It can be an eye opener.

Here's my philosophy about food and how I try to eat: I try to avoid anything packaged or processed as much as possible and eat whole foods or fresh foods. I work really hard to avoid sugar (and especially processed sugars, HFCS, etc. ... things like that) and to eat whole grains over simple carbs. I also try to make sure I get some protein in every meal or snack, whether that's yogurt, meat, soy, or even a protein shake. I generally tend to eat the same things for breakfast, lunch, snacks and then dinner is where I indulge my love of cooking and variety. Here's an example of my daily diet -

Breakfast: greek yogurt and blueberries, coffee (no cream)
Snack: apple and cheese
Lunch: chicken or tuna salad on whole grain bread, lettuce, tomato, pickle, veggies for snacking (carrots, celery)
Snack: low sodium V8 and a boiled egg
- workout after work -
Post workout Snack: scoop of whey protein in 8oz orange juice
Dinner: protein and veg and a small amoutn of complex carbs (for example, tonight will be stir fried shrimp and veg over brown rice or quinoa)

If I have calories left over, I might have some frozen yogurt for dessert. On other days I budget my calories to allow a glass of wine with dinner or a vodka martini before dinner. I have some kind of alcoholic drink probably 3x a week on average. I personally would rather have a glass of wine with dinner than ice cream after, but I make a choice and pick one or the other.

Hope that helps and gives you something to work with!

Thank you so much for the information! I just downloaded the FitDay program for my PC. It's very helpful!

So, you're saying that I don't have to split my daily intake into six different meals? Is it not true that you're body goes into starvation mode and "holds on" to what you're trying to lose if you don't eat a number of times per day?

Thanks so much for the meal plan example as well. I'm going to check out the nutrition part of the forum right now!

No. It's completely and totally false - a huge dieting myth. Really.

Think about it .. if your body went into starvation mode after 2-3 hours of not eating, then why aren't you in starvation mode after you sleep? Or after a day where you skip a meal?

Your body doesn't work that way. "Starvation mode" isn't something that happens at the flip of a switch - oh look it's been 1 hour and 59 minutes - time to go into starvation mode.

Starvation mode is an adaption that your body moves into over a drawn out period of time when you don't provide it with enough energy or nutrition. We're not talking 2 hours, or 8 hours, or even 24 hours. We're talking weeks, even months.

As long as you're getting a healthy amount of calories and making sure that you're getting adequate nutrition, it doesn't REALLY matter if you eat 10 times a day or 2 times a day. The only qualifier to that is that your body cannot readily absorb and process protein in mass quantities, so it helps to split it out over at least 2 or 3 meals. Other than that, if you decide to eat once a day ... it won't matter.

What matters is total calories and total nutrients.

The only reason I divide my food out into multiple meals and snacks is because I like to make sure that I never get really starving hungry and because I like to break my protein out throughout the day. Otherwise ... it really doesn't matter.

Btw, here's an article that discusses the issue more in depth if you're interested:

Meal Frequency and Energy Balance | BodyRecomposition - The Home of Lyle McDonald

Have you tried adding a scoop or two of whey protein to your smoothie? I have a smoothie almost everyday with a little whey protein in it. I also try to add some into foods that I eat everyday like yogurt, soups, sauces. You would want to get unflavored whey protein, that works best for adding into different foods. If you want some great smoothie recipes, go to (LINK REMOVED)Their Banana Berry Smoothie is great!