Diet tips and tricks

[JuicyLucy]

I made these the other day
View attachment 197049

Ingredients
Baby Portabella Mushrooms
Myioko's veggaterian cheese (both chedder and motsorellia (I know I can't spell)
Garden onion (chopped finely)
Hot peppers from the garden (Chopped finely)
And some veggaterian yogart (used as a binder)

I have no idea how many calories, can't be too many I'd think, but they make a wonderful snack

I still make pizzas with portabellas that you recommended - excellent for those of us that can't have grains

 

[MC5]

In an effort to get healthier habits started, I'm trying to restrict food intake to a 10 hour window. I know it's referred to as intermittent fasting, but for me it's initially about stopping snacking in the evening. I seem to be able to handle a time restriction better than other approaches I've tried.

Anybody else try keeping to a tighter feeding schedule? If so, how has it worked for you?

 

[Bliss Doubt]

In an effort to get healthier habits started, I'm trying to restrict food intake to a 10 hour window. I know it's referred to as intermittent fasting, but for me it's initially about stopping snacking in the evening. I seem to be able to handle a time restriction better than other approaches I've tried.

Anybody else try keeping to a tighter feeding schedule? If so, how has it worked for you?

I started intermittent fasting without effort when I started working at home in 2015. Black coffee until 1030 or 11am, then breakfast/lunch, maybe an afternoon snack (trying to keep that snack to 130-150 calories), then dinner whenever I can finish work and shut down my desk, usually around 7pm, sometimes a little later. After dinner, the kitchen is CLOSED.

It did help me lose some weight, but strangely it gave me peace, like finding a secret passage, a solution I never knew existed. For me it's important to include a small controlled dessert, like a 150 calorie Blue Bunny mini cone or some chocolate covered strawberries. If I don't indulge the sweet tooth in a controlled way I run the risk of backlash eating and passing out under a pile of candy bar wrappers.

 

[MC5]

I started intermittent fasting without effort when I started working at home in 2015. Black coffee until 1030 or 11am, then breakfast/lunch, maybe an afternoon snack (trying to keep that snack to 130-150 calories), then dinner whenever I can finish work and shut down my desk, usually around 7pm, sometimes a little later. After dinner, the kitchen is CLOSED.

It did help me lose some weight, but strangely it gave me peace, like finding a secret passage, a solution I never knew existed. I do think it's important for dinner to include a small controlled dessert, like a 150 calorie Blue Bunny mini cone or some chocolate covered strawberries.

That's interesting. I expect a gradual loss of some weight but the first things I've noticed is that I'm sleeping better, 6-7 hours vs 4-5. I'm also not thinking about eating until about 10am, quite a change.

I started with no change in what I eat but this change in routine has helped me stick to more substantial, healthier diet. The worst culprits were what I ate in the evening when I was tired and the snacks were handy.

 

[Jimi]

I still make pizzas with portabellas that you recommended - excellent for those of us that can't have grains

I still make those too, I eat mushroom every or almost every day to keep my immune system boosted, I imagine everyone should with all these viruses

 

[Jimi]

In an effort to get healthier habits started, I'm trying to restrict food intake to a 10 hour window. I know it's referred to as intermittent fasting, but for me it's initially about stopping snacking in the evening. I seem to be able to handle a time restriction better than other approaches I've tried.

Anybody else try keeping to a tighter feeding schedule? If so, how has it worked for you?

Yes I only eat in a 5 hour window, seen it somewhere as a way to help with the disease I have and other diseases. Some days I only eat once and it has helped. It boosts your metabolism.

 

[JuicyLucy]

Yes I only eat in a 5 hour window, seen it somewhere as a way to help with the disease I have and other diseases. Some days I only eat once and it has helped. It boosts your metabolism.

I've done the once a day thing successfully for weeks at a time, but haven't been able to make it a way of life

You are an inspiration to us all

 

[Jimi]

I've done the once a day thing successfully for weeks at a time, but haven't been able to make it a way of life

You are an inspiration to us all

Thank you my friend

 

[Mister]

I dont know if i'd really consider it intermittent fasting, but i only eat one meal a day, in the very late evening (my internal clock is offset due to work shifts) and during the day i snack on citrus fruit mostly, or grapes. Its kind of like my candy.

I dont believe the new studies that say fruit juice is as bad as sugar.

I know there are calories involved but i dont know anyone who's gotten fat from eating too much fruit.

My one meal can be anywhere from 1-2 thousand calories tho.

 

[Jimi]

I dont believe the new studies that say fruit juice is as bad as sugar.

Good for you Jd, that's all a farst, false information, I do cancer research every day and everything I have read says not to be afraid of fruit, your body processes the natural sugars in the fruits (that's why fruit sugars are good for you). All I have read says fruit is very healthy natural sugars that the body needs.

I hope this helps you

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I still make those too, I eat mushroom every or almost every day to keep my immune system boosted, I imagine everyone should with all these viruses

I don't believe in the power of viruses, but I do believe in the mushroom. Have you ever read that eating mushrooms makes you psychic?

I've been drinking a lot of pure chaga mushroom tea since I discovered it when a box of it was given to me as a gift. It tastes pretty close to black tea, nothing funky, nothing harsh or bitter, just smooth tea.

 

[Jimi]

I don't believe in the power of viruses, but I do believe in the mushroom. Have you ever read that eating mushrooms makes you psychic?

I have read that somewhere, can't remember where now But they truly do boost your immune system

 

[JuicyLucy]

I dont know if i'd really consider it intermittent fasting, but i only eat one meal a day, in the very late evening (my internal clock is offset due to work shifts) and during the day i snack on citrus fruit mostly, or grapes. Its kind of like my candy.

I dont believe the new studies that say fruit juice is as bad as sugar.

I know there are calories involved but i dont know anyone who's gotten fat from eating too much fruit.

My one meal can be anywhere from 1-2 thousand calories tho.

There is a HUGE difference in how your body processes fructose vs glucose

Fructose is processed through the liver - glucose goes almost straight to the blood stream

Truly pure juice is good for you, the trouble is, most processed fruit juices are loaded with bad crap, even ones that say "all natural" and even 100% juice are false advertising (fully allowed by the FDA fucks)

Also, grapes and raisins are one of the healthiest foods in the world, provided you get varieties not loaded with pesticides

 

[Jimi]

There is a HUGE difference in how your body processes fructose vs glucose

Fructose is processed through the liver - glucose goes almost straight to the blood stream

Truly pure juice is good for you, the trouble is, most processed fruit juices are loaded with bad crap, even ones that say "all natural" and even 100% juice are false advertising (fully allowed by the FDA fucks)

Also, grapes and raisins are one of the healthiest foods in the world, provided you get varieties not loaded with pesticides

Very true, thank you Lucy

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Diet tip: Luxury snacking (it's important)

Luxury is subjective. I don't care for caviar, though I once served it at a party when I got a good deal from a friend who brokers it to restaurants. I'm happy to skip the fish eggs and dip the little toast triangles in the sour cream, but caviar is only 40 calories per tablespoon, and it goes a long way.

Two things that still feel like luxuries to me are premium green olives and maraschino cherries. Eating maraschinos, I know, is a juvenile preference. It goes back to childhood and my parents' parties with their friends. Nobody did babysitters. The kids all came, and they were like cousins that my brothers and I looked forward to seeing. While the adults were playing poker or picking guitar, the kids were in the kitchen at the impromptu drink making station, gobbling the cocktail cherries and olives.

Green olives are 4-5 calories apiece, maybe 6-7 calories for the jumbo ones.



Maraschino cherries are 10 calories each, so a whole 10 oz. jar is about 250 calories. I was buying the CherryMan natural variety, made without artificial colors, and I had a couple of jars in my prepper supplies, but now it seems the natural variety has disappeared from the market. I don't even see them on the CherryMan website.



Anyway, I don't eat the whole 250 calorie jar at a time. It's that pajama party with myself when I set out a little bowl of olives, small bowl of maraschinos, small bowl of the cauliflower pretzels that are very low calorie but taste buttery and rich, with a favorite flavor seltzer water, all for me as I start a movie or podcast. For my whole solo pajama party I don't want to exceed 200 calories. It's at the end of the day or late at night after the day's meals have been eaten. Laid out as I have described, it's plenty, and it feels fun and forbidden, like sneaking cocktail garnishes at the adult parties. Altogether it expands time, the comfort, the enjoyment, the entertainment, the private time alone.

I always have a jar of leftover maraschino juice at the back of the fridge. If I get a scratchy throat or a sniffle, I mix some of that cherry juice with my Tito's Texas vodka to make the best cough syrup. Well almost the best. Grandma's mixture of whiskey, honey and lemon juice, which she brewed on the stove and carried hot to my bedside when I was down with flu, spooned it up for me to sip, never spilling one drop, that's the best one, but mine comes close. But I digress. The leftover maraschino juice is also good for soaking fresh cherries, or mixing with unsweetened pineapple juice and rum.

The weekend movie snack with friends is different than the late night solo pajama party. Everything hits differently. If we're at my place I put out appetizers, keeping calories in mind. People always express surprise at the idea of a bowl of cherry tomatoes, which they never thought of us a snack, but they eat them up. A little trick is to rinse and drain them, and while they still have a few drops of water on them, sprinkle on the pink salt, then leave them in the colander to drain more, salt crusting and drying, until people arrive, then transfer them to a serving bowl. A bowl of the aforementioned brown rice cakes, oven warmed, broken up and just a little drizzle of butter added, maybe a few chocolate chips mixed in, is the better movie popcorn substitute. All in all, the variety keeps things happy snacky without causing regrets afterwards.



In this post I have used free stock images.

These aren't the only luxury snacks, and cherry tomatoes and rice cakes are hardly luxuries, but the things that feel like luxuries to you are your luxuries. Does that make sense? The autumn-winter spread is different than the spring-summer. One day I'll post my recipe for dairy free dark hot chocolate, which is the winter treat along with a handful of roasted almonds, mmmm when it's really cold outside.

I invite your personal luxury snacking ideas that suit you and your eating plan, while wishing everybody a weekend of happy, guilt free snacking.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Diet trick: Peanut butter! Don't run away. Keep reading.

Product tip: Tru-nut organic

Powdered peanut butter has the calories removed. Dunno how they do it, but it brings down the calories from 95 per tablespoon for regular peanut butter, to 25 calories per tablespoon the mixed powder. The calories shown on this label pic are for a serving of 2 tablespoons.



I measured so you don't have to. The calories are in the finished mixture, not the powder. When you put the powder in the bowl and add water, the water adds some volume, but the powder volume goes down as you mix. 2/3 cup of the powder yielded 7.5 tablespoons PB, carefully measured, level, with the excess scraped back into the bowl. I licked my fingers a lot in doing this. It was all good. It's easy to mix. Add some salt.

 

[Mister]

Diet tip: Peanut butter!

Product tip: Tru-nut organic

Powdered peanut butter has the calories removed. Dunno how they do it, but it brings down the calories from 95 per tablespoon for regular peanut butter, to 25 calories per tablespoon the mixed powder. The calories shown on this label pic are for a serving of 2 tablespoons.

View attachment 197284

I measured so you don't have to. The calories are in the finished mixture, not the powder. When you put the powder in the bowl and add water, the water adds some volume, but the powder volume goes down as you mix. 2/3 cup of the powder yielded 7.5 tablespoons PB, carefully measured, level, with the excess scraped back into the bowl. I licked my fingers a lot in doing this. It was all good. It's easy to mix. Add some salt.

They extract the peanut oil in order to powder it, making it essentially a 'lite' peanut butter.

Edit- Pb is one of my go to foods, squirt honey into a jar of crunchy peanut butter and i'll eat it like a haagen daas

 

[Bliss Doubt]

They extract the peanut oil in order to powder it, making it essentially a 'lite' peanut butter.

Edit- Pb is one of my go to foods, squirt honey into a jar of crunchy peanut butter and i'll eat it like a haagen daas

I've never seen a product called "lite" or "light" peanut butter, but even the Jif "reduced fat" is still 95 cal. per tablespoon, Skippy "reduced fat" 90 per T, and whatever nominal reductions they have are from replacing the peanut oil with canola and/or soybean oil, and they add corn syrup solids and all sorts of questionable crap. This Trunut, and most of the brands of pure powdered peanut butter, are only 25 per tablespoon, and it tastes just like any peanut butter. I practically worship it because it gave me back peanut butter.

You do have to watch out for the ones that say "peanut butter protein powder" or anything other than "powdered peanut butter".

 

[Mister]

I've never seen a product called "lite" or "light" peanut butter, but even the Jif "reduced fat" is still 95 cal. per tablespoon, Skippy "reduced fat" 90 per T, and whatever nominal reductions they have are from replacing the peanut oil with canola and/or soybean oil, and they add corn syrup solids and all sorts of questionable crap. This Trunut, and most of the brands of pure powdered peanut butter, are only 25 per tablespoon, and it tastes just like any peanut butter. I practically worship it because it gave me back peanut butter.

You do have to watch out for the ones that say "peanut butter protein powder" or anything other than "powdered peanut butter".

I have, but its like u say, similar to 'lite' salad dressing...some of em, like italian, go from 130 to 30 calories. Some like ceaser or honey mustard go from like 150 to 130 a tbsp. I dont even think they bother makin a lite honey mustard. And i use about 5 or 6 tbsp at least for my salad. I luv salad dressing.

Lite ranch is pretty good on calories iirc.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I luv salad dressing.

Me too, love dressing.

I have a bottle of this Walden Farms "zero calorie" sesame ginger that's been sitting around so long it's about to reach it's expiration date.



I've never opened it because I like to make my own dressings. If I'm putting something on top of a pile of fresh raw vegetables, I don't worry about dressing calories.

Thinking about using the powdered peanut butter to make an Asian peanut dressing. I've tried to do it many times, using peanut butter, tamari, rice vinegar, all the things that are supposed to be "authentic", but mine never tastes like Thai restaurant peanut sauce or Asian peanut noodles.

 

[Mister]

U use mirin or sake? Real mirin, (not faux-mirin)?

Try mixing peanut sauce with sesame oil, and experiment with real mirin and soysauce added to taste, altho the mirin is gonna taste wrong till its already in the pan (and chili OIL, not hot sauce)

I know this is all more japanese/chinese typically, but its all that same umami u r going after

 

[Mister]

I luv vegetable fried rice, i can either buy a quart for 10 dollars, or spend a day making enough fried rice to last me a week, eating a quart a day at least. Rice, mirin, sesame oil, soy sauce, and whatever canned veggies u like. The biggest trick is to not let the rice cool in the pan cuz it gets mushy, just cook a whole bunch, spread it out on paper towel or something on a huge table till its dried out, then its ready for frying in the pan with veggies.

U can put it on a cookie sheet in the oven on low to dry it out as well probably best with the door open

Or u can be lazy, leave it in the pot till it gets dry on top, mushy on the bottom, dump it in the pan will oil and already frying veggies, fry the mess up, no prep,
U have to turn the (preferably wok) up to as high as u can get it and try your best to flash fry the rice and not make it mushy by mixing it around to much

 

[Bliss Doubt]

U use mirin or sake? Real mirin, (not faux-mirin)?

Try mixing peanut sauce with sesame oil, and experiment with real mirin and soysauce added to taste, altho the mirin is gonna taste wrong till its already in the pan (and chili OIL, not hot sauce)

I know this is all more japanese/chinese typically, but its all that same umami u r going after

No, haven't ever tried mirin. The ingredient labels all start with "corn syrup", but the Eden organic one just says water, organic rice, sea salt and koji.

Maybe I'll try that.

Thanks.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I luv vegetable fried rice, i can either buy a quart for 10 dollars, or spend a day making enough fried rice to last me a week, eating a quart a day at least. Rice, mirin, sesame oil, soy sauce, and whatever canned veggies u like. The biggest trick is to not let the rice cool in the pan cuz it gets mushy, just cook a whole bunch, spread it out on paper towel or something on a huge table till its dried out, then its ready for frying in the pan with veggies.

U can put it on a cookie sheet in the oven on low to dry it out as well probably best with the door open

Or u can be lazy, leave it in the pot till it gets dry on top, mushy on the bottom, dump it in the pan will oil and already frying veggies, fry the mess up, no prep,
U have to turn the (preferably wok) up to as high as u can get it and try your best to flash fry the rice and not make it mushy by mixing it around to much

I've seen them do that in chinese restaurants, bringing the rice from a spread out situation and scraping it into the wok.

 

[nadalama]

I luv vegetable fried rice, i can either buy a quart for 10 dollars, or spend a day making enough fried rice to last me a week, eating a quart a day at least. Rice, mirin, sesame oil, soy sauce, and whatever canned veggies u like. The biggest trick is to not let the rice cool in the pan cuz it gets mushy, just cook a whole bunch, spread it out on paper towel or something on a huge table till its dried out, then its ready for frying in the pan with veggies.

U can put it on a cookie sheet in the oven on low to dry it out as well probably best with the door open

Or u can be lazy, leave it in the pot till it gets dry on top, mushy on the bottom, dump it in the pan will oil and already frying veggies, fry the mess up, no prep,
U have to turn the (preferably wok) up to as high as u can get it and try your best to flash fry the rice and not make it mushy by mixing it around to much

I use parboiled rice for making fried rice. No sticky.

I usually cook all the meat/veg/egg and mix it together in one bowl, then put a little oil and soy sauce in a hot frying pan, let it sizzle up good, add rice directly out of the pot it was cooked in, and meat/veg/egg out of the bowl. Easy peasy.

 

[Jimi]

Diet trick: Peanut butter! Don't run away. Keep reading.

Product tip: Tru-nut organic

Powdered peanut butter has the calories removed. Dunno how they do it, but it brings down the calories from 95 per tablespoon for regular peanut butter, to 25 calories per tablespoon the mixed powder. The calories shown on this label pic are for a serving of 2 tablespoons.

View attachment 197284

I measured so you don't have to. The calories are in the finished mixture, not the powder. When you put the powder in the bowl and add water, the water adds some volume, but the powder volume goes down as you mix. 2/3 cup of the powder yielded 7.5 tablespoons PB, carefully measured, level, with the excess scraped back into the bowl. I licked my fingers a lot in doing this. It was all good. It's easy to mix. Add some salt.

Where do you get the organic powdered peanut butter?

 

[Mister]

As i prepared my nightly feast, i was reminded about something that i was once told about tuna fish.
Once you mix it with mayonaise, your body is unable to absorb the nutrients.

Thats what i was told anyway, with the science of 20 years ago, lol

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Where do you get the organic powdered peanut butter?

It isn't in the stores. You have to get it from their website. You can get it on Amazon, but it isn't any cheaper there. The Trunut site gives you free shipping, and discounts for buying more than one jar.

Organic Powdered Peanut Butter < Tru-Nut

Our amazing Powdered Peanut Butter blend is now available as USDA Certified Organic. All of our Certified Organic peanuts are grown in Texas and have the same rich peanut butter taste you expect.

tru-nutbutter.com

It has a really long shelf life. The jar I'm getting near the bottom of now, I bought almost two years ago. It still tastes fresh as new. Peanut butter has a long shelf life anyway, and when it gets over the hill it's because the oil in it is going rancid. You don't have that trouble with the powdered.

It has gone up a couple of bucks since I first bought it, even since I bought another giant jar for my prepper supplies in April of this year. It's hard to describe how humongous that 30 oz. jar is, except to say you can fit the measuring cup in the top of the jar to get some out.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

As i prepared my nightly feast, i was reminded about something that i was once told about tuna fish.
Once you mix it with mayonaise, your body is unable to absorb the nutrients.

Thats what i was told anyway, with the science of 20 years ago, lolView attachment 197597

Hmmm, never heard that. For me the greater concern is all the mercury in seafood from ocean pollution. I do eat it, but not too often. Your body can eventually process out mercury you have consumed in food, but you read about people who eat tuna for lunch every day and get noticeable brain fog.

 

[Jimi]

It isn't in the stores. You have to get it from their website. You can get it on Amazon, but it isn't any cheaper there. The Trunut site gives you free shipping, and discounts for buying more than one jar.

Organic Powdered Peanut Butter < Tru-Nut

Our amazing Powdered Peanut Butter blend is now available as USDA Certified Organic. All of our Certified Organic peanuts are grown in Texas and have the same rich peanut butter taste you expect.

tru-nutbutter.com

It has a really long shelf life. The jar I'm getting near the bottom of now, I bought almost two years ago. It still tastes fresh as new. Peanut butter has a long shelf life anyway, and when it gets over the hill it's because the oil in it is going rancid. You don't have that trouble with the powdered.

It has gone up a couple of bucks since I first bought it, even since I bought another giant jar for my prepper supplies in April of this year. It's hard to describe how humongous that 30 oz. jar is, except to say you can fit the measuring cup in the top of the jar to get some out.

Thank you very much my friend. I love peanut butter but can't have the bad oils and sugars used to make it. Even the organic PB is hard to find with good oil

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Thank you very much my friend. I love peanut butter but can't have the bad oils and sugars used to make it. Even the organic PB is hard to find with good oil

Jimi, omygosh the Trunut does contain sugar. I didn't realize it. It doesn't taste like it, and I would say it's a very low percentage, but even though it is organic sugar, I wish the label would volunteer the percentage. I know you consider sugar to be a poison for you. I don't, for myself, and it doesn't taste like it has much. I'm surprised to see it has salt, since it needs salt when I mix it up and taste it.

Anyway, I did some extra research for you. Since you have described a struggle to keep your weight up, maybe these regular style peanut butters will be preferable for your diet:

Santa Cruz organic peanut butter: peanuts, 1 percent or less of salt. No sugar or anything else.

Once Again (brand) organic creamy peanut butter: peanuts only, nothing else

Kirkland Organic peanut butter: peanuts and salt

Spread the Love (brand) organic peanut butter: peanuts only

Trader Joes organic peanut butter: peanuts, salt

Whole Foods 365 organic peanut butter: peanuts only

For the powdered, I think my next purchase (in 100 years after I finish the Trunut I already have) will be Powbab organic, pure peanut butter, no sugar no salt, still the 25 cal. per tablespoon.

Why does everything have to be messed with? There is so much natural sweetness in that little peanut, it doesn't need any added.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

I find it hard to believe claims like cooking in aluminum can hurt you, especially considering the number of baked potatoes and fish ive cooked in tinfoil, copper tho, for sure, for the same reason u cant use it for a pipe, but i guess thats why scientists exist

i feel like i need to worry about steel too, steel has nickel in it, which it stated as toxic, and molybdenum, which is another metal that can be toxic in high amounts. Vaping off it cant be 'ideal' even if it is considered safe.

As far as the new stuff goes, it doesnt surprise me that any chemically treated metal gives off something toxic, thats how they get things to defy nature like melted candy not sticking to it, like in the commercials.

Just another excuse to barbeque or microwave everything...yay, single life, lol

I see people having concerns about cooking on foil, but I think of what happens to the bottom of my favorite oven sheet, which isn't even that old.



So I ask myself if I'd rather line it with foil, or scrape up food along with chinese factory paint. It wasn't that long ago they were caught using lead paint on childrens toys.

 

[Mister]

As far as im aware, aluminum foil is safe to eat, i mean, toxicity wise, it would just pass thru u i would think, just like any other metal object.

(As opposed to lead i mean, altho lead is a metal as well, so i dunno i guess)

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Diet tip: 72 bears

The trick: I make it my cereal bowl.

I posted recently about the problem with churro puffs, delicious, clean ingredients, relatively low calorie if you can stop at the snack portion, but I can't stop there with an open bag in hand. The solution was to make it a meal, a breakfast cereal bowl.

Same for Teddy Grahams. The package tells you that 24 of them are 130 calories, and why did I buy them? The ingredients are not great, but the Annie's organic bunny grahams, with nominally better ingredients (still not great), don't have the calorie count for a number of bunnies. The label gives calories per ounce. Either way it's just another childhood memory that I crave from time to time. They were fun to share, and any kind of graham cracker is, to me, very tasty. I don't want to give them up forever and ever.


Stock photo

What is a kiddie cereal other than some kind of shaped dough? And the ingredients in kiddie cereals are horrendous, worse than the Teddies or the Bunnies.

So this morning I counted out 24 of them into a tupper, to save for this weekend for a cereal bowl. Then another 24, then another, to see that 72 of them are the perfect amount for a bowl of cereal at 390 calories, plus 30 cal. for a cup of unsweetened almond milk, and one calorie per berry for some blueberries on top. Always workin' for the weekend... And no, I no longer watch Saturday morning cartoons while eating a bowl of cereal. Do they even have cartoon blocks on Saturday mornings anymore?

 

[Mister]

Diet tip: 72 bears

The trick: I make it my cereal bowl.

I posted recently about the problem with churro puffs, delicious, clean ingredients, relatively low calorie if you can stop at the snack portion, but I can't stop there with an open bag in hand. The solution was to make it a meal, a breakfast cereal bowl.

Same for Teddy Grahams. The package tells you that 24 of them are 130 calories, and why did I buy them? The ingredients are not great, but the Annie's organic bunny grahams, with nominally better ingredients (still not great), don't have the calorie count for a number of bunnies. The label gives calories per ounce. Either way it's just another childhood memory that I crave from time to time. They were fun to share, and any kind of graham cracker is, to me, very tasty. I don't want to give them up forever and ever.

View attachment 197669
Stock photo

What is a kiddie cereal other than some kind of shaped dough? And the ingredients in kiddie cereals are horrendous, worse than the Teddies or the Bunnies.

So this morning I counted out 24 of them into a tupper, to save for this weekend for a cereal bowl. Then another 24, then another, to see that 72 of them are the perfect amount for a bowl of cereal at 390 calories, plus 30 cal. for a cup of unsweetened almond milk, and one calorie per berry for some blueberries on top. Always workin' for the weekend... And no, I no longer watch Saturday morning cartoons while eating a bowl of cereal. Do they even have cartoon blocks on Saturday mornings anymore?

Haha, they do, teen titans ftw, lol

It comes on right after adult swim at 6 am every day on the toon channel

 

[Jimi]

Jimi, omygosh the Trunut does contain sugar. I didn't realize it. It doesn't taste like it, and I would say it's a very low percentage, but even though it is organic sugar, I wish the label would volunteer the percentage. I know you consider sugar to be a poison for you. I don't, for myself, and it doesn't taste like it has much. I'm surprised to see it has salt, since it needs salt when I mix it up and taste it.

Anyway, I did some extra research for you. Since you have described a struggle to keep your weight up, maybe these regular style peanut butters will be preferable for your diet:

Santa Cruz organic peanut butter: peanuts, 1 percent or less of salt. No sugar or anything else.

Once Again (brand) organic creamy peanut butter: peanuts only, nothing else

Kirkland Organic peanut butter: peanuts and salt

Spread the Love (brand) organic peanut butter: peanuts only

Trader Joes organic peanut butter: peanuts, salt

Whole Foods 365 organic peanut butter: peanuts only

For the powdered, I think my next purchase (in 100 years after I finish the Trunut I already have) will be Powbab organic, pure peanut butter, no sugar no salt, still the 25 cal. per tablespoon.

Why does everything have to be messed with? There is so much natural sweetness in that little peanut, it doesn't need any added.

Thank you for all the information. The three main concerns I have are being organic, the sugars (they feed cancer), and the oils they are made with. So many cause serious inflammation in cancer patients.

 

[Jimi]

As far as im aware, aluminum foil is safe to eat, i mean, toxicity wise, it would just pass thru u i would think, just like any other metal object.

(As opposed to lead i mean, altho lead is a metal as well, so i dunno i guess)

Aluminum is considered a toxic heavy metal that WILL leach into any food. It also contributes to alzheimer's disease.

 

[Mister]

Thanks for that, ill be sure to leave the shredded reynolds wrap off the ingredient list

Aluminum is considered a toxic heavy metal that WILL leach into any food. It also contributes to alzheimer's disease.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Thank you for all the information. The three main concerns I have are being organic, the sugars (they feed cancer), and the oils they are made with. So many cause serious inflammation in cancer patients.

The ones I listed for you in the post above are all organic, contain no sugar, and no added oils. Just peanuts, and some of them salt.

Peanut butter forever!

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Haha, they do, teen titans ftw, lol

It comes on right after adult swim at 6 am every day on the toon channel

If I had cable TV I think I'd want to see what cartoons are like nowadays. The best cartoons I ever saw were well into my advanced age, when I stumbled onto Tama & Friends while channel surfing. All of the characters were puppies and kittens, with very few humans, usually just a little kid or two. Just adorable. Never found it again.

 

[Mister]

If I had cable TV I think I'd want to see what cartoons are like nowadays. The best cartoons I ever saw were well into my advanced age, when I stumbled onto Tama & Friends while channel surfing. All of the characters were puppies and kittens, with very few humans, usually just a little kid or two. Just adorable. Never found it again.

Just stream it over hulu if u ever want, unless yer a non-cellie, which i respect

Edit-duh (on me, not u), u must have the internet tho, u r here

 

[BigEmptySky]

My diet, strict vegan/vegetarian. No junk foods, none.

Been so for decades. Works for me. Oh, and daily exercise.

Lol, never watch cartoons either.

Good luck!

 

[nadalama]

Diet tip: 72 bears

The trick: I make it my cereal bowl.

I posted recently about the problem with churro puffs, delicious, clean ingredients, relatively low calorie if you can stop at the snack portion, but I can't stop there with an open bag in hand. The solution was to make it a meal, a breakfast cereal bowl.

Same for Teddy Grahams. The package tells you that 24 of them are 130 calories, and why did I buy them? The ingredients are not great, but the Annie's organic bunny grahams, with nominally better ingredients (still not great), don't have the calorie count for a number of bunnies. The label gives calories per ounce. Either way it's just another childhood memory that I crave from time to time. They were fun to share, and any kind of graham cracker is, to me, very tasty. I don't want to give them up forever and ever.

View attachment 197669
Stock photo

What is a kiddie cereal other than some kind of shaped dough? And the ingredients in kiddie cereals are horrendous, worse than the Teddies or the Bunnies.

So this morning I counted out 24 of them into a tupper, to save for this weekend for a cereal bowl. Then another 24, then another, to see that 72 of them are the perfect amount for a bowl of cereal at 390 calories, plus 30 cal. for a cup of unsweetened almond milk, and one calorie per berry for some blueberries on top. Always workin' for the weekend... And no, I no longer watch Saturday morning cartoons while eating a bowl of cereal. Do they even have cartoon blocks on Saturday mornings anymore?

I ate many bowls of graham crackers and milk for breakfast when I was a kid. Have tried them since, and it's a no-go now. Regular graham crackers get unbelievably soggy, unbelievably quickly. Now when I eat graham crackers, I want peanut butter on them!

 

[Jimi]

Here's something I make from time to time


Organic apple and dip
The dip is made of Organic Medjool dates and some organic coconut cream
Tastes just like a caramel and apple
I have made taffy apples out of it too.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Here's something I make from time to time
View attachment 198033

Organic apple and dip
The dip is made of Organic Medjool dates and some organic coconut cream
Tastes just like a caramel and apple
I have made taffy apples out of it too.

Yum. I've heard medjools make delicious syrup and caramel.

 

[Jimi]

They sure do and natural sugars in the dates don't put on calories like processed sugars
Usually mine is thinner but was short on the coconut cream

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Diet tip: organic bread

Product tips: see pics

This post is more about diet for the health of the person and the health of the planet than it is about weight loss, but at least the price of organic bread may make the weight conscious eat less of it.

The worst thing about non-organic bread is that it has the major predominant herbicide right in it. The herbicide is used to make the plant wither and die so the wheat berries drop off.

Neither the political climate change movement nor the "green new deal" seem to me to have much to do with pollution and environmental degradation. The aerial spraying of this herbicide causes runoff that is creating ever increasing miles and miles of dead zones in our oceans and rivers, causing massive fish kills, and is implicated in class action cancer lawsuits. It is particularly hard on agricultural field workers.

The price of organic bread is high. The problematic herbicide does not increase crop yields, but theoretically prevents the need to weed the fields, though it has been pointed out that ever more herbicide resistant weeds are developing as a result. Anyway, the labor savings over weeding fields makes the non-organic bread cheaper, so there is your increased cost in organic. Everyone will make their own informed decisions, but for me, the price savings in non-organic bread isn't worthwhile, and I haven't given enough consideration to that before now.

Inspired by @Jimi I will henceforth eschew all non-organic bread products and chew only the organic. For me it is difficult to find organic fresh bakery bread. Here in SA we have HEB and its upscale offshoot Central Market. We have Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers, Target and a lot of interesting individual ethnic grocery stores. The in-store bakeries never have organic fresh loaves, unless I'm just getting there too late and they are sold out, but the shelves of factory breads are abundant with organic products. You can even get organic canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls.

I've done a hard search of images to show just some of the choices available where I am. There may be more, or less, where you are. I have sixteen images of different varieties of bread, bagels, buns, canned products, national, regional and local brands, but VU allows a max of 10 pics. The only thing that doesn't exist, to my knowledge, is any kind of organic dinner roll, but I would rather bake up some canned crescent rolls or biscuits, or cut up and toast some hamburger buns, or put out thick slices of multigrain or cinnamon raisin, than ever serve my guests non-organic rolls at even the fanciest holiday table.





Happy organic eating.

 

[Jimi]

Everyone will make their own informed decisions, but for me, the price savings in non-organic bread isn't worthwhile, and I haven't given enough consideration to that before now.

Very good decision for your health my friend. People eat to many toxins in their daily diet the more you can eliminate the better and the cost might get one to be satisfied with eating less.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Very good decision for your health my friend. People eat to many toxins in their daily diet the more you can eliminate the better and the cost might get one to be satisfied with eating less.

Thank you Jimi.

Even organic bread can be problematic because of the shortcuts in making it. Some of the brands add wheat gluten, instead of developing it with kneading and rising. Some have soy or canola oil, so I still read labels. The HEB Organics label breads I pictured are surprisingly clean and natural (the Central Market Organics one is problematic though).

For myself, giving up bread isn't something I can consider. It's been too much a part of my diet for too long, and it has sort of spiritual connotations in our culture, "daily bread", "staff of life". I've seen old interviews with concentration camp survivors, in which they say they thought of bread as food, and anything else that came their way was extra. A diet restricted to bread and water was a punishment for prison inmates in times past, probably still is in some countries. Fasting on bread and water is still a spiritual exercise, combined with nonstop prayer, in some religious communities.

I feel we have to address the war on bread, the ruin of the crops, and the poisoning of wildlife and water with pesticides and herbicides, not just with careful buying, not just by going grain free (I'm not criticizing those who choose that route), but by pounding on the EPA and USDA about it.

Onward I guess, but I think choosing organic is a start, for expressing consumer preference and putting pressure on the manufacturers.

 

[Bliss Doubt]

Dairy free dark hot chocolate is my favorite winter treat. The calories have to be compared this way:

The package mix, organic dark chocolate, store brand, is 110 calories per serving (one cup)

But I use a big cup, which holds 16 oz., two cups. I want it to last a long while as a special dessert on a chilly winter evening. So you'd have to use two packages of the store mix to make an equal amount.

Equal amount grocery store mix = 220 calories
Equal amount my method = 210 calories

The chocolate chips are the only calories, three carefully level tablespoons, each 70 calories in the kind I use, but you can use any dark chocolate chip you like. The cleaner ingredient low sugar high cacao dairy free are best, IMO. All is up to you.

Starting with the three carefully level tablespoons chips, into the cup. (My breadless sandwich made with rolled cabbage leaves seen at left):



Boil water, cover the choc chips in the bottom of the cup just to barely submerge. Let them steep 30 seconds to melt. The rising steam was a photo challenge.



Stir stir stir.



Add more hot water, about two thirds of the way up.



Stir stir stir, and let it sit another 30 seconds, to give the chocolate every opportunity to melt.

Top it off, stir stir stir, and it's ready. This tastes just the way good hot chocolate always tasted, creamy, thick, hot and sippy to last a while, and none of the weird ingredients you get in the package mixes.