Friday, October 31, 2008

Can I Still Eat Bread and Cheese in a Calories Loss Meal?

By Rowena French

You should not eat excessive amounts of breads or grains when you are aiming for calories loss across each day, but you do need to have some of these foods in your diet. Keep basic breads and grains around to use as snacks or for sandwiches and low calorie meals. Eaten in limited portions, they will provide your body with the energy it needs and still accommodate your weight loss plan.

Grains are found in a many foods that can be included in each meal and even in healthy snacks. We need energy at the start of the day and so carefully selected whole grain or bran cereals low in sugar and served with reduced fat milk are important foods to include in our breakfast menu. A slice of whole grain bread is low in calories and can be included with a low calorie margarine and fruit spread or jam as part of a calories loss menu.

Instant brown rice is very healthy, easy and fast to make so throw some frozen vegetables and brown rice into a steamer, cook some chicken breasts and twenty minutes later you have a meal. Whole wheat pitas can be used with a meal, with a snack, and if you stuff some hummus and salad into one, call it lunch. Bake one and cut it into pieces for some crunchy chips as they have less than 200 calories and endless possibilities.

Oatmeal is a great filling food for breakfast and has lots of fiber that will help you feel full throughout the day. At lunch or dinner, eat pasta sparingly, and look for whole grain pasta, but do keep some around for a quick meal. Remember to eat more of an accompanying salad than pasta when you want the benefits of calories loss.

Rice cakes are very low in calories and are an ideal diet food. They can be 'dressed up' with low calorie spreads and eaten as a snack or as part of a light lunch. Another snack to increase your calories loss is whole grain crackers with cheese, in the place of high calorie potato chips.

Some dairy products are packaged in ways that make them excellent food for dieters! 2% milk, low calorie margarine, low calorie cheese and yogurt are core foods to include in a calories loss menu so make sure that you stock up on as much of this as your refrigerator can hold. Low calorie cheeses and yogurt are often packaged in perfect sizes for a snack and you can calculate the portions of these foods to assist with your calories loss.

Yogurts are fabulous for those following a low calorie diet. Individually portioned and low in calories, they are sweet, great sources of calcium and the perfect size for a snack usually containing less than 200 calories. When the grocery store has a sale on yogurt, stock up.

Pre-packaged, low calorie meals often containing high quality ingredients including dairy and grain foods come frozen and are easy to store in your refrigerator. They are popular meals at work and at home and because they require little preparation and advertise their calorie content they are easy to include in a calories loss menu. Other frozen food including vegetables and fruit are suitable for low calorie snacks or dessert they too can contribute to your planned weight loss. - 16003

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