What are your favorite diet hacks?

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  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    I definitely use some of the hacks mentioned in previous responses. Also, i drink plenty of water during the day, and more hot tea than water in the evening. Herbal, if it's past 6-ish pm. I eat breakfast pretty early, and lunch kind of late. It's work- schedule related, mostly. Some days i get hungry way before i can actually eat my lunch, so chewing gum helps to get past that, distracts from concentrating on wanting to eat. I don't snack until after dinner, which helps me keep it under control. It used to be like a runaway train, when i would start snacks during the day, now i have a designated time after dinner, brush up and done. I also like mints, it helps to prevent seconds and thirds sometimes, especially if it's something very tempting. I love peanut butter, and as much as i appreciate the pbfit, it's not something that i can completely substitute peanut butter with. So the last couple of jars, i poured oil that you are supposed to stir back in, out. I guess it saves a few calories? Anyone else is doing it? It's quite a bit of oil...and besides, there's plenty of it left anyway. I eat lots and lots of veggies, raw, roasted, sauteed, anything goes. I love salads, have a huge bowl with chicken (often) for dinner. I'm a volume eater, btw. So I prefer big portions of lower calorie food options. Also, I don't use much oil when i cook, mostly very light oil spray. Same for salad dressings, i prefer vinegar based, hot sauce, hot mango chutney that i make and can over the summer mango season. Recently i discovered that salsa makes a nice salad dressing. But now we have so much fresh tomatoes from the garden that i just use those. My fats come from nuts, chocolate, baked goods, cheese and whatever protein ( chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, beef, pork, lamb, although i always try to choose lower fat cuts).
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    Depending on the recipe I might replace a tin of coconut milk with a big spoon of skyr and a small handfull of dessiccated coconut. Doesn't work with every dish of course because of taste, but it does with many. And the calorie count is a lot lower.
  • foreverhealthy3
    foreverhealthy3 Posts: 111 Member
    I find a favorite blog that uses a mushroom blend for lower fat, less carbs; like this site: https://www.facebook.com/Blenditarian/ open face sandwiches instead of two pieces of bread. walnuts/almonds instead of potato chips
  • VegjoyP
    VegjoyP Posts: 2,772 Member
    callriter wrote: »
    My wife bought guacamole the other day and instead of using the chips that she bought, I cut up some radishes into rounds and used them instead of the chips. Crunchy and tasty all at the same time.

    You may like Daikon radishes-less bitter and very good!
  • PAPYRUS3
    PAPYRUS3 Posts: 13,259 Member
    VegjoyP wrote: »
    callriter wrote: »
    My wife bought guacamole the other day and instead of using the chips that she bought, I cut up some radishes into rounds and used them instead of the chips. Crunchy and tasty all at the same time.

    You may like Daikon radishes-less bitter and very good!

    Daikon radish is SOOOO good. I've been eating this practically everyday for months now🤣....yes - I'm obsessed
  • hezaa777
    hezaa777 Posts: 25 Member
    An Ulu knife! For making awesome chopped salads with everything good - in small bite-size pieces!
  • enlightenme3
    enlightenme3 Posts: 2,618 Member
    Love reading all the suggestions. I find that there are four things that help me stay within my calorie goals: food scale, pre-logging meals, intermittent fasting (mainly to control after dinner snacking), and making almost all of our food. If I make bread, I can slice it as thin as I need it to be. Things like granola, I can make it protein dense and less sweet. Lots and lots of sauces that have multiple uses (salad dressing, dip, toppings). I still have issues balancing out my macro nutrients, but the pre-logging gives me time to think about how to perhaps fix it.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,071 Member
    Thought this thread was worth bumping as I add my newest winter diet trick:

    During these cold months, right after dinner I usually drink an entire small pot of tea. Meh. What's NEW is my discovery of occasionally adding a wee bit of those low calorie water flavouring packets. To each cup of hot green tea/matcha I add a quick dash from the 2.2g packet and get BIG flavour. Varieties that don't traditionally scream 'tea' - like grape, watermelon and pineapple make for delicious tasting hot tea and quell my after-dinner sweet dessert cravings. Just know that there is aspartame and other less than wonderful chemicals involved. But since one packet lasts me an entire week, I'm not too worried.
  • kenziestabes
    kenziestabes Posts: 338 Member
    When cooking for more than just myself, I use dry-goods measuring cups as serving spoons for sides (and as measuring cups, of course). My 1 Cup scoop is usually for vegetables, 1/2 Cup for grains (like brown rice) and 1/4 for berries. The main dish is always plated in the kitchen and brought to the dining table. It's not quite as accurate as using a food scale, but it helps me track how much of each side I'm eating without standing in a corner for five minutes measuring while everyone else is at the table.

    As for hunger, I'm team proffee. I don't get enough protein in my diet alone for me to feel satiated and to stimulate muscle growth and repair (I like to lift weights), so I use protein powder. I actually mix plain collagen peptides into my coffee before heading to work. This keeps me feeling full between breakfast and lunch for only 70 calories AND adds to my protein intake. Also, personally, I like the taste and texture it gives my plain black coffee.

    For nutrients, I try to, when possible, put shredded spinach leaves into everything I cook. There are some days I have spinach at every meal. In my eggs at breakfast, on a sandwich or the base of a salad for lunch, and either in or as a side for whatever I make for dinner. It's my favorite leafy green.
  • MsCzar
    MsCzar Posts: 1,071 Member
    kenziestabes wrote: »

    For nutrients, I try to, when possible, put shredded spinach leaves into everything I cook. There are some days I have spinach at every meal. In my eggs at breakfast, on a sandwich or the base of a salad for lunch, and either in or as a side for whatever I make for dinner. It's my favorite leafy green.

    Similarly, whenever I make stir-fry veggies, I'll set aside some of the cooked veg for egg and veg breakfast burritos the next day or two. I had a bumper year for Swiss chard and have been throwing the shredded greens into just about everything.

    < counts the minutes til breakfast > 😋
  • Walkywalkerson
    Walkywalkerson Posts: 456 Member
    I always have whatever I want for a late lunch / early dinner which is usually my last meal of the day.
    It can be anything - yesterday I had a giant plate of sausages and mash loads of veg and 2 custard filled chocolate choux buns.
    Not the healthiest meal but I'm recovering from Covid and my taste buds are weird!
    I pre plan it in the morning so I can use whatever calories I have left on breakfast and snacks.
    IF draws a line under my last meal so I don't snack in the evening.
    I drink endless pints of water during the day - I love water ❤
    And herbal tea in the evening with a cut off a couple of hours before bed so I'm not woken up by my bladder!

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