Help tweaking foods

Melaniec78
Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am looking thru my diary trying to pick out the not so good things and exchange them for better choices. I think my protien, carbs, and usually my sugars stay close enough to my goals but decided to start working on lowering high sodium and fat choices for better alternatives while still keeping protiens up and carbs down. Aside from dinners- Monday thru Friday I eat basically the same things (I'm ok with that it makes grocery shopping easier).

Some of the high items I need to change out seem to be:
Whole eggs for breakfast- I am going back to egg whites to lower the fat
Hormel low fat real bacon pieces- maybe I can change out for canadian bacon (but I think it still is high)?
Ranch dressing- would oil/vinegar blends have lower fat and sodium?
And ham lunchmeat in my salads could be changed out for turkey I suppose?

My diary is open any ideas or advice would be great!! I've never paid attention to fat or sodium so don't know where to start...

Replies

  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    I guess maybe I am asking too much :(
    But I've seen other posts were people suggested to other to watch fat or sodium or whatever...
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
    personally, i wouldnt cut those things out or try to find substitutes, i just wouldnt eat them as much.
    i only looked back a few days, but you seem to have egg bacon and cheese at almost every meal.
    try switching up your salad toppings, use more veggies/fruits in it and a different dressing. theres not anything wrong with ranch, but different salads taste better with different dressings.
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    There is a lot of nutrition in whole eggs. I don't eat egg yolks because I don't like them, but if you do, there is no reason to avoid them.

    For lunchmeat, you could always just cook some chicken or turkey breasts and slice it yourself to cut out the sodium.

    They do make lower calorie ranch dressings, but I don't know what they taste like. Oil and vinegar is probably better, but moderation is the most important thing, in my opinion.
  • Jd1360
    Jd1360 Posts: 170 Member
    If I was editing (or tweak) your food, I'd cut ranch and maybe go for LF Italian or Balasmic. I personally detest eggs, so I am little help on that. ;) And if it doesn't kill you, I'd cut back or out on the pork and pork products (ie bacon). It is SOOO good, but so deadly.

    Overall, compared to how I eat, I think your diet looks pretty good. If you're overly concerned, cut back on quantity. :) Hope that helps!!
  • Danardeener
    Danardeener Posts: 255
    I would watch not only your calorie intake but your sodium. Ham and bacon bits are very high in salt and so it could be water weight from that.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
    I thought you needed help because your food was on meth.
  • hbm616
    hbm616 Posts: 377 Member
    If you are concerned about sodium any lunch meat could easily be your down fall...which is unfortunate because sandwiches are so good!!! Mayeb look into getting a rotisserie chicken and making sandwiches from that? I'm not positive that would be an improvement but it may be something to look into. Turkey bacon may be less sodium than regular..or look for reduced sodium bacon. I personally use morningstar veggie sausages which are 260mg of sodium at 80 calories per patty.
    I'd say your best bet is to avoid anything processed if you want to decrease your sodium but I'm personally finding that to be more difficult than I first anticipated!
  • gainingalife
    gainingalife Posts: 35 Member
    I'm not really an expert but in my opinion -- keep the eggs whole but only have one; for my breakfast i usually poach an egg and have it on toast with grilled tomato. it keeps my energy up for ages! If you want a bigger breakfast then add in another egg white with it but theres no problem with keeping foods whole and it really does give you the full benefit :) As long as you're not eating too much of them.

    Ideas for salad dressings - Olive oil with balsamic vinegar // lemon juice // half an avocado and wholegrain mustard (so creamy and delicious!!)

    Don't overthink it with the sodium thing, just avoid overusing salt, avoid canned soups, baked beans etc, dont eat too much bread, look to see how much sodium is in sauces you use (ie teryaki). Keep the ham and bacon but only enjoy them once in a while, not every day. I slip up with my sodium intake pretty often like when I'm out all day -- dont worry about it too much as long as you're thinking about it and attempting to cut some out its great !
  • rockerbabyy
    rockerbabyy Posts: 2,258 Member
    also thought id add that any thing reduced fat or fat free is going to have more sugar and sodium to make up for the fat - also a lot of canned soups and other packaged foods (low fat or not) are going to be packed with sodium.
    i use whole eggs, low sodium bacon, i dont really eat a lot of lunch meat but when i do i just stick to a serving a day.
  • Nickiii_123
    Nickiii_123 Posts: 134 Member
    I'm struggling with staying under the sodium and fat levels set by mfp too. I have no idea if the levels it sets for you are correct or not but hey, it can't hurt :)

    I have a few suggestions for foods you can substitute:
    Maybe try turkey bacon instead of the Hormel bacon bits. I eat Trader Joe's brand turkey bacon sometimes and its pretty tasty. I looked at the nutritional information and they have around the same amount of fat but the turkey bacon has a little less sodium. There might be other brands out there that are lower in both categories than the Hormel.

    Also, it way cheaper to make your own salad dressing. Basalmic, red wine and rice wine vinegars are all tasty. You can drizzle that on salad with a bit of olive oil and pepper and it make a good salad dressing. I've also started using lemon juice as a salad dressing and it really good! it has lots of flavor.

    I don't have any suggestions for lunch meat, I don't eat it very much myself. All I can say is that the less processed the food the less sodium it usually has.

    Those are just some thoughts I had after reading your post, I hope they help even a little :) Good luck and congrats on trying to eat a healthier diet.
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    I thought you needed help because your food was on meth.
    If it was I'd be skinnier :) I think! lol
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    also thought id add that any thing reduced fat or fat free is going to have more sugar and sodium to make up for the fat - also a lot of canned soups and other packaged foods (low fat or not) are going to be packed with sodium.
    i use whole eggs, low sodium bacon, i dont really eat a lot of lunch meat but when i do i just stick to a serving a day.
    I know low fat is better than fat free. They add sugar to fat free foods to make them taste better. Swindlers! South Beach Diet book taught me a thing or 2.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
    Yeah but your teeth would be all jacked up.
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    I'm struggling with staying under the sodium and fat levels set by mfp too. I have no idea if the levels it sets for you are correct or not but hey, it can't hurt :)

    I have a few suggestions for foods you can substitute:
    Maybe try turkey bacon instead of the Hormel bacon bits. I eat Trader Joe's brand turkey bacon sometimes and its pretty tasty. I looked at the nutritional information and they have around the same amount of fat but the turkey bacon has a little less sodium. There might be other brands out there that are lower in both categories than the Hormel.

    Also, it way cheaper to make your own salad dressing. Basalmic, red wine and rice wine vinegars are all tasty. You can drizzle that on salad with a bit of olive oil and pepper and it make a good salad dressing. I've also started using lemon juice as a salad dressing and it really good! it has lots of flavor.

    I don't have any suggestions for lunch meat, I don't eat it very much myself. All I can say is that the less processed the food the less sodium it usually has.

    Those are just some thoughts I had after reading your post, I hope they help even a little :) Good luck and congrats on trying to eat a healthier diet.
    Makes sense to think of it as the more processed the more sodium it may have. Good Advice!!
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    Great Advice everyone and I am definetly going to change up my salad routine. I need to get out of my comfort zone and add more whole nutritious stuff to my salads but I am so scared of the unknown. I have no idea the nutritional value of most things. Guess it's a learning process.
  • JmeJinxx
    JmeJinxx Posts: 210 Member
    I don't have much to contribute, but I buy the Esskay fat free low sodium deli ham. 40 calories per 2oz, no carbs or fat, 330mg sodium, 10g protein. :)
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
    I don't have much to contribute, but I buy the Esskay fat free low sodium deli ham. 40 calories per 2oz, no carbs or fat, 330mg sodium, 10g protein. :)
    Wow that fits perfectly into my plan. I have to find some!
  • JmeJinxx
    JmeJinxx Posts: 210 Member
    I don't have much to contribute, but I buy the Esskay fat free low sodium deli ham. 40 calories per 2oz, no carbs or fat, 330mg sodium, 10g protein. :)
    Wow that fits perfectly into my plan. I have to find some!

    I get mine from BJ's wholesale, They have the best prices around. I think the ham is $3.99/lb! :)

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