I don't feel like I'm dieting, just living better. No calorie counting. I weigh food right now only because I want to be able to replicate recipes. Early on I weighed it to get a sense of how much raw versus cooked veggies; then I gave that up because I just eat as many "good" veggies as I want until I feel filled. A large carrot is ~3 ounces. 1/2 avocado is 3-3.5 oz. Etc. Also, I tend to make things in large batches and freeze the leftovers in meal-size bags to take to work.
I don't have a smoothie maker or anything like that. Thought about getting one, but my budget is too tight right now. I also enjoy cooking, especially while I'm experimenting with recipes.
I don't feel like I'm dieting. I don't feel like I'm missing anything. The biggest thing I'm cheating on is I don't eat half my veggies raw when the weather gets really cold and I do fry some things with olive oil. Also I still use some salt, but I have extremely low blood pressure (100/60 -- any lower and I'd be unconscious) and I work up a sweat with the dogs, the horse and work.
But really, it's just about doubling or tripling the green/orange veggies and halving or thirding everything else.
I cheat and don't worry about it because 90% or so of my eating is healthy. Every couple of weeks I'll treat myself to an omelet with fried potatoes. In a way it's nicer than before because it's more of a treat.
I already ate oatmeal with fruit in it for breakfast in the winter, but it didn't hold me until lunch and I got in a habit of a "second breakfast." Adding a couple tablespoons of either raw seeds or cashews or almonds to my oatmeal made it much, much hardier. And instead of a 2nd breakfast, I started eating a piece of fruit at 10am. Then I'm comfortable until lunch.
Lunch on warm days is raw, usually a wrap overloaded with greens (fresh from my garden -- late October and I *still* have sorrel!), tomatoes, maybe half a sliced avocado and/or half a cup or so of chili beans. Or carrot sticks with guacamole dip. On cold days, a large bowl of hot, thick soup loaded with veggies, and a single slice of whole grain bread. Or a couple fried green tomatoes made with cornmeal.
White beans cooked down and mashed make a great stock for hearty "creamed" soups. Same with mashed cauliflower. Even better is to use both of them 
Dinner may be rice pilaf with a ton of veggies mixed in, or stew, or bean patties with a ton of veggies on the side.
Edit history
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
= new reply since forum marked as read