I don't follow any specific diets but these days I'm trying to eat more healthily and generally be mindful of calories. There are a couple of habits I've adopted and products I find helpful, so I thought I'd share and see if anyone else has any similar tips or recommendations in a healthier eating crowdsourcing kind of a way? Disclaimer - obviously what works for one person doesn't always work for everyone, to each their own in terms of carb-avoidance or choosing not to eat anything processed, and this isn't any sort of advertising bollocks for any specific product!
- I take a pot of carrot sticks to work every day. That's my initial mid-morning snack, it helps to keep my bored-snacking self occupied for a while crunching them up and there's no sneaking into the team biscuits or sweets until I've had those. I prepare two days at a time, so it's not an every night task but equally so they're not getting too dry and manky days in advance.
- I'll hardboil up a whole load of eggs and keep a tub of them in the fridge for a healthier high-protein snack. It's also quite satisfying to have a hardboiled egg alongside a lighter lunch like a salad, or to make breakfast a combo of things like a banana and an egg.
- Nutritional yeast isn't just for vegans!
It may look like fish food but it adds a nice sort of savoury, nutty, cheesy taste to things. I'll cook up some green veg like kale or frozen brussels to go alongside something else and sprinkle some on top to make them a bit more interesting.
- Cup a soup technology has come on a long way and while some still taste like shit some are genuinely nice. You get a lot more flavours than you used to, all sorts of exotic ones as well as the traditional soup flavours. Again I find it satisfying to have something like a cup a soup alongside a salad, makes it feel like more of a rounded meal.
- On the soup front don't fall for the labels of light/diet/slim soups, check the actual nutritional info. Half the time you can find a lower calorie soup than the ones they're marketing as diet. Something like a diet creamy soup may be 140 calories for half a tin, while a regular carrot and coriander or scotch broth is only 80 calories for half a tin! Doesn't mean either is bad for you, but if you're calorie counting then it's something else to factor in.
- If I'm having a chocolate craving I find that Choc Shot liquid chocolate stuff is a good way to meet it without going full Nutella-and-spoon or turning to actual chocolate. It's only 14 calories a teaspoon, so I can add that to something like natural yogurt or on a cut up banana and it's not turned a healthier snack into a write-off.
- Sugar free jelly is my jam, so to speak. I use one sachet to make up three decent size ikea plastic bowls of jelly, and each one is something like 13 calories. Yes they're pointless empty calories, there's no nutrition in them, but so fucking what I eat plenty of "real food" but I'm also a glutton and sometimes I just have hunger pangs and really want something filling in my stomach. If some jelly can hit my sweet tooth and provide that filling sensation for 13 calories then why not.