Your secret weapon foods for weight loss?

Hunger tells us when we are hungry, "I must be sated."

Now comes the process of finding food to put into your gullet to stop those hunger pangs and obsessive thoughts of food.

Food qualifications:

1. Low calorie
2. Healthy with tons of vitamins and phytonutrients.
   
3. Makes you feel sated
4. Makes you feel sated for at least three to five hours.

What are your secret weapon foods for weight loss that meet the qualifications above?

I make a big batch of homemade brocolli or cauliflower soup. Its very filling, low-cal, low-fat and you can have a cup or a bowl depending on the hunger pang and it won't wreck your daily count!

I've never heard of broccoli or cauliflower soup, and I bet I couldn't make it. This must be the problem with some men dieters, they just can't cook and don't know any healthy recipies.

I know I can sit down and eat a footlong sub from Subway, and that's 1,200 calories, and it's pretty unhealthy as well. Yet it does make me feel full.

Original Post by irishmum:

I make a big batch of homemade brocolli or cauliflower soup. Its very filling, low-cal, low-fat and you can have a cup or a bowl depending on the hunger pang and it won't wreck your daily count!

can you share your recipe so we can all see how easy it is to make soups!? does it have any cheese it in? mmmm....

lentil dahl.  i make it with a salt-free chicken stock base (it's got only 10 cals per cup).  then i use 1 onion, 4 cloves of garlic, one leek, 3 carrots, 1 cup lentils (uncooked), 1.25 litres of the stock, cook for 20 minutes.  add a can of pure pumpkin puree (for all the squashy goodness--serisouly, squash is AWESOMELY good for you), add another 1/2 litre (the containers were 946 mls, i used two so it'S a little less than that).  cook for another 5 mintues, stir, process with a hand blender, add curry powder (also crazy good for you, i use «sharwoods») and voila!  an easy lentil dalh, about 200 cals per serving there's 6 huge ones of about 250 cals, or 7-8 of smaller ones, but either way it's low cal) and it is SO filling.  plus lots of protein (lentils) and fibre (vegies and lentils), vitamins (all the veg) and beta carotene which is good for the skin and night vision.  it's a great lunch or dinner.  it's SO filling and so yummy and so good for you.  what more can you ask for!?!

If a foot long sub is what you need to feel full this might not help you, but my favorite food to hush the growling without uping my calorie count is carrot sticks or celery.  Carrots are great plain, but for the celery, you can put low calorie laughing cow cheese on it (only 30 cals per wedge) or dip it in salsa.  Salsa is definitely one of my secret weapons.  It packs tons of flavor with few calories and can spice up any boring low cal meal.

I also drink flavored hot tea to avoid uping my calories for the day...this doesn't really help much when you are truly hungry, but I find that most times I am not that hungry, just bored and wanting something to snack on.

Yeah definetly brocoli !

Low cal veggie soups! i believe they have recipes one here Veggie Soup - Low cal veggie soup

or lentil and split pea soups. which have lots of protein!

Egg whites, or massive amounts of broccoli/cauliflower boiled, and then tossed with low sodium chicken boullion... MMMMM!!

I eat Tostitos blue corn chips and low fat salsa. It makes me feel like im cheating because normally nachos and salsa would be a cheat food! But the Blue corn chips are good for you and are only about 200 cals for 11 chips (they are pretty big chips!) and the salsa has alot of good stuff in it. I also make some with my magic bullet (great purchase!) so I know exactly whats going in to it, but when im lazy I just buy the organic low fat stuff!

That definately keeps me satisfied for a while!

I am easily the worlds worse cook, and I'm a married mum of two (which seems to insinuate to some that I turned into a super chef somewhere along the way! LOL!)

It really is easy- take 1-2 heads of cauliflower or 2-3 large florets of broccoli and chop roughly. Chop an onion. Dissolve a low-fat veg/chicken stock cube (don't know us equivilent- sorry?) in some boiling water (about 1/4 way up the saucepan/pot). Place the veg in the stock and simmer until tender (not too long or you'll lose the flavour/goodness). Blend the mix and add 1 cup of low-fat milk, some black pepper and mixed herbs and simmer. This should get you 4-5 fair-size bowls (you can freeze portions if you like?). See, fairly fool-proof?

EDIT- Oh, and you can add cheese if you like? ;P

Best hunger foods for me are high in fiber and then drink lots of water. I try to break my diet up into 10 segment each day so you could probably have at 2 things from my list.

1) Fiber One bran cereal 57%.  per cup 120 Cals  (Then drink some water. It will fill you up.)

2) Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal (Maple & Brown Sugar my favorite) 160 Cals. 

3) Green Giant Steam Bag Broccoli with cheese 142.80 Cals (Use Coupons save a ton of money or make your own bag.)

4) 4 Egg Whites 64 Cals

5) Small Corn Tortilla Shell 25 Cals and 1 Kraft 2% Sharp Cheese Slice 50 (20 seconds in the microwave then add cheese and go another 10 seconds.

6) Oranges 2 Medium sized 160 Cals

7) Salad (My last option because I don't like to eat salads but it does work very well.)

About half a cup of pumpkin mixed with 2 egg whites, a quarter cup skim milk, then pumpkin pie spices and splenda, sometimes a tiny bit of vanilla. It needs to bake for 45-1 hour so I make it at night and eat it for breakfast on the days I know I won't be able to grab a mid-morning snack. It's got a lot of fiber and a lot of protein which are both hunger fighting gold and it's 117 calories. It's not like pumpkin pie really, the extra egg makes the texture slightly different. Still yummy though.

I'm all about dill pickles...sometimes I just need to munch on something, and this always kills any cravings.

I don't rule out any foods except those that are proven to be unhealthful, such as trans fats.  Instead, I control portions of higher calorie foods.  This is not a "diet" for me.  I'm in this for the long haul - the rest of my life.  What I want to see is gradual weight loss achieved by eating a balanced diet - I refer to the USDA food pyramid all the time.  I eat mostly fresh foods, prepared from scratch and try to form new, better eating and exercise habits.  When I reach my goal weight, I plan to maintain it forever, and I'll be able to do that because I'll be eating right.

I've found that if I eat right I don't have cravings.  If I do feel I want something extra, like chocolate or potato chips, I work it into my calorie allowance and eat it.  I find that after 2 years of portion control I automatically stop and the small portion satisfies me.

There are no secrets.  That's the real secret.

I eat a lot of avocados for a normal person. About one to two a day. It keeps me full longer and makes me feel like I am cheating a bit because of the fat content in them. I also mix tomatoes with avocado and pour it on my bbq chicken. I love it.

My secret to weight loss and I mean fast weight loss is cutting out the processed foods and only shopping the parameters of the store instead of the middle aisles and when I do need to shop in the middle aisles, I usually bring along my hubby to shop in there so I don't get tempted. you should all try this trick!!!

Also, shopping the parameters of the store will increase your chances of actually having to prepare your food.

Honestly, lately the only thing I crave is SALAD!  If you are a volume eater, it's great.

I take 2 bags of salad mix, 6 tbsp of bacos, salt and pepper out the wazoo, and some kind of healthy dressing.  In fact, lately I have been using PICKLE JUICE instead of dressing.  Gotta do something with all that left over juice.  Before that I liked to use salsa, or just oil and vinegar.

That's 10 cups of food for about 200 cals.  Def fills me up and I am so satisfied by the crunchy lettuce!

etahbear, what do you bake that in?  It sounds yummy.  Your new pic looks amazing.  Way to go Girl!

ladies for TTOM chocolate cravings i find that sucking on a tootsie roll or two helps big time... they aren't that healthy but at 20cal per tooties it keeps you from the vending machine devil snack!!!

Jessmhood!  Can I borrow your husband to shop with?

Original Post by yellagirljay:

ladies for TTOM chocolate cravings i find that sucking on a tootsie roll or two helps big time... they aren't that healthy but at 20cal per tooties it keeps you from the vending machine devil snack!!!

What an utterly fabulous idea.  I enjoy hummus as a snack - 70 cals per serving although not very nutritional except I think protein.

Original Post by betzc:

etahbear, what do you bake that in?  It sounds yummy.  Your new pic looks amazing.  Way to go Girl!

Thank you very much, I'm not altogether unpleased with that photo which for me is HUGE since I hate every picture ever taken of me.

I bake it in a ramekin but you do want to soak the thing after you're done, it has been known to stick like an SOB.