Carissa

[Guest guest]

Hi Carissa,

 

I commend you for giving thought to what you are eating and also to your health.

 

You asked for help/ideas concerning keeping your eating healthy and keeping your

weight under control. It sounds as though you likely are a pretty healthy

weight, based on what you said, but it is a good idea to be looking for a

healthy way of eating; how we eat really can hugely impact our health. I don't

think it has to take a lot of time or preparation to have healthy snacks.

 

You mentioned you're a 'picky' eater. Being an old person, I can tell you from

experience, this could easily change. When I was your age, my diet was

horrible, I ate mostly processed and junk foods, and barely knew what a

vegetable was. When I had kids, I decided I needed to be an example for them,

and I began eating more fruits and vegetables; it took some time to develop a

taste for some, but others were surprisingly enjoyable right from the start. I

hope you will keep an open mind and continue to try different foods...even those

foods you have, in the past, not liked.

 

My biggest suggestion for healthy snacking would be to shop in the produce

section for most of your snacks: apples, oranges, grapes, melons, berries, and

other kinds of fruits, all make great, simple snacks. Someone mentioned finding

a dip or hummus and using it with veggies; that's a great way to make vegetables

more enjoyable, and hummus also adds protein which is also great. Celery,

carrots, red/yellow peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, etc.. are all

delicious raw and would be great with something like a hummus dip. Grape

tomatoes make a great 'finger food' snack too. Raw nuts are also a good, healthy

snack, but calories add up quickly with them, so it's a good idea to be careful

about portion size.

 

You can also find snack size containers of unsweetened applesauce, and other

fruit sauces. I find that at co-ops or health food stores, I'm able to find

organic sauces that aren't loaded with sugar or artificial sweeteners.

 

Sweet potatoes are a great, nutritious food, and they are easy to 'bake' in the

microwave. I also sometimes cut up a couple of sweet potatoes, spritz them with

a little olive oil and bake them. The baked pieces are great warm or cold as a

quick snack. I've also found that if I cook other vegetables...fresh broccoli,

asparagus, cauliflower, etc... and keep it in the fridge, leftover cooked fresh

veggies make a good snack as well (I eat them warm or cold). One of my favorite

'simple' snacks or quick lunches is just mixing beans (black, kidney, garbanzo,

etc...) with salsa. I just open a can of beans & mix a few of them with a

little salsa; this is good either warm or cold. It's especially good if made

with homemade salsa, but I don't always have homemade, and sometimes use from

the store.

 

I love spinach and sometimes have a salad with fresh spinach, mandarin orange

slices, and almonds for a snack or a quick lunch. Mixed baby lettuce greens and

some kind of nuts also makes a nice lunch or snack; I use balsamic vinegar, but

there are dressings out there that are relatively healthy if used modestly.

 

None of this stuff involves a lot of work, but maybe a little different

thinking. We might not think anything of popping a frozen personal sized pizza

or a TV dinner in the microwave, but may think 'cooking' a sweet potato or other

fresh veggies in the microwave is work. It may take a little time to adjust to

changing thinking toward more whole foods, and may take even more time for your

tastes to adapt, but hang in there, I'm guessing you'll do fine with time.

 

The Vegetarian Resource Group vrg.org is a great web site (I'm not in any way

connected with the site...have just found it to be really useful to me), and

they have some good resources about having a healthy, balanced vegetarian diet.

 

Wishing you the best,

 

Sheri

 

 

 

 

 

, Carissa Halliday <carissahalliday

wrote:

>

> I have been trying to figure out my diet since I was in 6th grade.<snip>

)Please help.I have been searching all over the internet for help.I do not want

this trend to continue.PLEASE!!! If any of you guys have ideas on what to do, I

would be SO grateful.

>

>

>

>

>