hey there,
well it seems that you have made some pretty good changes in your diet. However, there are some things i've noticed.
Breakfast:
the most important meal of the day. Eating breakfast in the morning gets your metabolism going for the day, it fuels your morning activities. If you do not eat breakfast, your metabolic rate will slow down, causing you to feel tired, hungry and to eat more later on in the day (which might result in unhealthy snacking). If you are not hungry in the morning try and eat some whole grain cereal with 4 or more grams of fibre per serving with a piece of fruit. I would suggest substituting that moutain dew with orange juice, fruit, milk or herbal or green tea.
lunch:
do you feel hungry at all during the day, skinny ninja? While it is good that your lunch is high in fruits and vegetables, it seems to me that you could use some carbohydrates and proteins. Also, you asked if it was alright if your salad dressing was not light. this depends on a few things. how many calories per serving is it and how many fat grams? And secondly, how much veggie dip are you eating? Most white veggie dips, are high in saturated (the bad kind) of fat because they are mayonaise based. However, some fat is good for you and even needed for your body to absorb the nutrients from the vegetables you are eating. I would suggest making sure you dont eat more than a tablespoon of that veggie dip. For lunch why dont you try a sandwich to add to your veggies and perhaps adding a salad instead of the dipp? One of my favourites is two slices of whole grain bread with lean shaved turkey or chicken or roast beef, with lettuce, tomatoes and mustard (or low fat mayo). For salad dressing choose something clear like italian dressing or balsamic vinagreet and make sure you measure how much you are adding (the caps on top of the bottles are roughly one tablespoon, so pour the dressing into the cap before adding to your salad).
dinner:
those healthy dinners are good when it comes to convenience and low calories/fat, but what about cost? Why dont you try making some of those dinners yourself? A dinner can be as simple as boiling water, and adding rice or pasta, with a piece of grilled chicken or fish and some vegetables (brocolli, green beans, a salad).
Also, instead of eating so many fruit and vegetables juices, i would reccomend drinking water or skim milk and eating the whole fruit. The extra fibre and less added sugar is more beneficial to your health, gives you more nutrients and should fill you up more.
Eating before bed. Most people recommend not eating 3-4 hours before bed. The extra food sits in your stomach and is not burned since you are only sleeping, and not using the food to fuel any activity. You say that if you dont eat before bed you are hungry in the morning? Being hungry in the morning is a completely normal thing! It indicates that your metabolism is in an optimal condition. Keep in mind, that you have not eaten anything for the past 8-10 hours! And furthermore, you can use this hungry to motivate you to eat something in the morning for breakfast.
i hope this helps, skinny ninja. another thing i can reccommend to you is to visit a nutritionist or dietician (you said you knew someone who was one)? Diet and nutritian comes with a sometimes confusing and always abundant amount of information that can be difficult to sort through and make sense of for someone who has only recently become interested in it. A professional can help to make sense of it all for you. Keep up the good work!
|