Menu Suggestions for Dieters
Article by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites
Daily Diet Menus
For 225 calories - you can enjoy a substantial mini-meal. Let's see what Diet Bites can come up with that's tasty and that falls within the 225 calorie range:
Turkey Sandwich
Turkey is very low in calories; one deli slice contains a scant 25 calories. Let's use 60 calorie good old-fashioned white bread. Let's add a smear of mustard, a lettuce leaf, two thin slices of sun-ripened tomato and what the heck - let's also add a slice of fat reduced cheese for an additional 50 calories.
Total calories for our turkey sandwich recipe equal a skinny 220 calories.
Chicken Soup & Crackers
When in a pinch, reach for the Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. It tastes great and contains a skinny 60 calories per serving. The only negative aspect is that it's rich in sodium content. And when adding crackers you may wish to use the ones with the unsalted tops. Add cracked pepper and a cup of skim milk - and we still haven't reached our 225 calorie limit.
Pinto Beans & Cornbread
If you don't have fresh-cooked beans on hand then by all means keep a few cans of your favorite varieties of beans in your pantry for quick use.
Cornbread packets that require only an egg and a bit of milk make the job of baking cornbread very easy.
While cornbread can be purchased in most bakeries at the local market, they lack the 'out of the oven' crispness of fresh-baked cornbread - which only takes a few minutes to prepare. I like to use a mini-muffin pan so that I end-up with a dozen tiny cornbread muffins rather than six large ones. And I can enjoy two instead of one - making me feel like I'm getting more food for my calorie-buck.
Or you can cook the mix in a pan or iron skillet and cut into squares. Any leftovers that aren't consumed by you or the family can be given to the hungry and very appreciative birds.
A 1/2 cup serving of most beans contains 100 to 130 calories. Cornbread prepared from packaged mixes contain 140 to about 160 calories per corn muffin. Therefore, our caloric total equals about 240 calories. When enjoying your cornbread, be sure to opt for light margarine over full blown to save 1/3 the calories - and of course, you'll be saving fat grams, too.
Peter Pan Whipped Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich
Peter Pan makes the most delicious whipped peanut butter and it contains about 1/3 fewer calories than the full blown version.
Where peanut butter is concerned, fewer calories also translates to fewer fat grams - which is a very good thing, particularly in the areas of saturated and Trans fats.
Let's use 35 calorie bread for this peanut butter sandwich. We're up to a total of 70 calories at this point. Let's add 140 calories or one serving of the Peter Pan whipped peanut butter.
Now we're up to 210 calories. Let's add 1/2 of a small banana for 40 calories. Now we're up to 250 calories - quite a great calorie purchase for a peanut butter sandwich. For fewer calories, simply add less peanut butter.
And that leftover 1/2 of banana? Stick it in the freezer and slice it into rounds as a delicious, nutritious snack. It takes about 30 minutes to reach the sliceable stage - so don't leave it in for too long or you'll have a frozen torpedo.
Related Articles
Diet Bites is a Trademark