Diet, casually - Fruits. The original Candy.

Let's talk about fruit, shall we?

I know there are many people who tend to avoid fruit, saying they have too much sugar. And I absolutely agree that you should try and avoid having too much sugar in your diet. But in the case of fruit-calories there's something to take into account: A calorie is not a calorie. I will explain this in a future post in more detail, but for now all you need to focus on is: The calories a fruit gives you are wayyyy better than the calories - let's say - a cookie will give you.

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Dessert and sweets: Fruits

Wow, big shocker here, right? But just hear me out!

I don't know about you but I tend to overeat. I'm only full when I'm REALLY full. 'Mentally satisfied' is what I call that moment when I don't crave more food. We're all taught to ignore the signals our body gives us. After all there is no real reason to have something like "dessert", right? You just had a big ass meal, why eat the same amount of calories you just consumed again, but this time in form of a piece of cake?

A couple of months ago I started bringing more fruit to work than usual. After lunchtime I go into the kitchen and cut up some really sweet fruits: maybe half a Mango or one persimmon, a couple of figs or a banana. Here's the fruit stash I have at work right now. A mango for dessert plus a banana and some mandarins to munch on over a period of 2 to 3 days in case I want to grab one of those evil cookies in the company kitchen.

 Tipp: While citrusy fruits like Oranges or Grapefruits are great throughout the day, they shouldn't necessarily be your first choice for dessert. Your stomach is full after a proper lunch. Piling acidy fruits on top of that may cause acid reflux. 

I make a point in bringing a little bowl with the fruit and a cup of tea to my workplace after I finished my meal, take a couple more minutes to enjoy my dessert and allow my head to become 'mentally satisfied'. For me it helps to silence the little voice in my head that screams for something unhealthy.

But keep this in mind: Just because fruits are awesome and healthy doesn't mean their calories don't count. 

The pile on the picture above, if I ate all of this at once, would contain around 450 to 500 calories. That's around 4  Pepperidge Farm Milk Chocolate Macadamia Cookies. A couple of pieces of fruit throughout the day will keep you full of energy and satisfied - but go easy, okay? As long as you're not a Raw Vegan, eating 30 bananas a day will lead to disaster. Just listen to your body. If you feel like you had enough fruit you probably had. I trust you on that ;)

But nonetheless: Always have at least one piece of fruit at work. I keep mine within eyeshot.

Hopefully this inspired you to buy some fruits when you head out for lunch today.

Until next time and be sexy,
Anna

Diet, casually- Sparkling water. Fuzzy and with a kick.

A thing I learned years ago was that it's never a good idea to drink your calories. I'm not talking about your store-bought smoothies or Venti White Chocolate Mochas today. I'm also not talking about the healthy exception of self-made breakfast smoothies or juices that both serve as a whole meal. I'm talking about soda.

I too must confess that I enjoy soda and ice tea. There were times where I drank at least one bottle of diet soda or diet ice tea a day. All to willingly did I ignore the signs that my body did not like that chemical stuff - because it just tasted so good. But at some point in time I started changing that habit, reducing my soda intake to one bottle a week, sometimes even less.

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Soda: Sparkling water with lemon or lime juice

We Germans sure love our fizzy mineral water. It's not that widespread outside Germany I heard, but we can't live without its bubbly freshness. Back when I was in school our American exchange students didn't like it and described the taste as "salty" - but I encourage you to give it a try. But here's the twist: Use the juice of half a lime or lemon, orange or grapefruit to give it a fruity taste. It won't be as sweet as soda but we're not trying to recreate soda, are we?

Should you have a lime or lemon that's organic and not treated with chemicals, you can also cut it into pieces and put those into your bottle.

Your body will thank you!

Enjoy and be sexy,
Anna

Diet, casually - Tomato puree

One thing I finally understood since I started my dietary change is that diet is not only about "restricting" but most of all about "changing". Little changes can take you far in a long run.

This is why I welcome you to the first installment of "Diet - casually." where I talk to you on how to improve your every day diet by simply switching one food product for another. Those things helped me along the way of losing weight and I want to share them with you. Hopefully these tips can be helpful for you too.

Let's start today's post with something I bet a lot of you will find weird. But trust me: It's awesome.

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Bread Spread: Tomato puree
I bet none of you tried this before. It's been years since I started using tomato puree as a bread spread instead of butter or margarine. The main reason was that it has 0 points on Weight Watchers, but it stuck with me because I learned to love it.

There are many variations of tomato puree to chose from, some of them containing herbs, chilli or even onion. Alternatively, in case you're not a tomato-fan, you can try something like bell pepper puree. But be warned that it's more expensive. Something I can't stress enough is that in no way is ketchup an alternative to tomato puree.  Not only is it completely differend in taste, it's also full of sugar.

Should neither tomato puree nor bell pepper puree be to your liking try using mustard or horseradish as a bread spread instead.

All of these spreads are just so full of flavor compared to butter. They're fruity and delicious, plus, if you don't like it as a bread spread you still have a base for different sauces.

Enjoy and be sexy,
Anna