Let’s face it, when you’re hungry and you go to the pantry and fridge find temptation…? Well, it’s either going to make you blow the fast or feel annoyed as you try to resist. The best avoidance tactic is not to buy bad foods.
Rule number one: if other members of the family really insist on junk, buy the things you don’t like.
In our homes, the family can have prawn crackers as a treat because we don’t eat them but if Twisties are on those shelves on a fast day. That’s a different story.
So, to stop us from feeling like we need to go without, we always make sure we are well-prepared and well-stocked. Having healthy foods at the ready is a huge advantage to succeeding.
Our favourites
Low calorie foods and stock to have in the pantry that has worked for us include:
- Olive oil spray: cooking oil can add a huge amount of calories. That’s why we prefer olive! (olive oil 884 calories per 100ml, coconut oil 862 calories per 100ml)
- Spices such as turmeric, cumin, cinnamon aid weight loss as well as adding flavour
- Herbs like fresh coriander, basil and mint
- Lemons and lime in abundance. They contain almost no calories, and add flavour to so many things like salads, fish, chicken, steamed broccoli, or in mineral water (lime juice 25 calories per 100 grams, lemon juice 22 calories per 100 grams)
- Cucumber slices to replace biscuits for dipping (cucumber 26 calories per 100 grams)
- Rice cakes (24 calories per slice for Sunrice Original Thin Rice Cakes), corn thins (23 calories per slice for Real Foods brand)
- Low calorie wraps (Mountain Bread brand Rye Wraps 69 calories per piece)
- Fresh orange juice for salad dressing (45 calories per 100 grams)
- Cauliflower to use as mash, rice and as pizza bases! It’s also a filling vegetable that you can use to bulk up dishes (25 calories per 100 grams)
- Apple Cider Vinegar to aid weight loss and add flavour (3 calories per tablespoon)
- A fabulous fruit bowl
- Konjac noodles, Slendier rice and lasagna sheets (all made from Japanese root vegetable konjac, noodles 10 calories per 100 grams, rice 10 calories per 100 grams and lasagna sheets 8 calories per 100 grams)
- Chobani yoghurt and dips (120 calories per cup for yoghurt, 25 calories in 2 tablespoon serving of Chobani brand meze dip)
- Darikay Soups (pre-prepared heat-and-eat soups range from 80-100 calories per 280ml serve, depending on the flavour)
- Dark chocolate: the higher the cacao percentage, the better! (Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate 63 calories per square, Dove Dark Chocolate 42 calories per square)
- Lean meat (for example, Turkey Slices) can make for great protein snacks
- Fish and seafood, tuna and prawns are great low calorie options
- Eggs! Excellent boiled as handy snacks
- Pre-cut vegetable sticks – especially carrots and celery
Being prepared will help keep your menu items healthy! If you often get stuck with craving, adding some of these to your next shop. They just might save you on your next fast day! Do you have any snack saviours? Let us know in the comments below!