Pasta Substitutes and a few Other Tips

Day 2 of my March Diet, and so far things are going alright. Yesterday, I managed to fit in an hours worth of exercise which included a 30 min brisk walk, and I ate okay - aside from one protein bar snack which was high in sugar, woops.

Anyway, I've been trying to replace my unhealthy meals with more healthy ones, and wanted to share some of these with you because they are genius. I'm a huge pasta eater, and knew this had to stop. You can buy low calorie pasta, but I live in a small town and no nearby supermarket had any, plus it's pricey, so instead I switched out my pasta for:


1) Stuffed Mushrooms.
A large flat mushroom can be as little as 16 calories. So fill it with a low cal pasta sauce (I use onion and garlic) Add some tomatoes, and there you go, a super low cal snack which is only around 100 calories, low in fat, saturates, and sugar. (Obviously check the pasta sauce, as that can vary) You can even add a small amount of beans for protein if you like, with hardly any consequences.

2) Stuffed peppers
Same deal. You can fill them with low cal pasta sauce, tomatoes, and mushrooms for a very low calorie, low fat, low sugar meal. Include spinach as well, as spinach is one of the healthiest foods you can eat, and is a good source of protein.

3) Cauliflower Rice
This was surprisingly easy to find, and good for a late afternoon dinner. You can have pasta sauce with it, or just mix in vegetables! Or you can mix in salmon or tuna, with sweetcorn for a colder (yet just as beneficial) meal.

Let me know if you have any more ideas!


Here's some general tips I've picked up from research and chatting to others:

1) Joining a weight loss/diet/exercise forum REALLY helps. Recording your progress, reading other people's stories, and getting help and feedback not only helps keep you motivated - but it is really fun! I genuinely enjoyed starting my diary, and would recommend https://weight-loss.fitness.com if you want to join in!

2) Cut meals in half and eat twice as slow. I have thin brown sandwich slices instead of bread, however, instead of making an entire sandwich, I have one slice with tuna and tomato, or beans. This cuts out 100 calories every day. You can pretty much do this with anything, and if you eat twice as slow, your body will barely be able to tell a difference.

3) Drink a pint of water before and after every meal. Drinking a pint of water fills you up, meaning you will eat less. And if you don't feel full, drink another pint at the end. Remember that food takes a while to fully fill you, so never expect to eat a meal and feel full immediately afterwards. We are tricked into eating large meals, believing they make us full, when in reality the time it takes for us to eat those meals is what makes us full. Have a pint of water, then a half-meal, then water, then wait half an hour before deciding if you are full or not.

Will let you know any future tips, good luck :)