RSVP and BYOF to Your Next Cookout
July 12, 2009 by admin
Filed under Weight Loss Articles
Well no, I didn’t misspell that. It stands for Bring Your Own Fruit. A cookout or a party can ruin your diet if you let it. One of the best rules to keep your diet on track is to “Plan Ahead”. You know you can sabotage your diet in one afternoon at a cookout, but to keep on track you need to have a plan and work it out in advance so you will be prepared.
Every weekend this summer will have it’s own suprises and roadblocks to your diet, but by doing some planning and preparation in advance, you can keep on your diet and healthy eating plan.
Plan to bring a nice covered dish to the cookout as a gift to your host. Make sure it is full of fruit or veggies that you like and you can also snack on while you’re having fun in the sun. Your host will love it that you are so thoughtful and your scales will reward you for being prepared with one thing that you know you can snack on without any guilt.
For some people crunchy is just the right texture to help control hunger and curb your appetite. Seasonal fruits and veggies have the necessary crunch factor and are filling due to their high fiber and water content and are very low in calories, as well as full of nutrients and antioxidants.
You usually can whip up a fruit or veggie platter and low cal dip on the morning of the event, and snack on it while you prepare it, and it will help to fill you up. You don’t want to get there and be starving when you arrive. That’s a recipe for a diet disaster.
Here is a list of fruits and veggies that I like to combine, with their calorie and fiber info:
How about a handful of strawberries, with just 53 calories in a cupful of sliced strawberries, and a whopping 3.3 grams of fiber.
Fresh cut up pineapple has just 75 calories in 1 cup, 2.2 grams of fiber, and just the right amount of crunch factor.
1 cup quartered or chopped apples has 65 calories and 3 grams of fiber. Splash with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown with oxidation.
One juicy wedge of watermelon (about 1/16th of a melon) has 86 calories and 1 gram of fiber.
A cantaloupe wedge (1/8th of a large melon) has 35 calories, and 1 gram of fiber
Carrots, one cup of strips or sliced is 50 calories and 3.7 grams of fiber.
Fresh Spinach, 1 cup has 10 tiny calories.
Celery, one cup of strips or diced, has 17 calories and 2 grams of fiber.
One cup of chopped broccoli is 30 calories and a healthy 3.3 grams of fiber.
Here are a few recipes for some party/cookout food to ward off next weekend’s diet temptations.
Strawberry, Avacado and Melon Salad from eatingwell.com
Fruit Pizza with Apricot Preserves from fresh-fruit-daily.com This looks like fun, just don’t eat too much of the crust, and use low fat or light cream cheese!
Strawberry Fruit Dip from fresh-fruit-daily.com Serve this with any and all of the colorful fruits and veggies above, this will be the best dip at the party.
Fresh Fruit Platter from foodnetwork.com
Spinach Strawberry Salad from southernfood.about.com Super easy to make and so colorful, the other guests will also want to devour it.
Cool Fresh Dill Dip with Vegetables from the examiner.com Cut some of the calories in the dip by sustituting with fat free sour cream and mayonaisse.
How to Carve a Watermelon Fruit Basket from fabulousfood.com If you have the time for this masterpiece, your host will probably faint with surprise, and your diet will be on track for one more “day at a time”.
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