{"id":952,"date":"2009-07-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/food-convenience-food\/"},"modified":"2009-07-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-21T00:00:00","slug":"food-convenience-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/food-convenience-food\/","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of Convenience Food: Why Grab-and-Zap Meals Help Me Lose Weight"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Shaun Chavis<\/p>\n
Follow me on Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n I've been toying with the idea of joining food bloggers nationwide and posting pictures of everything I eat. Not only will it keep me on the straight and narrow, but it may also help me lose weight<\/a>. And I'm sure my daily life can demonstrate examples of both good and bad eating habits.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, after taking inventory of my meals, I've realized that my breakfasts and lunches will get boring fast. I eat pretty much the same thing, at least on weekdays, and no one wants to look at the same bean burrito five mornings in a row. But there's a lesson in my boring meals: Routine and prepackaged meals can<\/em> be good weight-loss tools.<\/p>\n You know from previous posts that I'm big on breakfast. (Confession: I'm a reformed breakfast-skipper.) Breakfast is usually a banana or some other fruit (lately, cherries and local peaches), eaten either before or right after my morning walks. Some days I might add a boiled egg. Then, I usually have a burrito once I get to the office. (My fave is Amy's Kitchen Burrito Especial, with white rice, black beans, veggies, and cheese.)<\/p>\n This routine works for me; I don't get hungry for hours and it helps me stick to my calorie limit. I may be stuck in a rut, but research<\/a> from the National Weight Control Registry<\/a> shows that successful dieters limit the variety of foods available to them.<\/p>\n Lunch is also a convenience product, usually a frozen entrée from Amy's or Kashi. Even though I started this habit last year to save money (so that I don't go to the company cafeteria or eat out), the instant portion control helps me keep calories in check.<\/p>\n It's much easier to polish off a Lemongrass Coconut Chicken guilt-free than eat only one-half or one-third of a takeout order. And research backs me up. A small study<\/a> from the University of Illinois published some years ago said this about packaged entrées and dieting: Instant portion control from a package helps support weight loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although convenience products may save money and calories, there's a downside: They can be high in sodium. Even if you're not one to reach for the saltshaker, it can add up fast. Low-cal options like Lean Cuisines can have up to 30% of your daily recommended sodium.<\/p>\n Curious if grab-and-zap products will make dieting a little easier? Try this Health<\/em> magazine fast-food diet plan designed to help you drop 10 pounds in 5 weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Shaun Chavis Follow me on Twitter I've been toying with the idea of joining food bloggers nationwide and posting pictures of everything I eat. Not only will it keep me on the straight and narrow, but it may also help me lose weight. And I'm sure my daily life can demonstrate examples of both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} microwave-dinners-150.jpg<\/span> , I've tried to make sure I get at least 400, and usually around 500, calories for breakfast. And I don't feel guilty if I get 600 calories for breakfast; that's a little more than a third of my day's calories.<\/p>\n