Vegans, Vegetarians and fruit lovers. HELP!!

[Gold Metal Flake]

When I eat fruit like an apple, it's great for the moment. An hour later and I am hungrier than if I had eaten nothing at all. If I try to be good and not eat a bag of chips, I am punished for it. Same with Bananas.

So what, eat another apple? And another? Until I am sick of them? I am two fuckin’ oh five. I have a lot of weight to lose and I do not need this constant argument from my goddamn stomach.

I do not want to eat breakfast bars (the only ones I like have HFCS) or Wheat Thins or Sun Chips or drink diet shakes anymore. I want something light at lunch that will hold me until dinner at 5:30.

Any suggestions? I am overweight and I snore. I snore more every year. This is a problem for both Ms. OR and myself. I gotta lose some weight, and backing the fuck down on the calories and substituting a lot more fruit is my way. I have held 205 since xmas, and I was 200 for a year before that so the weight is fairly steady. If I back away on the starches and carbs, I think I should see some weight loss, yes?

So, does there exist on the planet fruits and veggies that are filling?

[billyskank]

1. I got the same thing

Eating an apple makes me hungrier than I was before I'd eaten it. Bananas at least fill a little gap, for a little while.

I haven't found a way of eating less yet that doesn't involve being hungry. Sorry. Not what you wanted to hear, I know.

[supernova]

2. Learn to get some fats and proteins in your diet

Your body is craving fats and proteins to balance out the apple.

You need to eat solid food like legumes and nuts and plant oils. That will control your blood sugar and make you feel like you ate something. (Actually anything on the low end of the Glycemic Index values) They will even out your blood sugars and not make you feel hungry all the time.

Apples are nice, but you can't live off them permanently.

[AmyDeLune]

3. Nuts!!!

Add a handfull or two of nuts, (walnuts are a favorite of mine with apples) to go with your fruit. It's surprisingly filling. Good luck with the dieting. :)

[jobycom]

4. Building on what others are saying...

Fruit is sugar, and the carbs in fruit are generally closer to simple than complex, so while they are good, they don't linger. And if you constantly fil up on fruit, you will not lose much weight, because you are still consuming sugar. You need real energy, as in complex carbs, proteins, and fats (not saturated, though, look for oils).

You are still hungry. Balance is the key. Someone said nuts--you can also add nut butter to your fruit. Spread some walnutbutter on apple slices.

But that's not going to do much longterm. You need vegetables, you need a variety of heavier foods, and you need grains. Legumes are good, too. Fruit gives you a sugar rush, so you think you are getting more energy than you are. Eat stuff like celery, carrots, or other snacking vegetables. Eat better balanced meals. Determine that you will not eat certain foods (sugar and white flour for starters), and go hungry before you do. Then fill in the gaps with whole grains (not Wheat thins or crackers, they aren't 100% whole grain, so they aren't much better than white bread).

A good ligt lunch is a salad. Make your own. Toss a few scraps of lettuce with whatever fruit or veggie you have ready to be eaten. Tomatoes, apples, raisins, carrots, celery. Through in a couple of beans, especially chickpeas. Walnuts are good, too. Mix your own salad dressing, and keep it simple. Use olive oil, mix with something tart, like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Shake until it forms a dressing-looking mix. That salad gives you the fruits and veggies you need, complex carbs, oil (olive oil is very healthy and good for cutting cholesterol and loosing weight, as long as you don't eat too much), proteins (nuts and chickpeas), and variety. You can alter it every day. You can make it small or large, depending on which meal you want it to be. If you want to make a full dinner out of it, toss it with a cooked grain, like rice, kamut, barley, or bulgur wheat.

And exercise, of course.

Oh yeah, and drink lots and lots of water. Water washes fat from your system, keeps your body from those undefined cravings that make you snack, keeps you from feeling empty, and keeps you hydrated--more important than people seem to realize.

Starvation doesn't work. I've just started a diet myself. I've dropped from 205 to 196 in two weeks, doing basically what I just described to you. I've done it in the past, too, once dropping from 195 to 177 (darned if I know why I gave it up after six months). I got a boost this time from starving myself for three days over an emotional issue, but that's beside the point. I had also binged on junk just before, so they canceled each other out. :) It can be done, you just have to watch every single bite of food you take, and substitute every bit of junk you eat with something healthier. That will keep you from craving the junk.

It will take more than fruit, though. Fruit is a good supplement, not a good meal.

Sorry to ramble on. Nasty habit of mine. :)

[LeftyMom]

5. You'll need a protein source or some fats to digest to stay full

Eating an apple has some starch to it, but most of the sugars break down quickly, so you're going to get that same high and crash you'd get if you ate cookies or something for lunch, although perhaps a bit less pronounced. Try a little nut butter spread on your apple slices and if that doesn't work change the ratio a bit so the protein food is the bulk of your meal and your fruit is what you eat with it, for example a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat with an apple.

Oh, and if you can work the occasional salad into your lunch, green leafy veggies are both a great source of micronutrients and usually fiberous enough to be filling.

You may also want to plan a small snack into your late afternoon. It's better for your metabolism to eat several small meals rather than the same number of calories in fewer meals. For a lot of people one aspect of weight loss is learning to listen to thier body's cues about hunger and fullness again, so if your body is telling you that it needs a little snack at two thirty to keep going it may help to listen.

[Elad]

6. The reason you get hungry again

is because your metabolism is being kicked on when you eat the apple, and this burns off your stores of energy quicker, leading to you getting hungry again. This is why a lot of people believe you should eat several small meals a day to lose weight, rather than 2-3 larger meals. By eating throughout the day, you keep your metabolism going and your body burns more calories. Fruit is a great way to do that, but you can also do salads (you can add baked tofu to the salad to give it a little more protein), or just about any normal, healthy food - just in smaller proportions and more frequently.

Apples are low on the glycemic index (the fiber slows down the absorption of sugar), so that's not what the problem is. But also, if you're dieting, and eating less, you're going to be hungry sometimes. What is ideal is if you realize you're a little hungry, but still have a lot of energy, and if you eat right and stay active, you'll get to that point. Your body will also adjust to your new eating routine with time, and you will likely become less hungry, but I would suggest eating small meals/snacks throughout the day rather than just eating an apple for lunch and trying to use that to hold you over till a big dinner.

I also would recommend not falling for the "carb craze" trend - carbs aren't why people are overweight, junk food in general (which includes bad fats, bad carbs, poor quality protein, sugar substitutes, flavoring/colors/other chemicals, and overly processed convenience food) and lack of activity are why people are overweight. Your body needs a good, solid, healthy supply of all nutrients, including (and even especially) carbs, and cutting down your carbs to dangerously low levels to try and lose weight is, in my opinion, like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Good luck.

[Kali]

7. Get a sleep study done

I am serious. Look up sleep apnea - it can cause/contribute to all kinds of very serious problems including issues with weight.

I was in a vicious circle of no sleep, no energy, sit around and eat, get sleepy, but NOT getting the RIGHT KIND of sleep. I was sleeping all the freaking time, but when I got my test results - JFC! I probably havent had restful deep or REM sleep in my life. Started c-pap in april. Haven't had but maybe 4 or 5 naps during the day, lost 20+ pounds - without even trying, and mood has improved markedly.

Get checked out. Especially if you have insurance - its one thing they recognize and are fairly willing to pay for.

[LeftyMom]

10. This is a really good point

I'm no expert on the subject but the people I know who have had a apnea diagnosis are just wholly different people with treatment. It's a good thing to look into for anybody with a significant snoring problem.

[Kali]

14. or heart, kidney, weight, mood, depression problems as well.

If you have a partner that sleeps with you they can be your first key observer. It's not the snoring per se, it's the gasping for air - dead silence for up to a minute and then the arousal and gasp - that's apnea - anyone who has slept with you will have noticed.

[REP]

21. Kidney Problems Aren't Specifically Related to Sleep Apnea

While frequent night time urination is a symptom, and severe, prolonged untreated sleep apnea can cause proteinuria in the elderly, it doesn't specifically cause kidney problems - though the high blood pressure from untreated sleep apnea *can* lead to kidney disease, heart atack and stroke.

Some people, like me, just managed to have an unrelated kidney disease (FSGS, which is genetic/immune-linked) *and* sleep apnea *and* diabetes (from corticosteroid use to treat asthma).

[REP]

20. Seconded, From Another Hose-Head

I was told I was "too young, too thin and too female" to have sleep apnea ... turns out not only did I have sleep apnea, I hae severe sleep apnea. Snoring is one symptom; so is weight gain and hunger (some people eat to try to stay awake, sometimes referred to as carb-loading).

Untreated sleep apnea can kill. Seriously. Get it checked out!

[Deja Q]

8. I love fruits and I've been eating more of them to replace chips'n'such

And I've been forced to exercise. Health concerns; and despite all previous talk around here, I am not ready.

[flvegan]

9. How much exercise do you get?

Two way street. Kind of need both to lose significant weight.

As others have stated, nuts are very filling and nutritious, just don't eat a whole lot of them. The previous posts say everything else I'd touch on, so read through them all.

[Dude_CalmDown]

11. I would recommend regular exercise, common sense with

what you eat and 6 small meals throughout the day.

[Gold Metal Flake]

12. OK. One big thank you replay instead of a buch of small ones.

This thread has some great info. I'b bookmarking it and I'll start planning around the advice given. Thanks to all!




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[grasswire]

13. may I recommend a book that could change your life?

It's called "Potatoes, Not Prozac" and is written by a woman whose career was designing detox programs for alcoholics. She found an enormously important body process regarding sugar metabolism, and learning about it could improve life for a lot of people who have blood sugar swings.

Here's the web site: http://www.radiantrecovery.com/

Here's the seven basic steps recommended:

Eat breakfast with protein
Journal what you eat and how you feel
Eat three meals a day with protein
Take the recommended vitamins and have a potato before bed
Shift from white foods to brown foods
Reduce or eliminate sugars
Create a new life


We have introduced this program to the 13-year-old girl in our household whose life was chaotic due to sugar cravings and wuper-picky eating. Everyone's feeling better!

[astral]

15. these are great ideas for you to look at

I also believe some people are more meant to eat fruit than others. I have never cared much for fruit as if I eat fruit when I am hungry, I just get more hungry. Bananas may be the exception for me; a banana as an on-the-run snack doesn't do too bad. I am partial to nuts and maybe a little cheese but I love cheese along with raw sweet cold fresh raw white onions. I have eggs for breakfast, always, every day, and it helps alot making it through to lunch time which can be a fairly small snack as long as it's REAL food, not 'snack' food, such as anything with empty calories in it. NO pop, NO chips, NO empty calories whatsoever period if you are overweight trying to lose.

Remember not every rule works right for every person. Dean Ornish's "Eat More, Weigh Less" and the partner book "Everyday Cooking with Dean Ornish" were great books for me to get ideas on how to think about food. (Unfortunately I don't have the books now.)

Ornish goes too far for some people. Another great one to look for is Cover Bailey's "Fit or Fat." I believe he's got this on books and video and audio.

Drink lots of water, preferably spring water rather than tap water. Try adding organic vinegar to your drinking water, say 1 teaspoon per 8-oz glass, and you can learn more about how the vinegar car help you from many angles, including normalizing your blood sugar level so you don't have the crashes and sudden hungers so fast.

[pitohui]

16. i think you need a doctor not the internets

is your weight tending to gather in your belly?

if you are overweight because of metabolic syndrome eating fruit will only make you fatter!

you prob need medical advice, my husband has metabolic syndrome and his readings were down to normal levels in a scary short amount of time once he learned from the test strips that he basically can't eat fruit, remember fruit also has fructose in it naturally, you may learn that you have to severely restrict carbs to lose the weight

he has now lost 35 pounds of intractable weight, most around the waist, that he couldn't lose on a low fat ornish type diet -- and he now has normal fasting and after-meal glucose levels

i had no idea that fruit was harming my husband's health, no idea on this earth!

[grasswire]

18. so what's he eating?

Give us an idea, please.

[pitohui]

19. well a vegan diet is impossible i'm afraid

he's eating an awful lot of dairy these days, a lot of cheese -- even if you are lactose intolerant and can't drink milk you can eat cheese

a lot of nuts also but sometimes w. nuts you suddenly run out of steam and can't eat them any more for awhile, i'm not sure why, it may be the "good fats" provide a feeling of satisfaction that is just long lasting

hard boiled eggs are a common snack

if you drive around a lot doing field service, you are going to need a cooler in the truck to be sure you have something you can eat

[Rowdyboy]

17. I've gone from 221 lbs to 189 lbs since mid-January....I now LOVE fruit

Seriously! I've eaten more fruit since January than in the previous 52 years and I love it. Navel oranges, pears and grapes are our favorite, with bananas and plums bringing up the rear. Also lots of spinach, in salads and on sandwiches, and baby carrots. I know its a bitch to make, but steel cut oatmeal with golden raisins and pecans is really good for you.

Fruit can certainly help you (it has been great to us) but it isn't enough. Turkey breast meat makes excellent spaghetti/taco/enchiladas/lasagna. Whole grain bread/muffins/waffles are available and surprisingly tasty.

Ham or Canadian bacon omelets with "Eggbeaters" can be really nice, and South Beach has some really good low-carb bars (JMHO). There is an enormous amount of healthy food. Share recipes!