The Great Big Giant Amazing List of Low-Cal Foods, Snacks, & Meals

Drum roll, please....

1. Snacks Under 200 Calories from Cleveland Clinic

2. Two-Hundred Snacks All Under 100 Calories! Insanity!

3. Twelve Meals Under 200 Calories

4. Fifty Foods Under 100 Calories

5. 100 Calorie Meals (These are from an Ana site, just so you know)

6. Foods Under 100 Calories (Another thinspo-ED-type site)

7. 19 Filling Snacks Under 100 Calories (I kind of disagree on this person's determination of 'filling,' but I guess I'm just a fatass who would most likely not be full off of 6oz of tomato juice. Just me).

8. Snacks BETWEEN 50-100 Calories (OK this one is a message-board type comment thread, but there are some really amazing recipes that people post...hard for me to believe they're all under 100 cals).

9. Under 100 Calorie BREAKFAST Items Well, it is the most important meal of the day!

10. Appetizers Under 100 Calories 

11. 100 Top-Rated Mom Contributors give their favorite 100 Calories Meals

12. All snacks by category under 100 calories! (Stole the picture from here, they had the best site!)

ED Survival Guide for Restaurants and Bars

   Here's a fairly common scenario for me: I'm doing great, losing weight, exercising, not going over 300 calories a day, feeling super in control and proud of myself...and then I get a phone call from a friend inviting me out. It doesn't matter whether it's to breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or happy hour-my immediate thought is always the same: Fuck.

   I don't want to lose my friends from blowing them off and never meeting with them, but restaurants and bars are also panic attacks waiting to happen for me. This just happened to me last night, which inspired this post. So, I've done some research and compiled the best websites and tips/tricks for surviving these calorie-laden hell holes. Hope someone finds it useful!

1. CalorieKing.com , CalorieKing App  
   This is by far (IMHOP) the best site for looking up menus for fast food chains and restaurants. It lists every menu item imaginable, but only for established chains...you're not going to find any local places here. Still, extremely useful.The link is only for the iPhone app, but if you have an Android, Blackberry, Palm, or Windows Mobile device you can just go to CalorieKing.com on your browser and you'll be automatically re-directed to the mobile site.

2. UrbanSpoon.com, UrbanSpoon Apps  
   I live in NYC, so I NEVER go to chain restaurants. I know how elitist that sounds, but it's just a fact. There are so many amazing places here there is no reason to ever go to a chain. Still, that presents some problems when trying to find nutritional information. Urban Spoon has become my BEST FRIEND. You can find local restaurants for wherever you live, and I'd say that about 80% either have their entire menu posted or at least enough comments and reviews about menu items to ascertain the kind of food and range of options. 
   Actual caloric information is extremely rare, but if you can at least view the menu ahead of time you can use your intuition about what will be the lowest and if you really want to do some research, google the item for recipes to get an idea of what will be in it and calculate it yourself. The first link is to the website, second one to download the App if you have a smartphone. 

3. SkinnyGirl Cocktails  
   OK, as much as I hate to do free advertising for Bethenny Frankel (Hoppy?), this stuff is the bomb.com! I was hesitant to include it because outside of huge metropolitan areas, not a whole lot of bars serve it. Before I moved here, I couldn't find a single restaurant, bar, or nightclub in my area that carried it. In fact, I had more than one bartender laugh in my face when I asked. BUT, I decided to include it for two reasons: First, if you DO happen to live in NYC or another big city, odds are you CAN find bars that serve it, and no one will think you're crazy if you ask. Every woman is on a fucking diet in New York. Second, for those times when you get invited to someone's house or have people over, you can most definitely find it in a liquor store. 
   People always appreciate when you BYOB, and if they're females they probably love that it's SkinnyGirl. There's Margarita, Sangria, and White Cranberry Cosmo...and they all have under 100 cals for a full 4oz serving and don't taste like shit. Amazing.

4. Low-Calorie Cocktails and Tips  
   This is like the best article ever for low-calorie drinks and how to stay on your diet when you're forced to be at a bar, or even when you want to be there but don't want to ruin your whole day. It's like 3 pages long and has a ton of useful info, but you can also save time and not read any of it and just skip to the lists of calories in spirits, wine, beer, popular mixed drinks, and even mixers. Apparently TGIFriday's has a drink that has an astounding 1,100 calories in it. If you're ever there, don't order a Mudslide. Article by WebMD, so you know it's legit. =)

Additional Tips, Tricks, and Advice...

   For when you are caught off-guard and have to go out to eat or drink spontaneously, when you don't have time to check the menu, or when the info just isn't available. 

1. Salads are always available. 

   When a menu is really overwhelming to me, and I can't even begin to estimate how many calories are in the items, I just save myself the stress and get a salad. There are some things about salads to keep in mind, though:

*Stick with simple salads like house salads.  

When salads get crazy they usually aren't low cal. Steer clear of salads with too much crap on them, especially cheeses. 

*Don't fuck it up with dressing. 

One of my biggest pet peeves is watching someone pour ranch dressing all over their salad. If you like the creamy dressings, you have to use fat-free or they totally defeat the purpose of the salad. Unfortunately, most restaurants don't have the fat-free alternatives for all of their full-fat dressings. Ranch, Creamy Parmesan, and Bleu Cheese are the most popular-so sometimes they have those in fat-free. I personally am of the opinion that even fat-free creamy dressings have too many calories, but that's something you can evaluate for yourself based on the rest of your day and your cal limit. I never use anything but regular vinegar or balsamic vinegar. 0-5 cals. 

*Caesar Salad is NOT your friend. 

It is NOT a low-cal salad. That is all. 

2. You don't have to clean your plate. 

   Immediately halve your plate. Then halve it again. Once you've eaten 1/4, you can decide if you want the other 1/4...but don't stray to the other half! If you have a hard time when it's right there, ask for a to-go box and immediately get half of it off the plate. Most of my friends (good ones, anyway) know about my food issues, so they don't think anything I do is really strange, they are just happy I'm eating. So I don't have any qualms about straight up cutting everything in half right down the plate and removing it. 

   But I understand that not everyone has that luxury, it can be harder when you are trying to conceal that you're dieting or calorie-counting. When this is the case, it's less noticeable to go item-by-item. (i.e., start with the chicken filet and cut it in half, eat that half regularly, and then move on to the green beans, and just eat half of those, etc.) Obviously works in any order. 

3. Drink lots of water. 

   Every bite or two, take a few sips of water. You'll fill up quicker and eat slower. 

4. Get coffee instead of dessert. 

   If you're with a person or people who love chatting and never want the meal to end-they almost always suggest dessert. My favorite response is: "That sounds so amazing but I'm SO full! You know what, I'll get a coffee to let my stomach settle and then I'll try a bite of yours." 

   This way you're not making a scene, you're not saying "Oh god, I can't do dessert, too many calories," you're not making them feel bad for having something, you can enjoy your coffee and keep talking, AND you can have one small bite of whatever they order. Or not-once it comes you can always say "looks so delicious but I'm still so full, could you save a piece for me to take home for later?" Then you can just throw it out. Your call. 

   Just don't load up the coffee with cream and sugar. Black is obviously lowest in calories, but if you can't tolerate black coffee then use some skim milk and/or Splenda/Equal/Sweet-n-Low.

Hope this helps! Ciao!

LM

20 Fat Loss Tips: Slide Show

Hola chicas~
   So most of this is pretty common sense or stuff you've probably been told/read/heard before-but sometimes I like little reminders. I actually just ignore the ones about eating MORE and focus on the exercise tips and what NOT to eat. The more it's on my mind the more self-control I'm able to exercise. Constant vigilance! My fav is the one about "Intermittent Fasting"-haha, we've got THAT one down, right ladies? You should be able to just click on the pic for the slide show, and there's some good suggestions at the end for other slide shows. There's one good one about foods that fight aging and another about biggest diet misconceptions, if you spot them. Might put one of em up.

LM

HCG Weight Loss Drops

OK, so here is the Lifebooker deal that I tweeted about: 

Back by Popular Demand: $38 hCG Weight Loss Drops

It ends in 2 days, 20 hours, and 18 minutes...DUN DUN DUN!!!

It's also for mail order, so I assume that anyone can get the deal regardless of what state you're in. Not 100% about Overseas-my instinct would be that it's ok but I don't know the laws about FDA regulations for homeopathic medicines. 

Here's the same package for $90:

http://hcgdrop.3dcartstores.com/HCG-Diet-Starter-Kit--Incl-Energetic-Formula-hCG-PLUS-with-Cookbook-and-Guide_p_153.html

I did some research, and this is the most credible, unbiased, and recent article I found (like this month): 

HCG: A Dieter's Dream?  

Then there is this one from Slate:

I Did a Crazy Fad Diet From the Internet, And It Worked

And here is pretty much what the rest of the sites are like: 

1. http://www.hcgdietreview.net/

2. http://wheretobuyhcgdrops.net/hcg-diet/

3. http://www.my-hcg-diet.info/

I'm kind of leaning towards trying it myself...only $38, and I eat less than 500 cals a day anyway. Not too keen on the "loading up" phase in the beginning though-I'd skip that part. Thoughts? Ciao! LM

What's in a name?

Hey there!

   Before I dive into my hopes and dreams for this little baby blog of mine, I feel an obligation to state the following as clearly and unequivocally as possible for anyone who may have stumbled upon this via happenstance: THIS IS AN EATING DISORDER BLOG. IT IS WRITTEN/COMPILED BY SOMEONE WHO IS FULLYWITHIN THE ED COMMUNITY. I AM NOT "PRO-ANA" OR "PRO-MIA," AND DO NOT ENCOURAGE EATING DISORDERED BEHAVIOR IN OTHERS, LEAST OF ALL MINORS. THIS BLOG IS MEANT FOR THOSE WHO ALREADY HAVE EATING DISORDERS AND ARE, FOR WHATEVER REASON, NOT IN RECOVERY. Wow, typing in all caps like that is really emotionally arousing! And on that note, I'll be moving right along... ENGAGED IN HER DISORDER, AND IS INTENDED FOR OTHERS

   Some of you may have followed my old blog, Breaking The Food Chain. As much as I loved the outlet that it gave me, the nature in which I set it up was just not maintainable. I would pour my heart out into what would invariably turn into long-winded posts, and the blog really became a glorified LiveJournal (for those of you who still remember the days of LiveJournal). As much as I tried to infuse it with useful information for a clearly identified demographic, I never could shake that "diary" feeling once it was there-the precedent had been set.

   So, I decided that instead of giving the old blog a complete renovation, it would be much easier to create a new one that actually does what I always envisioned my blog would do: be a resource for our community. Somewhere that I can post all the low-cal recipes I read and come up with, articles about the latest weight loss supplements, websites with the best prices on fitness equipment, research studies about eating disorders, amazing smartphone apps for us, thinspo, calorie guides, personal experiences, legal advice, product reviews, mental health and therapy discussions...the list goes on and on! Most importantly, I want people to be able to use it themselves as well as offer their own insights, comments, recipes, suggestions-you name it! The only kind of posts that I DON'T want here are: 

1. Those from anyone without an eating disorder with the delusion that an eating disorder is like a diet they can go on to lose some weight.  

~Try WeightWatchers or Jenny Craig, because EDs are diseases not diets. 

2. Those from judgmental individuals coming from a place of hate, misunderstanding, and/or ridicule. 
~Everyone has issues, some people have more than others, and yours is a serious case of douchebagitis. Check yourself. 

3. Those from self-righteous individuals interested in "saving" anyone's tortured soul.  

~If you want to save people, go to med school and become a doctor. Or go to the YMCA and become a lifeguard...just get the fuck out of here.

  As ED As Pie is obviously a play on the old saying "easy as pie," and is meant to both be a humorous play on words and capture that I want this blog to be, well...easy. I never want to dread a blog post again, or stress over not having written in weeks. The idea is that a post can be anything-an image, a link to an article, a YouTube video--whatever. I can't tell you how many times I see something that I wish I could just send to everyone on my ED Twitter, or read something that would take way too much time and effort to convey in 140-character increments! Likewise, I'm constantly amazed by the awesome links that others post-but sometimes Twitter just isn't the best medium. I'm excited to get this started and see where it goes. 

And THAT was officially my first and last post to be more than a paragraph in length. Hallelujah! 

Stay lovely, ladies! 

LM