I have 2 questions here.

What is more important to watch when you are buying foods? I get confused over this. Carbs, sugar, satuated fats, calories.? They all seem high to me when I go to look at foods. Even the diet foods.

Also, what are good snacks for a person that craves sweets at times?

Yes I do the vegetable thing, the no sugar, no meats, but I do crave sweets quite often. I also do the fruits that I can eat but you have to watch them due to carbs. Back to the snacks. I go to the cookie section and I start reading the back and I won't buy anything due to the calories, fats, and sugar. I crave chocolate every once in awhile and again I walked away from the cookie and candy section due to the info on them.

Any good ideals on snacks, such as cookies, candy, will help.

Thanks,
Ada

Tough question Ada.

For those of us who have MS, transfats are not good. The trick for me is to eat a well balanced meal (I try anyway) and keep the carbs low.

I too have a sweet tooth and cave in on occasion with chocolate being my downfall. I try to avoid the candy/cookie aisle when shopping.

Sometimes sugar free/low fat pudding with some real whipped cream on it is a nice treat. No transfats and low in carbs. It's not that high in calories, but sometimes that's all I need to satisfy the craving and I get the chocolate so I kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Also, you can put skim milk in the pudding mix to keep the calorie count low.

Dieting is not something that has ever worked well for me. I've made the decision that eating is a lifestyle change. That's what I have done in order to maintain a healthy eating regimen. It doesn't always work but I do the best I can. It's all you can do when you have a chronic illness. What goes in does affect your whole body.

Good luck Ada. I wish you luck! I've been doing this for 7 years now and battling the food dilemma is not an easy one!

I too have watched what I eat for at least 10 years. I lost 75 lb. I told my Dr. it was because they got all of the tumors out of me but he says I worked at it.

What I want to do is to find a snack that will work in with my diet that will help my cravings. I do have chocolate pudding here but I bought some of that Hunt's snack pack with nonfat milk but I donot like the taste of it.

I was thinking about those snack packs that are suppose to only have 100 calories but again when I read what else it has, I back off of it.

I have never been a junk food eater. I think it comes from not having them when I was a kid. There were 10 of us kids so we had regular meals and no junk food.

Thanks for the help though. I do like lowfat whip cream. I eat some of it at times.

Thanks for the help.
Ada

I don't care for those premade puddings either! They taste like cardboard! Ick!

it's just as quick to make your own pudding.

Congrats on the weight loss! It's tough, I know. The first 2 years after I was dx's with MS, I put on a bunch of weight...I ballooned from 130 to 195! I am only5'4", so it was very noticable!

I have taken it all off and intend to keep it off! It was due mostly to all the steroids I did and the new meds I was on, stress, and life in general.

We didn't have junk food around when I was a kid either - large family as well and it just wasn't allowed!

When I want whipped cream, I do the real stuff. No carbs, no traansfats, low in fat, and actually, low in calories if you don't eat the whole bowl!

hi

i have been on many different 'diets' eating plans over the years and did have to do a sugar free and i too found it miserable even though i have a basically healthy diet with lots of veg fruit and little sat fats and no meat. i am also a medical herbalist so had to consider diet in my training and if i see any patients now. sometimes it is amazing what a wheat or dairy free diet can do but is have seen a lot of peplpe needlessly punishing themselves when they have a basically good diet. it is about all the good stuff you put in too. am not saying sugar is good but it is better than fake sweetners which are the work of the devil. real maple syrup is great as a natural sweetner, but unless you have certain problems i would suggest that you treat yourself to a couple of cookies when you fancy but you can buy ones without trans-fats which really must be avoided - anything hydrogenated is a no, no i think as it changes the fat structure and is potentially carcinogenic, and avoid nasty preservatives. but good quality and home-made cookies and cakes i reckon can be ok sometimes, especially when life is hard with pain. love yourslef and tell yourself it's good for you, bless it if that helps!

just don't over do it! if you really want sugar free alternatives i like sun-dried mango - chewy and sweet-like! also look out in healthfood stores for nice bars made with fruit purees etc. there is anaustralian bar called a wallaby bar which is sold in some health food stores and the ginger and macademia one is yummy and made with rice syrup which is at least a natural sugar! my boyfriend works at a big health food grocery so am lucky to get nice sugra free treats! also you may want to look for the range of biscuits called 'eco' biscuits made in belgium and they have no sugar but are yummy - you wouldn't really know. they are individually packaged. again i don't if you can get them where you are and what kind of health food stores you have. some of the 'healthy' things can be a bit disappointing in hitting the sweet treat spot but hope you find something you like!!

hope this helps maybe, but enjoy your sweet things sometimes! also dark, organic chocolate like green and blacks does have nutritional properties too so that can make you feel better if you eat the 70% organic dark sort!!

love sarah

I will try the health food stores Sarah. I never thought of that. I am mostly waiting until next month when I have my house rented out. More money to buy the right things with.

I did lose 4 of the 6 lbs. I gained from having the VNS on. We turned it off a couple of weeks ago due to me having other problems.

Thanks to you too Cheryl, I will start getting homemade pudding. With me living by myself I just don't feel like doing a lot and I hardly have an appetite but when I do it's for sweets.

I am glad to see both of you here with us.

Ada

most important....

SUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol. sorry, couldnt resist

it is hard for me to really tell what to look for. i have never been a junk food person. i hate chocolate (i know, im weird). and not a big chip person.

for drinks, ive gotten into the habit of drinking flavored water over gatorade (my weakness). they are healthy and pretty tasty.

what about some fruit gummies? they taste pretty good and i THINK they are healthy.... should be.

what about bagels? then for an extra sweets craving, you can add cheese, or jelly, or pnutbutter, or icing , etc. you can get them fruit flavored too.

Dark chocolate, in moderation, is full of anti-oxidants. Perhaps you could try nonfat milk with a little chocolate flavoring stirred in. It would be fat-free and you would be getting calcium for your bones. As for those snack pack puddings, real pudding is made with milk and must be kept refrigerated. I wonder how many chemicals must be in it so that they can be stored in the grocery section. Regards, Lil