Nim's © Notes - (sensible)

A Low Calorie Day - (sensible)
   Breakfast- tea or coffee with not too much milk and no sugar, (sweeteners are okay.) Either one thin slice of toast with thin smear of flavouring but no butter, or a small bowl of non-sugared cereal with as little milk as you can.
   During the day- water.
   Lunch- walk outside to buy: salad with low calorie protein, eg fish or chicken. Could be in a sandwich. Water to drink.
   Evening meal- fish or low fat meat grilled or steamed, not fried. Vegetables in season, steamed. Mushroom, microwaved with one small drop of soy sauce each. Mineral water. An apple or orange. No sweet.
   Late relaxing- no more than 50 grams, (1¾ ounces,) of natural unsalted, unroasted nuts, or as many fresh vegetable sticks without dip, or fruit segments as you like, plus a glass of wine or large glass of unsweetened fruit juice.

How many calories in this? (factual - main source: Manual of Nutrition, Her Majesty's Stationery Office.) See a calculated example.
   Some values - Kcal/100g
   Water, (pure unflavoured)- 0 (none)
   Milk (whole)- 65
   Cheese- very variable (read labels) Cheddar average 412, cottage 114
   Bacon (including only the edible fat)- approx 450
   Beef (average)- 226
   Chicken- 145
   Pork sausage (average)- 367
   White fish- 76
   White fish fried in batter- 199
   Eggs- 147
   Oils and fats including butter (average)- 825
   Mushrooms- 7
   Green vegetables (average)- 20
   Cauliflower- 13
   Carrots- 23
   Peas (average)- 55
   Potatoes (boiled)- 80
   Potatoes (fried)- 236
   Apples- 46
   Bananas- 76
   Oranges- 35
   Nuts (approx average)- 590
   Cornflakes (unsugared)- 354
   Rice (cooked)- 359
   Pasta (average)-365
   Wine- 67
   Apple pie- 281
   Cakes, plain, un-iced (average)- 400
   How to calculate calories in your meal -
   Read food labels for calories per 100 grams and look at weights or weigh portions, to calculate individual values. For example a home-made cheese sandwich - Cheddar cheese label says 406 K cals per 100g, a cheese sandwich might contain 70g of cheese: 406 X (70 ÷ 100), or 406 X ·7, means there are just over 280 K cals of cheese in the sandwich. Add bread, 2 X 25 g slices at 250 K cal per 100 g, ie 50 grams total: 250 X ·5 equals 125 K cals for the bread. Add butter if used, 10 g at 730 K cal per 100 g, that's 730 X ·1 equals around 70 K cal. TOTAL for the cheese sandwich is thus roughly: 280 + 125 + 70 = 475 Kcal.

How To Cut Down Portion Sizes - without noticing too much - (clever)
   There are tricks you can play on yourself, or on your dieting friends, which can ease the discomfort experienced by some slimmers as they eat less than accustomed.
1) Check the calorie count of the food or drink concerned. The higher, the more you should reduce portion size. Low calorie count food, such as green vegetables and mushrooms, can be increased to compensate if necessary. High quality lean protein portions do not need to be cut much, if at all, unless you regularly eat large quantities of it.
2) For higher calorie foods like chocolate, cut the (reduced) portion into very small pieces. If eaten like sweets, tell yourself you can only have one very small piece every so many minutes. Then suck the individual morcel really slowly to extract every bit of flavour fix.
3) For fattier meat, sausage etc, slice it thinner* than usual. Again keep it in your mouth for a while to savour what you have. *(You might need sharp knives to make this easy.)
4) Grate cheese etc rather than slice it. You can often get away with far less in grated form and not notice the reduced amount all that much.
5) Use smaller plates, knives, spoons and forks etc to help small portions look bigger.
6) Sip wine etc and make up the fluid volume with a separate glass of water.

from further up this page -
Vegetarian specific issues -
   The biggest problems a true vegetarian faces is lack of certain vital nutrients from plants. Even if you eat dairy produce and eggs it is still likely that vitamin B12 in particular will be lacking. In general vegetarians are likely to be short of calcium, iron, riboflavin, B12, and vitamin D, unless supplements are used. B vitamins can be obtained from yeast and yeast products.
Organic and free range foods -
   The only difference between 'organic' foods and others is the way they are grown and packaged. No pesticides, herbicides, or inorganic fertiliser or other manufactured chemical is supposed to be used. Thus there should be no chemical residues sometimes found in small traces in treated crops or anti-biotic fed animals. Sometimes this extends to preservatives in the finished product too - read the label. 'Free range' and similar titles refers to the way animals are housed and fed, animals left to roam an area may be happier than those cooped up. Nutritionally there is no significant difference in the end product of either organic or free range and their untitled counterparts.