crackers and fruit

[kimmy]

you know how you can either have 5 hup seng crackers or 10 meiji ones. i've been eating 5 meiji crackers between meals/ cracker intervals to whet my tea time binge. the question is ... should i be eating 5 or 4 each time?

and while i'm at it, you know how we are allowed 2 fruit allowances a day. if i broke that down to half a fruit each time eg, have my yoghurt with half a peach than have the other half say after lunch, i'm still good for one more fruit allowance after dinner right?

i'm just wondering if i'm doing the diet right coz i'm full all the time and have not seen any visible difference one week in.

[Faithy]

Hey Kimmy..

I dont know what meiji crackers are.. but I can let you know how many crisp breads you can have at one time..

First off people's allowance of fruit & crispbreads are different..

If for example you can have 5 crackers a day you can have 2 in the morning, 2 for lunch & 1 for dinner ( or in between meals).

The idea is that you can have NO MORE than 2 crackers at one time & at least 2 and a half hours between those & the next serve.

Pretty much the same with fruit.. if you want to have half an apple & half an orange together at the one time that's fine.. so long as it equals one serve of fruit & no more than that at one time..

I have half an apple at breaky, half at lunch & then a whole apple in the evening.. that equals 2 serves so that's fine.

Hope that's helped.

[rakkiizoon]

im into the Meiji biscuits too, and i just take it as 2 pieces = 1 Crispbread
that means 4 pieces a time maximum, 2.5hours till the next one.
when i dun feel hungry I actually dont take any at all..

[sundaymorningstaple]

Kimmy

You can have 2 Meiji 'Plain' crackers in place of 1 Hup Seng cracker. That means if your Crispbread allowance is 5 per day, then if you are using Meiji crackers you can have up to 4 pieces only at a time for a snack. You cannot have more than four less than 2.5 hours apart. I used to mix Hup Sengs and Saladas which are similar to Meiji "Plain" (Saladas come in a bread slice sized perforated piece that contains 4 squares) two of those squares equals 1 Hup Seng as well.

4 Meiji = 2 Crispbreads as per your program
2 Hup Seng = 2 Crispbreads as per your program
No more than 2 crispbreads per snack and no less than 2.5 hours between snack & meals.

The Hup Sengs are nicer tasting but the Meiji's are better for grinding up and using for batter on chicken schnitzels in my personal opinion.

Yes, your fruit allowance you can split into smaller sizes and have across the day with no problem. Just don't have more than a single size per serving.

sms

[rakkiizoon]

SMS, just curious where do you get Saladas?
I'm trying to find some substitutes in case I get tired of Meiji (Cos i do like them and eat them before Cohen's actually!)

[kimmy]

SMS!! you're my saviour!!

now how? i've been mucking up my cracker allowance. i've been eating 5 between meals. does this mean i've deviated?

damn

[sundaymorningstaple]

Originally Posted by kimmy

SMS!! you're my saviour!!

now how? i've been mucking up my cracker allowance. i've been eating 5 between meals. does this mean i've deviated?

damn

Kimmy, if your program indicates "Maximum 5 crispbreads per day. You may not eat more than 2 crispbreads at a time." (under the heading CARBOHYDRATES: )

If you have been eating Hup Seng's then you are deviating big time! You are eating your whole allowance at one go times however many times a day you are doing this. However, if you are eating Meiji's 'Plain' and eating 5 squares, your are deviating, but just not as bad. Only 25% over the allowed but how many times a day were you doing this? With Meiji's you would only be allowed 10 squares a day. (4 for each snack maximum. one snack with only 2 squares).

I used to get Salada's at the little Cold Storage in Serangoon Gardens. Maybe Cold Storage Jelita has them as well, but I haven't checked. Jason's used to carry Vitawheats but haven't seen them nor Salada's there (Raffles City basement). Meiji 'Plain' and Salada's are basically the same to me - yuck! Only thing I like 'em for is for making batter for baked fish & chicken. I still got a whole box of Salada's in the pantry that's never been opened cause I've never used up the Meiji's there. (Started buying Provita's instead - but haven't bought any of those either for a while - darned expensive and can only be gotten from "The Springbok Bazaar" in Katong Mall (S. African foodstuffs). To me they are the best tasting of all but while they only cost the equivalent of about 60cents a box in SA, we are gouged at $4 a package here!

Anyway, your deviation was unintentional but as this was a carb deviation it is probably why your movement of the scales has been slow. Draw a line under it, correct it, and just go forward. Should you have any other questions, by all means bring them up as unintentional deviations can go on for long periods of time without being caught and can have bad effects that only show up during the blood tests.

sms

[kimmy]

i've been eating the meiji's. i think it's psychological that i prefer them coz i get more bang per snack allowance.

to me, vita-weat is just yuck on it's own but tastes nicely flavoured with cottage cheese.

i feel bummed abt eating that one cracker more each time. should have clarified this earlier. next week will be better.

[Inn]

read and re read through your program. It's funny how a 2nd, 3rd or even fourth you pick up things you were doing wrong... :P I know

[rakkiizoon]

I was told by my consultant that there is no need to meet the fruit and CB allowance if we do not need it. I take my fruits cos i love them, but I stopped taking CB since last week cos i dont feel hungry at all.

I weigh myself only weekly and it has all been well the first 2 weeks, but down to one pathetic kilo last week. I wonder if it has anything to do with my CB intake? Is it actually recommended to take the carbo to strike that 'balance'?

Not taking any chances, Im back to my CB today. Just in case.

[Inn]

They say to take ALL fruit and cracker/crispbread for the first 10 days You HAVE to.. After that your choice- though i think thats why my loss has been less this week just gone.
So back to it... I find if i have it with my meal, then i get it in. Haven't the time or thought to have it in between. Crushed up as bread crumbs and croutons are great too.

[Francesca]

Hey SMS

When you say "Hup Seng" which exact type of cracker do you mean? I saw a whole selection at Jasons just now, and ended up buying the Hup Seng Wholemeal Crackers (blue packaging) and Arnott's Salada Original. Hope I didn't mess up!

[sundaymorningstaple]

I believe them's the ones. I'd have to go check and see if I have any left but don't think I do as I usually went the the Springbok Bazaar and bought ridiculously expensive Provitas from S.Africa (but like them the best!) and I figured that why not. I'm worth it! ($4 package when they cost less than a buck in S.A.) Don't think you've messed up. But you can always call Innira at the clinic and ask her. She'll set you straight on which ones.

[Francesca]

Thanks SMS! I haven't seen these South African ones, but if they're the ones you like, I reckon they are definitely worth paying for! This diet's tough enough, no point being miserable with a particular brand of crackers when you know there's one out there that you do enjoy.

[KyMMy]

i agree with Francesca - focussing on what i was ALLOWED to eat and "splurging" 0n these made the program so much easier for me!

[Francesca]

It's unfortunate that the Hup Seng crackers come in packs of three, when we're only allowed two at a go! I think I will be very tempted by the third one. Need to invest in a good air-tight container at work so that I can put the third piece in right away and take it out of my sight!

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yeah, that's why I only bought the one box. I don't like the individual servings thing. Seem most of the local crackers are like that.

What I did was invest in a couple of boxes of sandwich sized ziplock baggies and when opening a box of crackers I'd count out a day's allowance per ziplock bag and then store all of those in another sealable container. That way, I'd just grab one and keep it in my bag and if I ate them, fine, if not, recycle the remainder for another day. The first 10 days you must eat all of them (if you don't your carb withdrawal symptoms may well be heavier) after that weaning away from carbs you can or not eat them. I've gone as long as a week with out having any of them during the diet. (It won't speed up or slow down your diet noticeably however).

Yes, that is one thing about this diet. This is for US! So there is no reason not to treat yourself kindly when buying fresh foods.

[Francesca]

I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell that I'm going to skip my daily allotment of crackers, SMS. I love my carbs too much! And I've never been able to go five hours without a snack in between.

Fortunately, I quite like the Hup Seng wholemeals, phew! No need to invest in expensive S African crackers eh?

[Butterfly_girl]

If it makes you feel any better, the price of provita's in south africa aren't as cheap as they used to be now either!

[Miss Optimistic]

I'm not sure if this has been posted somewhere else, so I'm asking here about the timing of snacks.

I understand that you have to wait 2.5 hours in between crackers. What if I only have one cracker (being half allowance) at say 11am, can I have the other cracker at 12pm - or do I have to wait 2.5 hours in between?

Also with fruit, if I have 1/2 an apple at say 8am, can I have the other half at 9am? Or if I have an orange, can I spread the segments out throughout the day or is it better to eat it in one hit?

Sorry if this has been asked before - not sure where.

Thanks, Miss O.