A cost effective diet that controls quantity intake using Subway and Kashi products

(My Original Blog Post: http://ping.fm/0r3jZ)
Now I know this Blog isn't a diet blog, but it is a money making blog. I've found a method that works for me in controlling how much food I eat a day and the quality of that food. So what you'll learn after reading this article is how to save a little bit of time and money in how you eat, where you eat, and how long it takes out of your day to eat.

Some of what I say you may completely agree with, other stuff you might think to be crap, but you know what they say, take everything with a grain of salt, right? Just a quick disclaimer to make the FTC happy, Subway and Kashi did not pay me in any way to write about them. Everything I say about them is an opinion free of endorsement.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the point at hand. What is the diet? Well, let me first point out some basic things first that I've learned from hardcore dieters. We all know that it is recommended to eat at least 6 times a day. We should eat essentially, 3 meals (about the size of our fist) and 3 snacks a day. You also want to make sure you are getting all the food groups in your daily diet as well. Always drink plenty of water. On top of all this, you want to make sure you are eating only naturally whole foods and that you try your best to stay away from these three ingredients mostly found in processed foods:

• High Fructose Corn Syrup.


• Hydrogenated Oils.


• Trans Fat.

Now that I've laid out the basic rules, let's get to the diet. Starting off with Kashi products. Why do I like Kashi products?

• They are all natural products.


• They usually contain a good amount of fiber and protein.


• They are easy to carry with you at all times.


• They don't go bad, meaning they won't expire for awhile.


• You can choose from a whole lot of flavored cereals and granola bars.

OK, so the first meal of the day will be half a bowl of Kashi cereal starting off whenever you wake up, usually around 6-7am on a normal working day.

Then of course, you'll want to snack around 9-10am. I usually have a Kashi granola bar if I don't have an apple or other piece of fruit to snack on.

For lunch, as I mentioned earlier, I go to Subway and get only a foot-long sub for the second meal of the day. You've probably heard this before, instead of eating the whole sub, I only eat half and save the other half for dinner. Depending on what sub you get, you are essentially getting most of your food groups for the day here. You can get any sub that you'd like to, but I pretty much always get the turkey sub. Here's what I put on it:

• Foot-long on wheat.


• Turkey (covers the meat family for the day).


• Cheese (covers the milk family for the day).


• Lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions, pickles, cucumbers, green peppers (more than covers the vegetable family for the day).


• Then I top if off with mustard and black pepper (this gives it more flavor and mustard isn't bad for you like dressing is).


• Instead of buying a soda at Subway, I just keep a diet soda either on me or at home to eat with the sub. I'll also have almonds or another Kashi bar instead of chips as well. I'll do this for both lunch and dinner. I find that a can of diet soda fills me up more than water, but I drink plenty of water throughout the day.

After that, around 3-4pm, I will eat another snack. Try to get fruit like apple, orange, or grapes, but if those aren't around you can always have another Kashi bar or nuts.

Of course, the third meal, dinner will be the second half of the Subway sandwich. I keep the other half in my fridge at home wrapped up nicely so it's good to go. Along with the Subway sandwich I'll have a can of diet soda and either nuts or another Kashi bar.

You guessed it, the final snack can be fruit, nuts, or another Kashi bar if you don't have the latter available.

Is this recommended as something to do everyday? Of course not. There is no way this could possibly turn into an everyday diet for anyone. But it can very easily be a routine diet on your normal, standard daily living. This is if you live and work near a Subway, which I do. Otherwise, you might want to make the sandwiches yourself if you're not lazy like me.

If you do this diet, you are spending about $6.00 a day at Subway. That equals $6 x 30 days = $180.00 a month. What do you need to buy at the grocery store? Here a few suggestions, but you are free to buy to fit your current needs:

• Diet soda.


• Purified water and lowfat milk


• Kashi cereal.


• Kashi granola bars


• Fruit - grapes, strawberries, blue berries, raspberries, apples, oranges, etc..


• Nuts - almonds, non-salted peanuts.

Since you'll be getting all your meat and vegetables needed for the day with your Subway sandwich, you won't need to buy any of that at the grocery store. You'll just need to make sure you get fruit and other protein and fiber rich foods. The above will cost you about another $50.00 to $100.00 a month. Man, it's not easy or cheap eating healthy. This will keep your monthly eating expenses at around $300.00 a month. Plus you will only have to eat out once a day and go grocery shopping once every two weeks or so which will save you gas money as well.

Wow, that was a lot of writing. To quickly recap, let's go over the six meals a day:

1. Half bowl of Kashi cereal for breakfast.


2. Fruit, nuts, or Kashi bar for snack.


3. First half of Subway sandwich plus diet beverage and snack for lunch (lunch should be your biggest meal of the day).


4. Fruit, nuts, or Kashi bar for snack.


5. Second half of Subway sandwich plus diet beverage and snack for dinner.


6. Fruit, nuts, or Kashi bar for final snack.

Would love to know your opinion of this diet or any room for improvements you may have to offer.