Free Foods

I am a huge fan of freebies.  I subscribe to a blog written by a local woman who posts great deals in the Sacramento area and online.  She often includes free stuff.  I just signed up to get Kashi cereal bars, wrinkle-fighting eye cream, and Glade air fresheners, all for free.  It has me going to check the mail a lot more often.

I have heard of some foods as being freebies.  Free foods are foods that have a high enough fiber count and low enough caloric and fat count to make it virtually insignificant calories.    

My sister Jillian is big on these foods.  Jillian has lost 153 pounds, and part of her recipe for success is to never run out of free foods.  She says she makes at least two grocery store runs a week for fresh vegetables.  They are always on hand at her house.  When she exhausts her calorie intake at the end of a day, she pulls out the free foods.  “I have a limited amount of calories for each meal.  At the end of a meal if everyone else is still eating, I can nibble on free foods,” she says.

These free foods include some of the following:

Low-calorie fruits: apples, blackberries, cucumbers, grapefruit, melon, strawberries, and tomatoes.

Low-starchy vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, leeks, lettuce, mushrooms, onions, peppers, spinach, squash, and watercress.

Packaged foods: fat-free salad dressing, fat-free vinaigrette, popcorn, rice cakes, sugar-free Jell-O.