Weight Loss: The Second of Six Rules for Calorie Reduction.

No condiments or cream sauces except Vinegar, Mustard, Lemon Juice and oil free salsa. This rule is mostly directed at oil and mayonnaise based products and dairy/fat based pasta sauce/gravies or sauces/gravies for meat. These dressings and sauces can double or more the calories of a portion of food and not add anything toward making you feel full. There is actually evidence that high fat food can make you more hungry. I can tell you that since I have been reducing my calories to 1200 per day with eliminating all these condiments I have actually been less hungry then I was.

For salads I have converted to vinegar. There are so many gourmet vinegars out there. I particularly like balsamic vinegar but the various wine vinegars are also good. To take this as an example a large dinner salad (the type you would get at Applebees, without meat) may have 100-400 calories (mostly from croutons, eggs and cheese) before you add the dressing. The typical dressings will have 40-80 calories per tablespoon if not reduced fat and 20-40 per tablespoon (go to this sight and search 'salad dressings' or what ever you would like calorie count of). Typically 4-6 ounces will be used on a large salad so 320-720 calories for non reduced fat dressings and even 160-480 calories for the reduces fat dressings. Balsamic vinegar will add essentially zero calories. The funny thing is almost all the taste of a dressing is the vinegar and spices and very little is from the fat. I have been doing, while eating a salad almost everyday, and have not missed the fat based dressings at all.

Tuna fish and egg salad is many a carrier for mayonnaise. A typical sandwich will have 1/2 cup of tuna (120-150 cal) and 2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise (200-300 cal) so 2/3 of you calories will be from the mayonnaise. Going to low-fat mayo (60-100 cal) you can be much more reasonable. Most tuna fish made in commercial locations use real Mayo or equivalent, so ask before you order a tuna, chicken, egg salad or any thing with mayo when you are out.

When ordering a sandwich you are faced with what to add as a condiment or cheese. Typically 2-3 tablespoons are placed on a sandwich again adding 2-300 calories to a 300 calorie sandwich doubling the calories and then adding cheese will add another 100-200 calories. So adding cheese and mayo to a turkey sandwich will make a 300 calorie sandwich 600-700 calories. Instead add veggies, lettuce, tomatoes, and others. For condiment add mustard or sprinkle on some vinegar or if you have to add a thin smear of low-fat low-cal mayo (1Tbsp = 30 calories).

All of those cream sauces and heavy gravies do make your food taste better. Have them occasionally (once a week at most). However, for the period of your diet try to avoid them. They cam double or triple the calorie count and again not make you feel less hungry but more hungry. Have a spoon full to get the taste if you want but instead use a tomato based sauce or gravy.

So think about the hidden calories that we forget to count when we try to figure how many calories we are eating. My recommendation is that for the period of your diet just avoid them.

Next Rule Three.