You might want to re-think your turkey bacon. I had seen this guy on tv recently and just googled the following for your info:

"David Zinczenko, author of Eat This, Not That has this in his book about the salt content of Turkey bacon. Both kinds of bacon are 70 calories and 6 grams of fat per serving. But you get 25 percent more sodium with the turkey bacon--a whopping 360 milligrams of salt.

So stick with regular bacon in moderation."

As far as my favorite healthy foods, I love strawberries, black beans, radishes, green bell peppers, baked sweet potatoes, ground turkey (used instead of ground beef for recipes such as tortilla wraps) - bagel alternatives (lots of fiber, good taste of bagel.)

Thanks for the heads up on the turkey bacon.

Low fat STRING CHEESE---yum!

And, now, O-M-G!--they have High School Musical pictures on the little packages! Try to top THAT!

You should also try not to think of food in terms of diet - non-diet. All food is allowed in healthy quantities. Get to know portion control and really learn what a serving is, i.e. weight, size, etc. Knowing what the caloric, fat, and carb content in foods helps you make wiser choices.

My all time diet food is oil popped corn dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper!

Wodka is right about the turkey bacon.

And to think I was going to extol the virtues of pickles next...!

I know pickles have a lot of sodium but i love them. I also love salads with lots of veggies on them and low fat italian dressing

I remember my dad used to make his own yogurt. I kind of liked it - tasted like buttermilk. The yogurt you find in the supermarket now is all sugared up or artificially sweetened. I did find some plain but it tasted like wallpaper paste. Wonder where I could find the good stuff. Well, I guess I could just drink the buttermilk.

Harold, try FAGE it's Greek yogurt and absolutely delicious, thick and creamy and not really sweet but satisfying.

Here is a link that might be useful: FAGE Yogurt

Thanks for the tip, Suzanne. I'll have to keep an eye out for that.

Those little Laughing Cow cheeses in the round container and very good - only 35 calories if you chose the light version.

I also like the artifically sweetened Yoplait Yogurt - the thick and creamy light is only 100 calories and they have yummy flavors like Key Lime Pie and Cherry Cobbler. Soon manufacturers will be able to use Stevia as a sweetener and I will choose things made with that.

I love those Fiber One oatmeal and chocolate bars - they count as only 2 WW points and make a great dessert or snack. More importantly, they are loaded in fiber!

Harold, if you liked your father's homemade yogurt, you could try making it yourself. It's really easy if you have a homemade yogurt maker -- I have one called Yogourmet. Basically all you have to is heat up the milk, cool it to a specific temperature, pour it into the container, add a little leftover yogurt from your last batch, stir, and then let it incubate for about 6 - 10 hours.

I make 2 quarts every time I make it, and it lasts me about two weeks. If I use a cup of store bought yogurt as the "starter", then the batch tends to be quite sweet and creamy; using a bit of yogurt from previous batches tends to make them progressively tarter. So I usually start with a new starter every 4th batch or so.

I give much more detailed info on making yogurt in my epinions review below, but feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I love making yogurt :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Epinions Review

I like the bags of 100 calorie snacks. Yeah they are pricey but it makes you think when you grab the second one. My favories is the chocolate covered pretzels. Have some hidden in the bottom of the cupboard.
I have made turkey bacon wraps with just lettuce, tb ff cheese and light mayo. Not something I have daily but they are good.

I love Kashi Good Friends cereal. And with 12 grams of fiber, its a great choice. I also like Bumble Bee Prime Filet Atlantic Salmon in the 6 oz cans. Great in salads or on a piece of whole grain bread.

I just made these brownies that are 1 WW point. Everyone in my WW meeting loved them.

1 pkg brownie mix
1 can black beans

Dump the beans with juice (or drain and add 1/4 cup water) into blender and puree. In a bowl, stir the brownie mix and the beans together until blended. Spread in a 9X13 pan, and bake according to box directions.

I cut into 1" squares (abou 48 per pan). Yummy!

rivkadr,

How does that homemade yogurt turn out if you use skim milk and dried skim milk?

Joyce,

That brownie mix sounds a little weird but I do like both brownies and beans, so I might give that a try.

Harold, I can't say what it's like with liquid skim milk personally (the dried milk I use is skim, so that's fine). I know people that have tried it, and they say that it works just fine -- you'll definitely get real yogurt. I've heard that if it's made with skim milk, it sends to be thinner/softer -- you could maybe get around that with adding a little more dried milk to it.

You can even make homemade yogurt with soymilk, I've heard. Never tried it, though!

Just don't do what I did this past weekend...I heated up the milk, then set it aside to cool down. And then got so wrapped up in something else that I totally forgot about it...walked into the kitchen two hours later, and was horrified to realize that I'd forgotten about my cooling milk. I threw it away...I didn't think reheating and then cooling it again would be a good idea...

Rivkadr,

I made a batch of yogurt, and it turned out well except it was kind of bland, like the Dannon I used for a starter. Next step will be to try some other starter.

I didn't use a yogurt maker. I incubated it in a 10 quart Igloo cooler, and that worked perfectly. I put a qt of milk in a 5 cup Lock-N-Lock container and heated it in the microwave to 180, cooled to 112, and added the starter. Then put about 8 qt of 120 F hot tap water into the cooler, floated the Lock-N-Lock in that, and left it overnight with a blanket draped over it to help retain the heat. This worked great. I can't imagine it would be much easier even if you had a yogurt maker.

Yep, you can definitely do it the way you did it. Some people do it in their ovens as well. I just like having the ensured consistency of my yogurt maker, and the fact that it only takes up a foot of space on my counter (versus an entire cooler, or taking up the oven). But anyway you can do it that works is the way to go!

I've never tried using Dannon as a starter -- I've always used organic brands, and they tend to give somewhat tart results, at least in my experience. Also, the first batch I make is always fairly bland -- further batches that use that yogurt as the starter tend to be much tarter progressively. I actually prefer mine a little bland versus tart, but the fun thing about doing this is you get to play around and figure out what works for you.

I've been planning to try using Greek yogurt at some point as a starter -- some people say it's really awesome. If you have a Whole Foods or other health food store near you, go take a gander at all the different kinds of yogurt you can use as a starter -- it's kind of exciting. (I've always found that using actual yogurt as a starter works better than "starter kits", although other people are happy with those. YMMV.)

It's not touted as being a diet food... but at 25 calories per 2 Tablespoon per serving, it is my #1 favorite. It is
Farmer Boys Greek Dressing. It is, without a doubt the best greek dressing I have ever eaten ever. Since it is not available everywhere, I order it by the case directly from Farmer Boy. Awesome stuff it is..

Kitt