Boy you are getting some mileage from that Fruit and Nut Bar so far. And your dinner does not look ugly! Although I don’t know how you can eat out of a small bowl like that. I would make such a mess everywhere. I like to eat pasta on a big plate (I centre a small portion in the middle) and even then I end up spraying lots of it around.

Actually you have really inspired me Kathryn and for brunch I just made myself a savoury omelette with loads of vegies and a yoghurt berry smoothie. I suspect I won’t have a hunger pang for most of the day now. Oh and one cup of steaming hot tea. And yes you would be the first English person I’ve heard of to not like tea!

One thing I’ve noticed is that you peel your orange thoroughly and remove all the outside pith. Interesting. I actually tend to leave on as much of the pith as possible and I enjoy eating it. I’ve also heard that the pith is loaded with fibre. Does this sound right?

The fruit and nut bars have been brilliant this week. I have relied on them quite heavily. Had another one for breakfast this morning. I will definitely have to make some more this weekend. But also get a few other options for next week.

Re the small bowl, it gives me the optical illusion of having lots of food. If I used a big plate, I’d probably fill it up, or feel deprived.

There are actually many good qualitites to the pith of oranges. It contains fibre, but more importantly it also contains antioxidants. Again, I just don’t like the pith, so I cut it off. I’m comfortable that, given I eat well over the recommended five serves of vegetables, I get enough antioxidants to forego the few that are in the pith.

Wow. Antioxidants in pith! You’ve made my day Kathryn.

Wonderful idea to show your blog readers what a healthy diet looks like in day-to-day living. My question is – how much exercise do you do and are you v. petite? (All comments seem to note smaller portions than we would tuck into!) Thank you for a really interesting and informative blog!

It has been very interesting to see what you eat. I’ve told you before that your blog is super helpful for me as I change the way I eat and look at food. I’ve noticed the last couple of weeks that I’m just not as hungry as I usually am, and I’m just not wanting to eat as much – sometimes it’s even hard to get the fruits and vegetables in!

That leads to a question… if I haven’t eaten all my fruits and vegetables for the day, but I’m not hungry, should I still eat them? And it’s not that I’m not hungry from eating too much other kinds of food – I’ve been eating really healthy food, and they just seem to fill me up… at the least, I eat 4 veggies and 1 fruit a day, but usually I eat 5-6 veggies and 2-3 fruit a day. What is the absolute minimum I should eat daily, just for those days when I’m not that hungry?

(I don’t know if it’s important to say I’m very overweight and have lost just over 10 kilos the last few months… more information for a better answer!) :)

Jennifer I do 4 – 5 hours of exercise each week – a combination of walking and cycling. I’m about 1.60 metres (5’3") tall. I’m not petite build and as I’ve noted before I’m not one of those people with a naturally fast metabolism. I do have to be careful about what I eat.

LeAnne – I’m glad you’re finding these posts useful. And I’m glad to hear your new eating plan is going well – congratulations on the weight loss. Regarding fruit and vegies – the basic nutritional guidelines (certainly here in Australia) recommend at least five servings of vegetables and two of fruit per day. I’ve written a post on what five serves of vegetables looks like. This is the minimum you need to eat.

If you’re less hungry and therefore not eating as much – I’d still important to eat your full fruit and vegetable serves. Rather than forcing yourself to eat these, I’d recommend changing your portion sizes of the other foods – ie reduce the protein and grain / starch / carbohydrate portions, in order to get all your fruit and vegie serves. Make the fruit and veg your priority during the day.