Diet for Dummies: Part III – Afternoon Tea and Dinner

Part 3 in my dieting series. See the bottom of the post for the other parts. In this I will cover afternoon tea, dinner and also supper for those of us who would like to eat a little more.

Afternoon Tea

Ok, so it’s been about 3 hours since we ate lunch and by the time we finish up at work, drive home and cook dinner it will probably be 7pm. This means 6 hours without eating a thing! A whole quarter of a day. So what do we normally do? Pig out on chips or cheese and crackers while we cook dinner. Or we’re just so hungry we stop by the fish and chip shop or pizza place on the way home for something quick and easy.

So what is a good afternoon snack (that does not involve  a trip to the evil vending machine)? Almonds and sunflower seeds are a tried and true great afternoon tea. High in protein to fill you up and very energy dense, you don’t need many in a serving. A small handful will do. This is also a great time to get in a 2nd or 3rd piece of fruit for the day, it doesn’t really matter what kind, just pick something in season.

Dinner

With Breakfast and Lunch coming in as our 2 most important meals of the day, dinner is actually much lower. While dinner is important, we must remember that it is the end of the day so we don’t need a whole lot of energy just to go sit on the couch and watch TV.

Stick to a big serving on veggies (pre-chopped of course) and some lean meat. Some great ideas are:

• Stirfries
• 1 or 2 burritos with lean meat
• Barbequed lean meat with baked sweet potato and steamed (or barbequed) veggies
• Giant chicken salad

You get the idea? Veggies, meat and a little starchy carbohydrates.

Supper

An average slice of cake is over a quarter of your daily recommended caloric intake! So It really is not a great food to eat every night after dinner. Instead make a big fruit salad with seasonal to eat over a few days. Add some unsweetened yogurt to really top it off and you have a much healthier alternative.

For us muscle builders out there it’s great to eat a little more protein before sleep time to aid in recovery during sleep. I make a thing that is known in bodybuilding circles as sludge. It takes about 2 minutes to put together.

Mix:

• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1/2 cup berries (mixed or your favourite kind)
• 1 Tbsp peanut butter

Add a little water and stir it up to a thick mixture and yum!!! For those who don’t wish to use protein powder you can use cottage cheese with cocoa powder or flavoured yogurt.

Ok guys so the final part will involve a break down of when and what to eat. Until then stay healthy!.

View other parts in this series:

Part I – Breakfast

Part II – Morning Tea and Lunch

Part III – Afternoon Tea and Dinner

Related posts:

1. Diet for Dummies: Part IV – Meal Ideas
2. Diet For Dummies: Part II – Morning Tea and Lunch
3. Diet for Dummies: Part I – Introduction and Breakfast
4. Better Than Bircher Muesli
5. High Protein Bar Recipe