With all the low carb diet craze, many individuals are looking for ways to cut carbs from their menu so they will hopefully lose weight. However it is technically illegal for companies to list any product as low carb because there are not uniform standards for what amount is low and companies who are trying to market their product as low carb are saying it is carb aware or carb smart. The government has appointed agencies to help create guidelines that are specific related to how many carbs are needed in the diet to help with obesity. continued below photo of Melissa  under a wooden beam wearing a pink shirt and green skirt on the beach in Galveston.

Personal trainer Melissa has some suggestions based on how she keeps on track with her eating as well as keeping weight off. She enjoys protein drinks with egg whites and milk and ovaltine and ice to start and end her day and avoids sugary carbs (bad carbs)  at breakfast. The extra protein is important because she is working out and trying to keep muscle..so eating to keep muscle helps with losing body fat which is burned off by increased mass. She tries to eat carbs for energy but not simple carbs such as sugary snacks or  fruit juices, rather she eats whole wheat and whole grain products in small amounts such as oatmeal, whole wheat crackers and flax seed and wheat germ in her salads and in her cereals (good carbs). When she does drink fruit juice she drinks natural cranberry juice because cranberries have flavonoids  which inhibit a cancer cells ability to replicate..so it helps fight cancer.  It is helpful to add cinnamon to the hot cereal as well because recent studies say that a half a teaspoon daily fends off heart disease and also helps the body use insulin more efficiently which helps prevent type two diabetes.
She also drinks the liquid yougart in the morning when she gets hungry during a workout and she gets the little bit of sweet with it without the high calories, plus the yougart products help keep the body from producing more fat. In addition, when women consume at least 500 mg of calcium, they are much less likely to have gum disease because cacium strengthens bones.The woodlands personal trainer Melissa also likes ice tea and makes it herself which is good because recent studies suggest that canned ice tea is harder on tooth enamel than any other canned drink including Coke and Pepsi. Canned ice tea strips tooth enamel 30 times faster than regular home made ice tea. Melissa likes soy milk but is switching to eating more soy rather than drinking it. She read that highly processed soy can increase cancer rates so she is switching to eating more edamame.
For some yummy and easy snacks, Melissa sometimes eats the following...

Three chocolate dipped strawberries..only 135 calories, 5 grams fat, or fifty five goldfish crackers, only 140 calories and 6 grams of fat, ten large shrim with cocktail sauce only 145 calories and two grams fat or a small slice of pumpkin pie with nonfat whipped topping, only 124 calories and 5 grams fat or a mug of hot chocolate only 120  calories and 3 grams fat.
Also, vegetarians need to remember that the body only absorbs 70 percent of protein from a vegetable source where it absorbs more than 90 percent from animal sources. So though tofu may be good, it should not be the only source of protein. In salads, it is useful to heat the salad dressing a little bit before adding it to the salad because the heated dressing cooks the veggies a little which helps them release their carotenoid compounds. Also it is better to use a low fat dressing rather than a fat free dressing because the little bit of healthy fat such as olive oil, helps facilitate absorbtion as well.