[Ecky]

I'm getting way off topic.

If the goal is to lose weight, fewer calories always works in the end, I imagine there are just more or less miserable ways of achieving it. Stopping eating entirely (fasting) is probably the fastest way to lose weight, but any more than intermittently and without supplements I'm sure it's horrifically unhealthy.

Most vegetables have almost no calories. The salads I like most have spicy and tangy things which I find very palatable as a substitute for fat and sugar. Last night for dinner I had a bowl with lettuce, shredded carrots, a bit of onion, some halved olives (calories), sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast, pickled jalapenos, a few dried cranberries, black pepper, and a dressing that was mostly balsamic vinegar and a bit of sesame oil. Vinegar needs to go on first otherwise the oil coats the veggies and the vinegar all runs to the bottom.

Tonight dinner was a "roast" I made with seitan, wrapped in foil baked with some vegan worcestershire and soy sauce plus some dark veggie broth, along with potatoes, onions and carrots. Reminds me vaguely of the food my mother made while growing up in the south.

One of my favorites is finding a bunch of flawless tomatoes in the compost bins behind my local supermarket and making a homemade Italian sauce. Great for pasta or lasagna. Cooked tomatos are delicious but in the quantity I like to eat them it's hard for me to justify the price.

Or how about veggie "sushi"? Avocado, cucumber and carrots wrapped in rice with a bit of rice vinegar. Maybe some volcano style ones with oyster mushroom and a spicy Sriracha mayo.

Anyway it's actually pretty hard for me to consistently meet my calorie needs without artificially adding junk or oil to my diet.