Sandwich Diet for Weight Loss

If I had the magic cure for weight loss, I might not be sitting here writing this. “Very Simple and Healthy” is not primarily about weight loss as such, but the sandwich diet for weight loss is just too good to pass up. It is one simple, healthy, and budget-friendly approach to weight loss that just might work for you.

According to one popular children’s entertainer from Canada (Fred Penner), sandwiches are beautiful and fun, so much so that if they had one hundred sandwiches, they would eat them all at once!

The Earl of Sandwich did a great service to the world by inventing the sandwich. Think how much time it has saved over the years for millions and millions of people. The Latin American world has the tortilla. The Middle East – as I understand – has pita. But the idea is the same. It’s food you can hold in your hand and stuff with pretty much anything that you want.

How to Use Sandwiches for Weight Loss

Of course, if you ate one hundred sandwiches all at once, that would not be a good weight loss plan!

One of the big issues surrounding any weight loss plan is the pure complexity of having to figure out exactly how much you should eat and what and when. Calorie counting, adding up servings of starch, servings of vegetables, servings of fruit, protein, and dairy…most methods require attention to detail which makes the whole process time-consuming and really not all that simple.

But how about simply eating three sandwiches a day, or four – at regular intervals?

Sandwiches are a very satisfying food. Eating a healthy sandwich that contains fiber, nutrients, greens, and protein – that has the power to “hold you over” until the next sandwich! I can’t speak for you, of course, but it works for me. So hunger pangs between sandwiches can hopefully be kept to a bare minimum.

Everyone has their own taste in sandwiches. You know best what kind of sandwiches you like. It is not complicated to make sandwiches! So instead of complicated meal planning, make sandwiches.

Make sandwiches with 300 calories. Make sandwiches with 400 calories. Put healthy foods from all the food groups in those sandwiches!

All you have to do is come up with several kinds of sandwiches that you like, with healthy foods from the basic food groups, so that you are getting an appropriate amount of each type.

The only type of food that could possibly be difficult to put into sandwiches is fruit (other than maybe bananas). You can leave “calorie space” for extra fruit.

Count the Calories in the Sandwich

Decide how many calories you need per day to lose weight consistently. Let’s use the 1200-calorie diet as a starting point.

Since sandwiches are going to be the backbone of your diet, figure out what you are going to put in your sandwich. Go to “MyFitnessPal” or wherever you go to find out how many calories your sandwich contains. Figure out how many calories that sandwich contains.

If you have several kinds of sandwiches that have a variety of ingredients, figure out the calorie total of each type. Decide which sandwiches you are going to eat each day. Add up the sandwich totals. Three 300-calorie sandwiches total 900 calories. Four 300-calorie sandwiches total 1200 calories. Two 400-calorie sandwiches total 800 calories, Three 400-calorie sandwiches total 1200 calories.

That’s how simple it is!

It’s very easy to determine your total calorie intake per day without having to add up a lot of little piddly details.

It Doesn’t Have to Be All Sandwiches and Nothing Else

It could be all sandwiches, that would be extremely simple – IF you like sandwiches as much as Fred Penner. (If you don’t like sandwiches at all, maybe try a different diet.) But sticking with our 1200-calorie plan, you could eat 1000 calories in the form of sandwiches, and save 200 calories for other food. Fruit is a little difficult to put in a sandwich, as is yogurt – so maybe a bowl of fruit and Greek yogurt? Your choice!

Some foods I would consider to be free foods, as they have virtually no calories. I wouldn’t bother to count coffee and tea. But, of course, if you put two tablespoons of cream in your coffee, that’s a different story.

I wouldn’t bother to count raw leafy greens – spinach, spring greens, etc. either. I wouldn’t bother to count any calories for these when you put them in your sandwich, either. You get the idea.

Suggested Ingredients for Your Sandwiches

Right up front, let’s squash the fast food idea, for the most part. A McDonald’s hamburger has less than 300 calories, but you can’t really say the word “healthy” applies! One exception might be Subway. The bread isn’t perfect, but they have a lot of relatively healthy foods you can add to the sandwich that might make it an occasional alternative to sandwiches that you make yourself.

The first consideration in any sandwich is bread quality. This is very important. The more seeds and grains and whole-grain flour are involved, the healthier your sandwich will be! Sprouted grain bread? Perfect. Lots of nutrients, lots of fiber, protein…make sure you have GOOD bread.

Make sure you have healthful protein in your sandwiches. This could take the form of:

• Nitrate-free chicken or turkey
• Tuna
• Salmon
• Roast beef
• Tofu
• Grilled fish
• Nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew, etc.)
• Refried beans
• Eggs

Add lots of greens and vegetables where it fits!

• lettuce
• spinach
• kale
• cucumber
• tomato
• cabbage
• onion
• avocado
• hummus

Use low-fat dairy:

• low-fat cheese – like mozzarella
• greek yogurt

Some great condiments:

• Low-sugar and high-fruit jam
• Mustard
• Miracle-Whip style salad dressing – ideally low-fat style
• Salsa
• Hot sauce
• Herbs and spices to taste

Some Examples of Good Sandwiches

Here are a few examples of sandwiches you might consider (with calorie counts to get you on track)

Sandwich idea #1
Whole-grain bread (2 slices) – (200 calories)
Nitrate-free chicken or turkey breast (50 calories)
Slice mozzarella cheese (80 calories)
Mustard (0 calories)
Miracle Whip-type salad dressing (1 tbsp) – (30 calories)
Alfalfa sprouts (generous portion) (5 calories)
  Total calories – 365

Sandwich idea #2
Whole-grain bread (2 slices) (200 calories)
Nut butter (1 tbsp) (100 calories)
Banana slices (half a banana) (50 calories)
  Total calories – 350

Sandwich idea #3
Whole-grain bread (2 slices) (200 calories)
Hummus (2 tablespoons) (70 calories)
Diced bell peppers (5-20 calories)
  Total calories – 275-290

Sandwich idea #4
Whole-grain bread (2 slices) (200 calories)
Egg salad made with 1 egg and light salad dressing or Greek yogurt – (100 calories)
Spinach greens (5-20 calories)
  Total calories – 305-320

Conclusion

So, these are just a few suggestions. Cost-wise, you can use any healthy ingredient that goes with bread (lots of options here), so you can make your sandwiches as expensive or inexpensive as you choose. The simplicity factor ranks a 10 out of 10. And it’s very healthy if you use healthy ingredients.

If you have any comments or questions about the sandwich diet, please feel free to share them in the space provided below.

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