And Gina – I hear ya completely on the cereal thing – once again – we are connected… At one point this winter, I was eating cereal like crazy… and I started putting on weight like crazy – ACK. I felt awful – not immediately realizing it was the cereal.

Finally figured it out and dropped the cereal – felt sooooo much better.

I remember in college, I LIVED on cereal. But – I also danced 15 to 20 hours a week…

I enjoy cooking when I don’t have to, if that makes sense. And if I’m alone, forget it. I lived on cereal for a while until my stomach finally told me to cut it out. (And I dropped about 15 pounds when I stopped eating it!)

But yeah, I could totally live on smoothies and soup. I will be checking out your smoothie adventure.

These are some great tips. I could actually live off of nuts. I LOVE them! Same thing with smoothies. Plus you can get really create with soups. Summer is a great time to make cold soups with fruits or vegetables! Ratatouille, cucumber and gazpacho are some of my favorite cold vegetable soups.

I find that when changing my diet, an “all-in” restricted approach doesn’t work for me. I’ve got to do it a little at a time.

And really, let’s be honest – that’s how all lifestyle changes really stick. Trying to do too much too fast only makes us freak out and jump right back into our comfort zone.

I totally get where you’re coming from. For a long time, I hated lunch. I work from home, so that’s the meal that I eat alone.

And, on top of being lazy, I’m slightly picky. I don’t like left-overs, not a frozen entree fan… it was a frustrating meal!

Many times, I’ll eat snacks as that meal – like salsa and chips. Or, lettuce wraps – where to take a leaf of romaine, spread some avocado on it and fill it with veggies or tuna…

But, when we’re talking dinner that tends to be a little heartier of a meal and snack-type stuff just doesn’t cut it.

If you look at the grocery store, many times, they have freshly prepared stuff in the cases. You can find marinated kabobs, burgers, sea-food all ready to go. Add a salad – Voila! Perfect dinner that all ya had to do was slap on the stove!