You don't need to buy exotic ingredients to create healthy weight loss food

You can create simple vegan weight loss food using familiar ingredients. There is no reason to buy packaged drinks or powders. They are expensive and most of them are not good for you anyway.

Instead, begin with your local supermarket.  You will find perfect weight loss foods in the produce section, the frozen food area, and among the canned and dry foods.

Here are some examples of low calorie foods to get you started:

• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables in season. Don't forget the root vegetables like sweet potatoes and potatoes. Frozen vegetables and fruits are good too.

• Keep canned and dried beans on hand.

• Buy old fashioned rolled oats and learn to cook brown rice.

• Frozen corn, peas, and lima beans are staples for the freezer.

• Stock cornstarch, baking soda, vanilla, mustard, ketchup, pickle relish, salsa, hot sauce, canned tomatoes and tomato paste.

• Keep assorted vinegars on hand, especially cider, rice, and balsamic.

Support your local natural food store. Find a store that carries grains, beans, and flaxseeds in large bins. Don't look for a vitamin pill store, but for a store that sells whole plant foods. When we travel, we love to visit the local natural food stores. They can tell you a lot about a town. Some stores are upscale, and others seem to come straight out of the 60's. 


This is a cute little natural food store we found on the Oregon coast. They had soy milk, healthy cereals, vegan bread, and organic produce. They also directed us to a local restaurant that had good vegan food.  (Well, maybe not weight loss food....)




We always buy our seasonings from health food stores. Most good stores sell herbs and spices in bulk from big glass jars. In some stores you scoop out the amount you want into a plastic bag. In other stores, a clerk measures them for you. The seasonings are very inexpensive compared to the ones in tiny glass jars in the supermarket. Try no-salt seasoning mixtures like Mrs. Dash and Spike.


In bigger cities, look for natural food supermarkets like Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Sunflower, or New Seasons. We found this gorgeous pepper display in a Whole Foods Market in San Francisco. Whole Foods always has a huge salad bar too.


Many people adore Trader Joe's. They do have great prices on soy milk, salt-free tomato products, and whole grain breads. However, we think they focus too much on specialty foods and not enough on basic bulk foods. 

If you are craving a burger, read labels carefully. Do not buy any meat substitute that contains oil or isolated soy protein. Other animal products to avoid are cheese, whey, casein, and egg whites.

Our favorite burgers are called SuperBurgers. They are made of tempeh, which is a whole soybean product. They are a little high in sodium so don't eat them every day.