Alright, so I am 13 years old and I recently went to one of my consultations. I just started school and was switching to sandwhiches. My consultant told me that lean meats still have a lot of sodium so I need to eat more fiber, work out more, and drink more water. My problem is that I have braces so I can't eat most hard vegetables. If we cook them in the morning, by lunch time they would be soggy. I would take tomatoes, pickles, or cucumber's but I am too picky and would die if I had to eat those. I am not a fan. So, I wanted to know if it would be alright if I could just put a small amount of Benefiber in my water for lunch? I didn't know if this would count for my vegetables. If I put it in my water I would be drinking it throughout the day.. It has no sodium and sugar, so that's good. Please! Help!

Well... I believe you need more than just the fiber from those veggies. They also tend to have vitamins, minerals, antioxidents, etc., not all of which you can get from a multivitamin. Also, you need those calories, even though they dont have a lot. Plus veggies can help you to stay feeling full. Learning to like veggies will be a boon in helping you to maintain your weight loss once the extra is gone, plus help you to live a healthier life. You wont "die" from eating a few cucumbers, trust me. They aren't my favorite either, but I eat them and I'm not dead yet.

What about taking a can of V8 juice to school with you? I find that I only like cucumbers if they are marinated. Would you like them better that way? Or how about shredding carrots and making a salad out of it. Shredded carrots with raisins can be pretty tasty, and would travel very well. Or coleslaw? I like to take coleslaw mix with cucumbers, and use an asian dressing. It would still have a bit of crunch, but should be "soft" enough for braces. Cherry tomatoes taste fabulous dipped in ranch.

Best of wishes to you on your weight loss journey. I wish I had done JC when I was young like you!

Take care,
Angela

Emma, I think a good solution for you for lunch may be the V8 fusion. I don't like alot of vegetables either and prefer to have them taste better. V8 fusion is a juice, it has fruits and vegetables in it, it is new. It counts as one fruit and one veg for an 8 oz serving but try to eat vegetables for dinner then as much as you can. Hope that helps.