Foods that taste great and that can help you control your weight

Dieting can be very tough ,especially if your diet includes foods you don't like. After all, how much cabbage soup can a person take?The good news is that there are thousands of diet foods that are healthy, taste great, and can allow you stick to your weight loss arrangement.Check any grocery store to witness the explosion of lower-calorie, lower-fat, or portion-controlled formulas.

Here are just a few of the best foods for dieters:

1. Calorie-Controlled Snacks.  many consumers are buying the 100-calorie (more or less) snack packs of everything from chips to cupcakes, but how are they really sure they are answer for weight loss?

Carolyn O'Neil, RD, author of The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous, likes calorie-controlled packages because they eliminate the possibility of mindless overeating. "Foods packaged in 100-calorie packs do the work and calorie match for you so you can enjoy snacking on foods that need to be enjoyed in limited quantity",she says.

. Healthier Fast Food. Fast food restaurants don't have to spell disaster for dieters. Try Flatbread Sammies without cheese or dressing or a small Honey Bourbon Chicken sub (275 calories);  Fresco-style items (less than 180 calories); salad with grilled chicken (290 calories without dressing); or any of Subway's subs with 6 grams of fat or less (230-380 calories).

Low-Fat and Fat-Free Dairy Products. Milk, yogurt (solid, frozen, and drinkable), cheese, sour cream, and cream cheese are available in lower-fat varieties which offer both healthy nutrients and great taste. Laughing Cow light cheese provides only 35 calories per individually wrapped wedge, and Yoplait Fiber One nonfat yogurt mixes yogurt crunchy cereal for a fiber boost and only 50-80 calories per 4 oz. cup.

Fat-free half-and-half is a suitable replacement for heavy cream with a fraction of the calories. And lower-fat and fat-free cream cheese and sour cream can easily pitch-hit for their fattier counterparts,especially in recipes.

You can trim calories effortlessly if you use low-fat and lighter products and if the product is mixed in with other ingredients, no one will ever notice," says Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, and the "Recipe Doctor" for WebMD and a WebMD blogger.

Rotisserie Chicken. It's no wonder that nearly every grocery store sells rotisserie chickens. You can serve one as it  is, shred it to use for tacos, pasta dishes, or casseroles, or chop it for an entree salad. You may even have it for dinner one night, then debone it and freeze the leftover meat for a fast meal later in the week.

Diet-Friendly Desserts. Lower-calorie and portion-controlled sweets mean that desserts can be part of any weight loss diet. Dieters who crave ice cream love Skinny Cow ice cream cones (150 calories), Edy's Slow-Churned ice cream bars (150 calories), and Fudgsicles (100 calories). Cookie lovers can choose Hershey's 100-calorie wafer bars, Teddy Grahams, graham crackers, Fig Newtons, vanilla wafers, or gingersnaps. On the road, try chewing on a piece of sugarless gum or suck on a piece of hard candy to satisfy your sweet tooth without undermining your diet.

Flavored Mustards and Vinegars add sizzle to foods, with few calories. Try honey, tarragon, ginger, garlic, wasabi, or Dijon mustards, or balsamic, wine, herb, cider, fruit-flavored or, sherry vinegars. Use them instead of oil, mayonnaise, or butter in recipes.

Light Salad Dressings: Nearly half of the salad dressings you'll find on your grocer's shelves are reduced in calories and/or fat. Use Wish-Bone salad spritzers to lightly mist your salads, or try one of the many light or nonfat salad dressings. Another way is to make your own lower-calorie dressing, using more vinegar than oil, as well as some water.

Cooking Liquids: Dieters have discovered that wine adds wonderful, low-calorie flavour to soups, stews, casseroles, and finishing sauces. Beef, fish, vegetable or chicken stocks come in fat-free varieties and add lots of flavour with very few calories. A secret ingredient to add sweetness to dishes is apple, orange,or pineapple juice concentrated.

Frozen Entrees. This is another grocery category that has improved tremendously, as consumers look for fast and easy meals. Sandon recommends the light varieties of frozen foods, like Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, or Kashi. Read the label, and look for entrees with about 300-400 calories, less than 600 milligrams of sodium, at least 4-5 grams of fiber, and less than 5 gram fat.

Beverages. Good old-fashioned water still tops the list of healthy drinks, but when you want something more, try these virtually calorie-free options: flavoured waters; powdered packs to mix into bottled water, like Crystal Light and Propel; green, herbal, or exotic teas; coffee; sparkling water; or diet soft drinks. Low-calories options include light beer (100 calories/12 oz.); wine spritzers (100 calories/5 oz.); Starbucks' skinny latte or mocha (90 calories/12 oz.); and the new V8 juice with fiber (60 calories and 5 grams fibers.