I'm sure this has been discussed here before ... but I was thinking about my go-to food and wanted to see what others think of as theirs.

By go-to food I mean something you always have on hand, something that seems central to your weight-loss plan or process, maybe something that you didn't eat (or didn't eat much) before you started watching what you eat.

For me, it's apples.

I love apples. They are kind of a miracle food for me. Sweet, crunchy, satisfying. Easy to carry around, long shelf-life. I always keep apples on hand, in the office and at home, and reach for one for dessert or whenever I feel hungry between meals. I sometimes eat three apples in a day.

There is a runner-up - a wonderful cheese called nabulsi that I get at a middle-eastern market. I think it's Lebanese, though there are similar cheeses all over the mediterranean. It's a firm curd cheese, brined for a wonderful salty flavor, and just 80 calories an ounce. It's the runner-up only because I don't eat it as often as my beloved apples. But a sliced apple paired with a few slices of nabulsi is a magnificent snack that can keep me going for hours ...

what about you?

Homemade veggie chili or lentil stew. I always make sure I have one or the other in the fridge ready to go when I need to be able to zap something in the microwave. Also a big ready made salad to have as a healthy veggie full side at any meal.

My go-to is a package of Oatmeal. They fill me up in between meals and contain about 120 cal. The calorie content is a bit high but i usually have a pack between work and the gym. They also come in delicious flavors

Non-fat yogurt. Initially vanilla, now a combo of vanilla and plain.

I second the oatmeal. I absolutely love quaker oats maple and brown sugar. I have it every morning now and it keeps me full til lunch.

I had to use my go to meal tonight simply because it was one of those crazy days where the best laid plans fail Here is my meal (feeds 2 to 3) depending if DH is on duty or not.
Individual frozen wild salmon filets thrown onto the Geaorge Foreman grill.
1 bag of Uncle Bens microwaveable brown rice nuked for 90 seconds.
1 crown of broccoli steamed.

This meal takes me less than 20 minutes to get on the table-its warm and comforting at the same time.

ezekiel bread, oatmeal, frozen fish, frozen vegetables, greek yogurt. I like to keep things that won't go bad in case I don't get to food shopping one week I still have stuff to stay on plan.

Cottage cheese - I eat it by the tubful.

Shredded lettuce. Sounds weird, but the bags of shredded lettuce that they usually sell for $1 at the store is about 2.5 servings of 10 cal lettuce, so I usually eat an entire bag with red wine vinegar with my meals. Its a big filler, so if my meal isnt filling enough, I still feel full. Sounds weird, but works for me.

Homemade soups and oatmeal! They have been the key!!!!!

I've grown to love Vanilla no-fat yogurt by the Source. I add frozen raspberries on top!

Yummy for the tummy!

Doesn't sound weird to me at all - I love lettuce, and I love red wine vinegar as well. At the salad bar at work I always load up with a big bed of lettuce before adding the rest of my choices. And, I put red wine vinegar on my salads and sometimes don't even bother adding any oil! I'm fortunate in that I don't need any kind of salad dressing beyond a little salt and vinegar to make raw veggies appealing to me.

I have a couple:

Eggs
Cherries
Yogurt
Morning Star Veggies Burgers (I really only like the black bean burger and california turkey burger flavors)

Chobani 0% plain with splenda and vanilla and string cheese!

Hard-boiled eggs!

But you are giving me some good ideas - I especially like the shredded lettuce with red wine vinegar idea!