Forget Your Diet and Just Make Smart Food Choices

I have found that common sense and the knowledge of a simple equation is the best way to maintain your weight, or lose/gain if needed.

Current Weight + Calories Intake - Calories Burned = New Weight.

If Calories Intake is less than Calories burned then you lose weight. It's not rocket science. I even saw an article the other day mentioning that by eating as much yoghurt as you can (3 servings a day) you can actually create muscle from fat. Most likely that comment was sponsored by the Yoghurt Eating Society (YES) :)

Google "Hackers Diet" and you'll get a good start on the rest of your life. Losing weight is like investing...it's a long term goal. Short term fixes don't work

I would add that it is important to ingest an appropriate variety of nutrients as well. This is something that is individual to each person as the nutrients you need are based on the nutrients you use... For example, if you live in a hot envirnoment where you will be perspiring a lot you will need to replace electrolites at a greater rate then someone living in a cold environment. I have a condition which prevents my body from properly storing sodium chloride, I discovered this quirk of my condition because I wasn't getting enough salt in my diet and as a result I was ALWAYS hungry especially for salty foods (which are frequently also oily and fat ladened). Once I figured out that what I was craving was salt I was able to refine my consumption habits to accomodate this need without eating the fridge (compressor and all) and was thereby able to begin reverting the damage I had done by severly over-eating in my attempts to satisfy my body's need.

My fiance is studying traditional chinese medicine (particularly 5 element theory(Tui Na)) which presents an interesting correlation between different flavors (bitter, sweet, salt etc...) and their reactions in the body... This makes western doctors balk, but what are your taste buds? They're chemical analysers plain and simple, they tell you what somethings chemical make up is, albeit in a manner that no self respecting doctor would try to quantify. This ancient study is not widely accepted in 'the west' because of a lack of scientific data... I say the chinese have been gathering that data since before Hipocrates was toddling and just because their terminology is too abstract for western doctors is no reason to invalidate it. This would be a good area to look for a different perspective on diet and its effects on the body.

I agree with Waidesworld, common sense is key... if you're overweight don't eat more fat you've already got a surplus, instead look for foods that will help you burn off fat (foods high in b vitamins for example) and listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs you just have to learn to understand it and ignore your Id when it tells you that what you really need is a gallon of chocolate ice cream for breakfast. Conversely if you are underweight maybe what you really need is a heaping helping of lard fried donuts, though I doubt it.

Whatever you do don't eat fast food, generally speaking it's not really food... have you looked up the stats on High Fructose Corn Syrup??? That crap will kill you! The food industry has discovered that they can use cheaper ingredients that resemble traditional ingredients and consumers will buy these products assuming certain nutritive qualities that may not exist in the product anymore as a result... but hey, I got a great big sandwich and a soda for $2 and I feel full now...

One last note and then I will end my dissertation on foodstuffs... In the US and many other areas we have taken to eating a minimal breakfast a nutruient free (fast food) lunch and a large dinner... This is completely bass ackwards. It is far healthier to eat a large breakfast to prepare you for your energy needs for the day and then a small to medium lunch to get you through the rest of the day and a light dinner so you aren't sleeping with food in your stomach which likely won't be processed until morning anyway because your body is working on other processes, like systemic repairs, while you sleep. Better still is to graze lightly throughout the day and keep your meals small, this does not however mean munching on a bag of chips and then eating a jr. bacon cheesburger, common sense is still in charge.

Alright, I'm a liar... I forgot to mention one very important thing... NOT ALL FAT IS FAT... how can this be you ask? Well, simply put your body stores excess water in fat cells, these cells then expand and externally it appears that you are getting fatter. No amount of dieting will remove this water weight, which is typically the result of a disfunction somewhere in the body (e.g. your kidneys aren't working efficiently and the excess fluid has to go somewhere). You can feel the difference between water fat and fat fat. Regular fat is firm and water fat is squishy, most people can experience the difference by giving themselves a little pinch under the butt (at the leg) where the fat is generally not watery and a pinch under the arm-pit where the fat is generally more likely to be watery...

Yep, common sense and less junk-food, sodas are also sugar bombs!

Hi,

I did not want to loose weight but nevertheless was searching for better food,

the following resulted:

A: eat more vegetables, preferably prepared in the Chinese's manner in a wok or similar with oil (sesame, olive, avocado, any nut, flax-seed are good oils, any else questionable); Yes with oil you need around a third of your calories from fat. (Get rid totally of hardened oil = hydrogenated - these only provide energy - not enough for our body acting as a complicated chemical plant.

(Good vegetables: potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, carrots, and similar; medium: white+ red+ black beans, any other with high starch content, bad: none). Rice allowed as whole grain only!

B: Not more than 100Kcal/day from junk-food: white bread, donuts, brownies and and and,

C: no soft drinks: drink water - pure tap water, 1 to 3 liter per day in moderate climate, oranges or grapefruit added if you like, the whole fruit is much better than the juice,

D: eggs and red meat: limited to two times per week - but if irresistible then more

E: poultry and fish: as much as you like, fish preferably as wild catch from non polluted regions (no longer really existing), poultry without the fat but including the roasted skin,

F: pasta, noodles white bread, : avoid except if you need additional calories (mountain-climbing and other sports).

G: Beer and wine (red preferred) ok. Not to exceed 1 liter beer or 0.3 liter wine per day. If more then have a look at the liver data, if bad, take Silymarine. (Also if any other poisoning suspected).

H: Specials: nuts, olives, berries: a lot.

This is my personal experience and has proven for me to be of exceptional value.

But as humans are very diverse I cannot be sure that this will fit everybody's demands.

RHABE

I lost 60 lbs. The one thing missing here is exercise! Notice on all the miracle weight loss commercials, in very very small print, exercise and diet recommended. Someone may say they walk all day at work. Well the body needs extra exercise above what it does on a regular basis. 30 minutes a day is not hard to achieve.

Dieting is an eating disorder. Eating right is a lifestyle choice. Exercise is a big plus when it comes to weight control, but some people (dare I say most?) will only engage in it when pulled kicking and screaming into it. I guess the kicking, at least, would be part of the regimen...

Also realize nutrition plays a huge roll in your health. Why doctors are allowed to practice when nutrition is an elective not a requirement is a crime. If you go to one about a diet he most likely will be classically trained.

If your body does not have the building blocks to maintain/repair itself then no amount of drugs will do it for you. They can only treat the symptoms.

Next food is marketed to make money not health. The competition is high and the margins small.

Many products have been grown in the same ground for 50, 100 or more years with no addition of trace minerals unless the crops yield is cost effectively improved.

Most supplements have very small absorption rates that can lead to other problems.

Most peoples nutritional understanding is about on par with their financial understanding.

The worst part is there is a lot of garbage to wade through to find good information.

Brad

Greetings.

I have had experience with diets for over 38 years. My oldest son has Prader-Willi syndrome which basically is an eating order to the extreme.

I have tried a whole slug of diets without success.

The best that I ever found was Eat Right for Your Type by Dr. Peter D Adamo.

I lost 30 pounds and just quit eating the wrong foods for my type of blood.

Personally know of many people that have hanged their lives by this eating method which really isn't a diet.

avioding sugar is the problem. they remove fats and add sugar. if you have a healthy liver the high protien diet works. ATKINS diet.