This is Step Four of my Makeover Plan. I need to sort out the types of food I am
going to eat.
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| A salad to enjoy |
There is a lot of “advice” around on what makes a
nutritional diet, but so much of it is contradictory that it gets very
confusing to sort out. Even the standard
“low-fat” advice is now being questioned, at the same time as we seem to be
tipping headfirst into a “sugar is evil” trend.
Will that advice change in ten years, back to what it used to be decades
ago (that we should have some sugar in our diet)?
I have been giving this subject some deep thought (my brain
hurts!) and these are some of my conclusions:
o
We are all different and different things suit
different people, so what is it that suits me?
o
I don’t believe in cutting out whole food
groups. There are good fats, good
sugars, even good salts, that we should be eating. It is the “bad” ones we need to avoid.
o
I love food!
Food adds immensely to my enjoyment of living so I do not want to become
paranoid about what I eat.
o
The one thing nutritionists appear to agree upon
is that overly refined and processed foods are not good for us.
o
I am inclined to lean towards the “a little bit
of what you love is good for you” – as long as it is only a little bit and not
too often!
o
Eat a wide variety of different foodstuffs,
cooking from scratch whenever possible.
o
Always be thankful for the food you eat.
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| Summer fruit |
I’ve made pages of notes about my thoughts on this subject,
slept on it several times, looked again through several of the books I own, carefully
considered how I react to certain foods, and I seem to have come to an answer:
o
Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables,
preferably seasonal
o
Eat meat 3-5 times a week
o
Eat seafood 1-2 times a week, including oily
fish once a week
o
Eat eggs, but minimize my intake of dairy (milk,
cheese)
o
Have a controlled portion of carbohydrates with
every meal
o
Include good fats in my diet, but limit the
amount used
o
Drink plenty of pure water
o
Only drink alcohol when eating food, and then
limit the amount
o
Avoid artificial sweeteners, colourings,
flavourings and preservatives
o
Limit intake of refined foods like sugar and
white flour
o
Allow self to “cheat” on special occasions
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| Roast beef |
My next step is Portion Control, and then I should have a
good set of guidelines I can follow.
For nearly a week now I have had no ice-cream for dessert in
the evening and I am sleeping much better – who would think that there could be
a connection between those two?
Margaret.
I find all your conclusions so interesting. Like you say, each of us is different and no two people will lose weight on the exact same diet. For myself, being 98% vegetarian, my diet will be very different from someone else's but it works. Also, I love to have a healthy sweet muffin or scone with my morning coffee break and that's one thing I'm not willing to give up... so I work around it. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteAwesome looking salad. Yum!
ReplyDeleteWe do our best to have three servings of vegetables and one serving of fruit with each meal. We do a lot of of Asian foods, where a little oil in a wok goes a long way. I would caution you about "a little bit of what you love is good for you." This can quickly get out of control, a little bit of chocolate this morning, a cookie with afternoon tea, just a small piece of pie after dinner.....and so it goes. The old adage about an apple a day has a good deal of truth in it. Your salad above looks delicious, and avocado will give you the very best fats food has to offer. Good luck with this whole plan which you are obviously embracing and attacking with vigour.
ReplyDeleteI usually eat much for dinner and have my main meal lunch time. If I reverse the eating pattern, I don’t sleep well at all.
ReplyDeleteYou’ve got this!
I certainly agree with you about some of this...not that I disagree about anything...some I just 'feel' more. Like I just don't believe in cutting out something from your diet. And I think it is a lot about portion control.
ReplyDeleteYour guidelines sounds like good ones...
Do you read the Madsnapper blog? She comments on both my blogs...her name is Sandra. She joined TOPS....take off pounds sensibly. And has sure lost the weight. She does not talk about it much...but she cut out sugar and flour. And says she feels better than in ages.