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I don't know about the rest of you, but when I cook up grilled chicken breasts or a baked potato I don't have to add sugar "so it will taste good" without the extra fat of fried foods. :-P
Of course it is OK to have some fats in your diet. Some of it is unavoidable, and in other cases you might deliberately balance the calories in a piece of cheese or some other relatively high-fat food you have a craving for by cutting out something else from your diet instead. The point I was making is that you have to cut out more than twice as much of anything else to get the same effect as cutting out each gram of fat from your diet. If your diet is going to be successful over the long term, you have to make sure that it doesn't leave you feeling hungry all the time; that's the rationale for spending your "calorie budget" on foods that actually contribute to making you feel full instead of to pointlessly greasy cooking techniques, condiments where you can come up with lower-calorie substitutes with a little imagination, etc.
Don't count calories. Don't worry about portions or anything else. Don't buy pre-packaged meals. There is much more to weight loss and health than simply moving more and eating less.
Our bodies react to certain foods in different ways. You are much better off looking into how the gut biome contributes to health. People who are obese tend to have less variety of gut flora, while those who stay lean (despite their diet) have a gut flora rich in diversity. Everyone loves to talk about portion control and exercise, but there is a lot of recent research that paints a more complex picture.
Here's the bottom line:
The bacteria in your gut is directly related to health. Probably the most important factor. Feed your gut bugs, enjoy better health (and weight loss). Our junk food diets and over-exposure to antibiotics constantly assault and damage our gut flora.
Eat whole foods. Avoid sugar and refined/processed foods. Consume a lot of leafy greens, pastured meats, wild-caught fish, eggs, seeds, and nuts. Get some fermented foods, like artisan cheeses, plain yogurt, kefir, non-pasteurized sauerkraut, and pickles. Sprinkle a handful of blueberries on your yogurt. Cook your foods in coconut oil or olive oil.
Stay away from breads, pastas, baked goods, boxed cereals, candies, sodas (even diet ones), fruit juices, and any product that needs several ingredients and enhancers to taste like "food". I promise, if you stick to eating whole foods, you will find that appetite corrects, cravings diminish, energy levels are stable, and everything gets better (without a treadmill or food scale).
Don't count calories. Don't worry about portions or anything else. Don't buy pre-packaged meals. There is much more to weight loss and health than simply moving more and eating less.
Our bodies react to certain foods in different ways.[/b] You are much better off looking into how the gut biome contributes to health. People who are obese tend to have less variety of gut flora, while those who stay lean (despite their diet) have a gut flora rich in diversity. Everyone loves to talk about portion control and exercise, but there is a lot of recent research that paints a more complex picture.
Where is the proof?
WHAT ABOUT THE TWINKIE GUY WHO LOST WEIGHT EATING TWINKIES?
WHAT ABOUT THE TWINKIE GUY WHO LOST WEIGHT EATING TWINKIES?
Exactly. Although people should eat whole foods and stay away from processed foods and in turn will feel better and have more energy, I am still an adherent to calories in vs calories out.
There is something to ruining your gut however - just look at the proliferation of commercials dealing with IBS, constipation, bloating, heartburn, gas, etc...
All this crap food we have been eating is creating a multibillion dollar business for the drug companies.
Everyone has their own, varying experiences and advices. You have to look through it all, and cobble together a plan that works best for you.
I don't drink calories (with exceptions for an occasional beer or glass of wine). I avoid added sugar, white flour, white rice, white potatoes. I eat lean protein - lean cuts of beef and pork, poultry, fish - and eggs. I eat lots of vegetables, and occasional pieces of fruit, mostly berries. I use cheese sparingly, because it's a trigger food for me.
WHAT ABOUT THE TWINKIE GUY WHO LOST WEIGHT EATING TWINKIES?
Sure, if you starve yourself or deprive your body of nutrients, you will lose weight. But is a "twinkie diet" sustainable for a lifetime? Will it contribute to your overall health?
Sure, if you starve yourself or deprive your body of nutrients, you will lose weight. But is a "twinkie diet" sustainable for a lifetime? Will it contribute to your overall health?
Don't confuse losing weight with being healthy.
That was not the point. The point was that you can lose weight eating crap as long as you are burning more calories than you are consuming. No one is advocating the Twinkie diet.
That was not the point. The point was that you can lose weight eating crap as long as you are burning more calories than you are consuming. No one is advocating the Twinkie diet.
This is why most diets fail. People deprive themselves, or restrict their intakes, and cash in on a short-term fix. Sure, they lose weight, but before too long, they have put the weight back on, and the cycle continues.
I think people should focus on sustainable solutions that aim to improve health rather than focus on just losing weight. By correcting the gut flora, appetites and cravings diminish, as does the need to count calories or jog on a treadmill for an hour a day. It is a self-correcting approach, that heals the body, normalizes hormones and other factors that influence overeating and obesity, and can be easily maintained for a lifetime. Losing weight (and keeping it off) is a side-effect of restoring a healthy gut.
Calories-in, calories-out is a simple formula, but it is only scratching the surface of what causes people to be overweight in the first place. My opinion is that this will soon be relegated to the same school of thought as "fat makes you fat", "cholesterol causes heart disease", and other well-known credos that have since been revisited and found to be lacking in definitive scientific proof.
Foods shouldn't be chosen based on calories or portions, but by their nutrient density. The rest takes care of itself.
This is why most diets fail. People deprive themselves, or restrict their intakes, and cash in on a short-term fix. Sure, they lose weight, but before too long, they have put the weight back on, and the cycle continues.
I think people should focus on sustainable solutions that aim to improve health rather than focus on just losing weight. By correcting the gut flora, appetites and cravings diminish, as does the need to count calories or jog on a treadmill for an hour a day. It is a self-correcting approach, that heals the body, normalizes hormones and other factors that influence overeating and obesity, and can be easily maintained for a lifetime. Losing weight (and keeping it off) is a side-effect of restoring a healthy gut.
Calories-in, calories-out is a simple formula, but it is only scratching the surface of what causes people to be overweight in the first place. My opinion is that this will soon be relegated to the same school of thought as "fat makes you fat", "cholesterol causes heart disease", and other well-known credos that have since been revisited and found to be lacking in definitive scientific proof.
Foods shouldn't be chosen based on calories or portions, but by their nutrient density. The rest takes care of itself.
I agree with you. But that was not the point. This will be a hard sell for the majority of obese people who live in poverty, work a few jobs and do not have the time or inclination to be healthy from the inside out. If your solution were the answer we would have a lot less obese people in this country.
For me getting healthy starts from the outside and works it way inward. I am vein, I do not like the way I look when I gain weight. I lose weight to look better (as do 99.9% of people). As a side result of me losing weight I start feeling better, my self esteem rises, I take better care of myself. My vanity has kept me healthy.
People need to start somewhere and then have the motivation and determination to make the correct choices to keep it going.
Also I have lost weight and kept it off for a long time now and never once thought about my gut flora. I suspect it is just fine as I have healthy diet. Micromanaging one's food intake is also a deterrent to long term success.
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