Eat

[IronLionZion]

I got Tom Venuto's e-book, Burn Fat Feed Muscle, and it looks like a really useful resource. You can check it out here: http://www.burnthefat.com Another good site is http://www.fatlosstips.com . This is good stuff so I thought I'd share some of the basic info with you. Generally "real" food is good and "fake/processed" food is bad.

Here are the top 12 foods you should ALWAYS eat:
oatmeal
yams
baking potatoes
brown rice
whole wheat/ whole grain
green veggies
fresh fruit
nonfat dairy
chicken and turkey breast that's not processed
egg whites
fish/shellfish
lean red meat

(not all at once obviously :P)
baked/roasted/boiled/grilled/ is usually good. If you must fry then use some healthy oil like olive, canola, flaxseed...

Top 12 foods you should NEVER eat:
ice cream
fried anything
donuts/pastries
white sugar/candy/chocolate/sweets
soda, even diet is bad
fruit juice/drinks
bacon/sausage
white bread
chips
fast food/hot dogs/burgers
cookies/cakes/pies
sugary breakfast cereals

and by never, he means very rarely.

Most of these are common sense but I was really surprised at some of these. Apparently the best thing you should eat is oatmeal and yams. All this time I thought potatoes were evil, but they're actually extremly nutritious as long as you bake them and use salsa or yogurt some other very healthy topping.

And fruit juice and diet soda are bad for you. hmm...:think: And I hate the fact that my favorite food is ice cream Even frozen yogurt is bad because of the sugar.

If you want to know why, or how, or more, then you'll have to get the book. Keep in mind that internet file-sharing is very bad ;)


on edit: I like to add stuff :shrug:

[ZenLefty]

1. White bread

Over the past few months I've completely phased white bread out of my diet and eat only wheat bread. I've even switched to wheat tortillas. The grainer the better; if it has the texture of alkali dirt then it's the way it should be.

And then, on Easter, I had a small piece of white bread. Damn, it tasted good! Now I'm craving it all the time, and I can't stand this gritty wheat crap. I would have never thought I liked white bread so much.

I do feel better since giving it up, and I know it's better for me, but it's a real trade off.

I'm just whining. Don't mind me.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

3. I've always prefered wheat bread for some reason. n/t

[IronLionZion]

4. yeah, I've always liked wheat bread better

grainier = tastier

[JI7]

5. the same happened with me

i never really tried wheat bread. as a kid i just mostly ate white bread and when i bought a sandwich at some place i usually just said white . i guess i had it in my mind that wheat bread would taste really bad just because it's healthy .

but it's actually very good. i haven't completely cut out white bread. but i tend to buy wheat bread now for making sandwiches, toast etc at home. and i ask for wheat when buying a sandwich also.

[wildeyed]

6. I grew up eating whole wheat bread,

so that is what I prefer. I like white european style breads, baguettes, that kind of thing, but that is not what my family eats everyday.

I cannot stand whole wheat pasta.

[soleft]

24. delete

[GOPisEvil]

25. Sarah Lee makes a whole grain white bread.

It's just like regular white bread, but whole grain.

[wildeyed]

29. I make my own WW bread

with a flour called "white wheat". It is a very fine texture. I am sure it has all the nutrition of WW, but the finer grind likely makes it assimilate faster in the body, causing blood sugar levels to fluctuate.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

2. Ice cream is my favorite treat too,

but I usually only eat it once a week at the most.

[wildeyed]

7. Here is a tasty, fast yam recipe.

Sweet Potato, White Bean and Pepper Tian

3 medium-large sweet potatoes, peeled, quartered and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 14 oz can white beans (drained and rinsed)
1 red and 1 green pepper, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 red onion, cut into 2 inch chunks and separated
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
salt
1/3 cup olive oil

topping:
bread crumbs and a little bit of olive oil


1. Pre-heat oven to 375
2. Combine everything except the topping and pack into a 3 quart shallow baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes.
3. Combine bread crumbs and olive oil for topping. Remove tian and cover with bread crumbs.
4. Bake 15 minutes, until golden brown.
5. Remove, let stand for 10 minutes.



I have a rule about sweets in the house. I have to make it myself if we are going to have them. Considerable cuts down on sweet consumption when I have to make the ice cream or cookies myself. Plus less hydrogenated nastiness.

[IronLionZion]

11. that sounds delicious, thanks for sharing

:hi:

[MissMillie]

8. Sounds very South Beach to me

I could never give up ice cream totally. Here's the kicker--it's one of the few foods my body doesn't seem to want to fully tolerate since my surgery. I eat ice cream, and it's like I go directly into a hypoglycemic reaction. I feel tired and worn out, but when I lay down to rest, my heart races.

A word about bread: buying bread that says "wheat" is not enough. Always buy "whole wheat" or "whole grain" and avoid anything that has "enriched" flour as the first ingredient.

[IronLionZion]

12. Yes, it uses the same reasoning as South Beach, Zone, GI, Sugar Busters

Basically that you need "whole" foods consisting of protein, complex carbs, and good fats.

You actually should cheat once a week or so to keep your metabolism from adjusting too low.

Sometimes "whole wheat" is bullshit too. You should read the ingredients and make sure wheat is the first one.

I was cursed (blessed?) with a mild lactose intolerance so more than a standard serving of ice cream or butter and i'll be feeling it.

[seemunkee]

9. NOT THE BACON!!!!!

I can abide all of it but that.
Why does he say that diet soda is bad? I've been trying to get my wife and daughter to cut them out but not making much headway.

[MissMillie]

10. maybe because of the sodium

though some diet sodas are low in sodium

[IronLionZion]

13. calories aren't everything

there are still all kinds of artificial ingredients that will mess with your body and your metabolism and can still be stored as fat.

I like soda too, but I stick to no more than a can a day.

[wildeyed]

17. I actually think that preservatives and chemicals in our food

have more to do with obesity and bad health in this country than fat or carbs. Look at how the French eat. White bread, tons of red meat, cheese and buckets of wine. Nobody ever skips desert. But they are uniformly thin and more healthy than we are.

As a rule, the French also don't eat crap, mass produced food, either. The bread is freshly baked by artisan bakers. The cheese is also made by artisans. Produce is fresh and eaten in season. Food and eating well is considered an art.

So I model my eating to some degree on the French model. I don't starve myself or obsess about calories or fat grams or carb grams or whatever is trendy in the diet world this week. I eat food I enjoy and feel satisfied with, both physically and spiritually. I try to eat as fresh as possible and make as much of my own food as possible. Beyond that, I listen to what my body is telling me and adjust accordingly.

Hey, it's working. I weigh the same at 37 as I did at 22 :) Course it helps that I love exercise, too.

[Brewman_Jax]

35. The rest of the story

the French don't spend the incredible amount of time in cars that we in the US do. They do a lot more walking, which is probably more exercise than our 1-2 hours in the gym. I'd bet that they spend less time in front of the television, too.

[politicat]

22. Is it the carbonation?

I don't like diet sodas usually, but I do like 365 sparkling Italian mineral water with lemon, and the occasional Hanson's diet grapefruit.

I won't give up the sparking water; still water is dull and I won't drink as much as I need to.

I like wheat bread, but I can't slice it thin enough. (I love my English tea sandwiches with thin bread and cucumbers and melba toast.) DH won't eat it, though he will eat oatmeal bread. I'm glad we have a breadmaker; I can monitor ingredients and not have to worry so much.

[IronLionZion]

14. you should cheat 2 meals a week or so

to keep your metabolism from adjusting too low.

Plus there are different types of bacon and different ways of cooking them. Microwaving on paper towels can help a little bit.

[MemphisTiger]

21. It is sweetened with aspartame (artificial sweetener)

it does some bad things to your body. Do a google search and you'll see. Very interesting reading.

[MemphisTiger]

26. self delete

[vikegirl]

15. Hmm, looks like I'm already eating the good stuff....

But my problem is quantity. It probably doesn't recommend eating a gigantic bowl of brown rice and two pounds of grapes! :o

[wildeyed]

16. When I am eating really healthy, I do have to adjust my portions upward.

A greasy fried hamburger, french fries and a shake fill you up fast. But a bowl of beans and rice. Well I probably need two to get full, even if I add some grated cheese.

I always eat my fruits and veggies first when I have a meal. That way I really gorge on the healthy stuff and am more full by the time the high calorie stuff comes around.

[CitySky]

18. mmm...cheese...

I'm half Italian. Me and food, we go back a long way!

My downfall is the sugary stuff. I can live without fast food altogether and eat a burger from a Fudrucker's-type place maybe once a year, but will reach for the candy at work almost every afternoon. :(

The plus side is, I get lots of oats, brown rice, yams, turkey... and USUALLY my green veggies! Lately have been eating more grains in general, like bulgur wheat, and choosing corn tortillas over flour.

Tilapia fish is sometimes cheaper than chicken at my local market, and then there's the salmon at CostCo... mmm... salmon...

[wildeyed]

19. I get in the habit of eating sugary foods for awhile,

then it is hard to stop. Once I 'detox' from sweets, it is easier to stay on the straight and narrow.

I have noticed that when I crave sweets, sometimes I am just hungry. If I eat something healthy and substantial first, say a piece of cheese and some fruit, the craving goes away.

The frozen fish at Costco is actually better than the 'fresh' at the supermarket. The frozen fish in the bags is flash frozen on the boat where it was caught, then vacuum packed to avoid freezer burn. When I defrost it for a quickie dinner, it tastes perfectly fresh, and none of that 'oh no, I bought fish yesterday and I have to cook it NOW or else it will get nasty' feeling I get when my food week is not going according to plan.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

28. I'm the opposite.

I never really crave sugar, but I constantly crave fast food (burgers, fries, etc.).

[IronLionZion]

20. you gotta have fat

fat makes you feel full, but you need to eat good fats. The worst calories and fats are the ones that don't make you feel full and don't have any nutritional value.

[IronLionZion]

23. kick

because I can :kick:

[Celeborn Skywalker]

27. About the baked potato

I think they are OK but they do tend to shoot one's glucose up rather quickly. You should always add a small amount of a healthy fat to the potato to slow down the glucose absorption.

[MemphisTiger]

30. Try yams instead

they are a good complex carb and yummy

[flamingyouth]

31. I love yams.

I cut them up, coat them with some olive oil, cumin and sea salt and roast them. Yum! :9

[MemphisTiger]

34. I'll have to try that

It's also amazing how good they taste cold.

[feminazi]

32. do you think the book is worth the cost?

i've checked it out previously, but resisted buying it. mainly because it's really hard for me to lose weight.....nothing seems to work. i was reluctant to dump more cash for nothing.

[IronLionZion]

33. If it was easy, it wouldn't be so good for you

It's tough to lose weight. It's very psychological. The thing that works for me is to have friends that will drag me to the gym and knock donuts out of my hand.

As for the e-book, I find it's more affordable than a lot of other books and contains some good healthy advice. Go for it.