Unless this is your first time here, you know my opinion on the value of the average person using calorie-restricted diets in order to lose weight. I think it’s a really bad idea unless you want to lose some weight temporarily, then go off your diet and just gain all the fat back. (just in case this is your first time here)
I believe that the best way to go is to focus on health (not thinness), learn how to eat in a healthy manner, and never go on a calorie-restricted or fad diet again.
While the word ‘healthy’ is subjective, here’s my simple breakdown on eating healthy:
1- Don’t eat crap. Processed junk food, food that contains more chemicals and additives than recognizable ingredients, sugar, white enriched flour, trans fats, soda, chips, crackers, cookies, pastry, donuts, bagels, white bread, white pasta, fast food, etc. Stay away from this stuff as much as possible. It does your body absolutely no good, and if your ass, hips, and stomach are larger than you’d like, the culprit is probably on that list.
2- Eat more fruits and veggies. If you’ve wondered if you should eat more fruits and veggies, the answer is yes. If you’ve wondered if you eat too many fruits and veggies, the answer is no. Nobody ever got fat from eating too many fruits and veggies, I don’t care what you’ve read on the internet or on the cover of the gossip rag at the checkout counter.
If you’re getting 10 servings a day, you’re doing great. If not, you have some work to do. Do your best to buy locally grown, in-season fruits and veggies whenever possible. Of course, it’s January in New Hampshire, so I’m obviously ignoring that advice at this point. Feel free to do the same depending on your location and climate.
Oh yeah, and drinking juice isn’t the same as eating real fruit or veggies. Which brings me to #3…
3- Don’t drink your calories. Yes, a cup or two of coffee is fine. I drink two cups per day, thank you very much. But after that, it’s water and green tea. (okay, there is some red wine thrown in on the weekends.) And when I say coffee, I mean coffee, not some Frankencoffeelattecino concoction filled with sugar and covered in whipped cream. A coffee shouldn’t have more calories than a meal.
Fruit juice sucks too. First, most of the time it’s not really fruit juice, but water, sugar, and some fruit juice concentrate thrown in. Second, you don’t get any of the fiber of the real fruit. Third, even if it is just juice, most of the vitamin and mineral content has been degraded from all of the processing, shipping, and time sitting around on a shelf under fluorescent lighting for a month before you wandered along. Worthless crap.
An exception to the don’t-drink-your-calories rule would be a post-workout recovery drink, preferably something with a 2:1 carb to protein ratio. I’ll either go with an almond milk and protein powder mix or this stuff. Chocolate milk works too.
4- Stop being afraid of fat. I know this will send a lot of you over the edge, but fat is good and necessary. If you didn’t notice, the obesity epidemic coincided with the fat-free craze. Fat isn’t the enemy. If you want to see the enemy, reread point #1. Then go and read this post for the truth on fat. I only buy whole milk yogurt. I use real eggs (egg white omelets suck). I don’t buy low-fat cheese. I’ve got a jar of organic coconut oil in the cupboard. Olive oil rules.
A couple of points to remember though: a) Trans fat is an evil, man-made abomination. Avoid it. b) The SAD (standard American diet) is skewed too heavily towards omega-6 fatty acids and too light towards omega-3 fatty acids. Beef up your omega-3 intake with wild caught fish and an omega-3 supplement.
5- If you eat meat, poultry, or seafood, buy the highest quality you can afford. This isn’t a vegetarian/vegan/carnivore/paleo debate. Whatever you want to do is cool by me. If you don’t do meat, feel free to skip to #6, but if you do, just make sure you’re buying the highest quality you can.
I stay away from farm-raised fish, and try to eat free range poultry most of the time. I don’t eat a lot of beef, pork or bison, but when I do buy it, I’ll make the trip to Whole Foods and get grass-fed only. If you want to know why, watch Food, Inc.
6- Eat more raw nuts and seeds. I love making up a mixture of raw almonds, raw pecans, raw cashews, and raw cacao nibs to keep on hand for snacks. Healthy fats, good protein, crunchy goodness.
7- Eat more slowly. Yes, you eat too fast. When you eat fast, you tend to overeat. When you eat too fast, you tend to cause a stress response in your body, which actually impairs digestion, and raises insulin and cortisol levels which turns you into a fat-storing machine. Slow down, enjoy your food.
If you treated a meal more like sex and less like a pie-eating contest, you’d enjoy it more, feel less bloated afterwards, eat less, and probably end up losing weight over time.
So there you go, how to eat right in a nutshell. Don’t eat crap. Buy the highest quality food you can reasonably afford. Don’t be afraid of fat. And slow down.
Good food isn’t the enemy. Eat right, enjoy it, and let me know what your thoughts on dieting and eating right are in the comments below.
~Dave
ps – You get extra credit if you can figure out the Samuel L. Jackson connection.
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(9 votes, average: 4.89 out of 5)About the Author
Dave Soucy is a coach, trainer, motivator, husband, dad, and former fat guy. His goal is to teach as many people as possible how to achieve a life of health, fitness, and wellness through simply eating right and exercising. Click here to learn more about Dave.
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