Good Food, Bad Food – The Road to Weight Loss

My experiences related to weight loss were dramatic and nearly life threatening. I am sharing some of what I learned with all of you.

Just as it is impossible and not even desirable to totally eliminate sugar, fat and salt from your diet it is equally impossible to unequivocally create a solid list of all good foods and all bad foods, but good choices can and must be made.  Here is an example of a typical dinner for me back in the days when I was just a tad over 300 pounds.

One vanilla milk shake                                  560 calories        26 grams fat       272 mg salt

Half a roasted chicken                                  1890 calories     30 grams fat       3720 mg salt

Mashed potatoes with gravy                      230 calories        5 grams fat         780 mg salt

Peas                                                                   134 calories        1 gram fat           383 mg salt

_____________________________________

TOTALS                                                             2814 calories     62 grams fat       5155 mg salt

That was just one meal and just the staggering amount of salt was well over any reasonable estimate of a daily maximum.  But guess what, I ate peas so I told myself I had a healthy meal even though the peas were drenched in butter.  That is known as self-deception and it can be deadly.  Indeed in my case it came damn close.  So I made a few life style changes and here is my typical evening meal these days.

One cup of mixed vegetables                     120 calories        1 gram fat           64 mg salt

Four ounces white chicken meat               141 calories        3 grams fat         99 mg salt

One slice flaxseed bread                              50 calories          1 gram fat           60 mg salt

One half cantaloupe                                      95 calories          1 gram fat           44 mg salt

_____________________________________

TOTALS                                                             406 calories        6 grams fat         267 mg salt

I am not going to, at this moment,  offer up a whole bunch of specific meal ideas.  There are plenty of books available on that topic. One of the best, “Lose Live” can be found here:  Books by Ron.  But in broad terms pretty much anything that grows from the ground is good with some rather obvious exceptions such as hemlock and opium poppies.  But lettuce, kale, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, apples, onions, pears and carrots are just some of the good foods.  But even fish in general and salmon in particular along with skinless white meat make it into my list of good foods because I am not a vegan.  Bad foods to avoid include pretty much anything that is processed such as sausages of all kinds and anything that comes in a can.  And with truly rare exceptions donuts, cookies, cakes, pies and ice cream have made it to my do not eat list.

So now you should start to focus on creating a menu that is right for you.  For weight loss the single most important number is calories but that is by no means the only important number.  Fat content and salt content are also very important.  Virtually all foods sold in super markets today have a nutritional content label on them.  Obviously fresh fruits and vegetables as well as fresh meats and fish do not have such a label but those nutritional values are easily found online at nutrion data.  You may also install either the S Health or the My Fitness Pal app on your smart phone.  Both provide extensive nutritional information about pretty much everything even slightly edible.  But the one big take away from all of this is always know exactly what you are eating.  Get the specific information and diligently work at reducing both fat and salt along with the calories.

At first you might find these changes to be a bit challenging.  But stick with it and what you will cheerfully discover is that over time you will increasingly begin to enjoy the good foods much more and the bad foods much less.  One personal example out of many is fried chicken.  I used to love fried chicken.  Now the mere smell turns me off.  But I will admit I still sometimes struggle a wee bit with French fries when I end up with my granddaughter at McDonalds.  But these days it is four or five pieces and no longer one super-sized bag of fries.  So at the end of the day it really comes down to getting the facts and exercising self-control.  It can be tough but it can be done and the positive results make it all worthwhile.

Also you can win a copy of my book “Lose Live” by simply sharing your favorite walking experience.  Send your story to me by email to:  he***********@***il.com.  If your story wins it gets published and you get a free book. But at any time you may get your very own copy of my true and real guide to effective and permanent weight loss and wellness “Lose Live” available at lulu.com, amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.  Just be sure to keep checking in right here for regular updates.  And if you have a question or comment for me please send your email to that same email address.

Finally I have included with this article a poster I used extensively during my 140 pound weight loss campaign.  I printed it out and taped it to my refrigerator door.  It shows the three most UNWANTED, Sugar, Fat and Salt with three admittedly disgusting and exaggerated but true images.  Yes it is a bit scary but it works so use it and you will love your own new image.