The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: EconDiva on July 22, 2018, 01:46:49 PM
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So this forum turned me on to BudgetBytes.com. I think it's a great site.
For some reason my eyes keep going to the pasta recipes on the site. Between there and watching Food Network, I was inspired to make some pesto pasta that turned out amazing. Just pasta, garlic, olive oil, pesto sauce, and a TON of freshly diced plum tomatoes. Throw in a little basil here or there. Maybe diced sauteed chicken breast if feeling particularly fancy. Anyways, I'm hooked. Am making a batch tonight actually O.O
I'm thinking back over the last few months of eating and there are foods I definitely have been avoiding, mostly:
white bread, rice, white potatoes, any form of pasta
This has been intentional as in the past, the change in diet that has the most impact on me being able to lose weight "seems" to be dropping the so called "bad carbs". Over the past month I'd dropped about 7-8 lbs although I have made many other changes to include working out, dropping juice and desserts, avoiding fried foods, etc. etc.
I remember being on the South Beach diet many years ago and dropping weight pretty fast. My stomach is a huge problem area (people often mistake me for being pregnant! and that's whether I'm at a size 4 or a size 8!) but my body 'seems' to react positively to avoiding many carbs. I'm trying to get my meals cooked at home down in price right now - I'd love to swap out dinners of salmon or chicken with a vegetarian pasta dish or say, a bean burrito but have this fear of gaining weight/bloating up. With that said, I'm wondering if any here eat these types of things semi regularly and still lose weight??
Maybe my body type (apple shape) has something to do with it...
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Weight loss is almost always CICO (calories in, calories out), regardless of what you are consuming. Doesn't matter if you eat 1200 cals of salmon and veggies, or 1200 cals of pure bread. But you'll have other effects like you mentioned - a heavy carb diet makes me bloated too.
With regards to the glycemic index, pasta cooked al dente will be better for your blood sugar than pasta that is overcooked or "soft."
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Short answer: yes. But eating only simple carbs with no fat or protein to slow down the blood sugar response is just not good for anyone's body b/c it causes insulin spikes.
However, to your question: I'm not really supposed to eat simple carbs and sugar b/c of endocrine/blood sugar problems, but if I don't eat at least a few servings of some sort of grain product every day, I start to drop weight in a frightening way. (I've tried subbing in fat calories, but that causes my already slow digestion to almost stop dead in its tracks).
If I'm in my usual mode of mild to moderate exercise, a couple servings per day will usually keep my weight stable. If I do any heavier exercise (esp interval training type stuff), I have to actively try to eat more carbs than I want to or it gets scary quickly and I can drop below 100 lbs in the blink of an eye. Usually I eat whole grain cereal most mornings (oatmeal with nuts and fruit, etc), and a decent-sized carb of some sort with dinner ( about a cup of rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, tortillas, etc). I don't eat a lot of sugar, though.
If you have lost weight in the past cutting carbs, you might try to just switch a few servings out per day. Or you could go with only low glycemic grains (whole grains only, brown rice, red potatoes instead of baked, etc) always combined with protein or healthy fat. Sensitizing your insulin response can make a big difference in weight loss for many people.
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Yes. I l am a female who is losing weight cutting out sugar--the usual suspects of sweet baked goods and candy-- even as I continue to eat bread in the am and pasta for 2-3 meals a week. There may come a plateau where I have to get more strict but not there yet. I make sure my meals are pretty heavy/filling. No snacking works for me.
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As another mentioned, on a whole, simplistic level, calories in and calories expended is the culprit. Where those calories come from does matter in terms of health, energy, blood sugar, etc. For weight loss, baby steps is often key. People do 180’s and are miserable and give up.
Check out Ezekiel bread. It’s far superior to any regular bread. It’s “sprouted” and made from whole grains and legumes as opposed to being refined. My wife and I virtually never eat regular bread, but have Ezekiel muffins for our carb intake post workout a few days a week.
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Yes. I am a big fan of the Blue Zone/Mediterranean diet-like eating habits. I was considering going low carb recently to lose some peri-menopausal weight, but the thought of all that protein and meat made me feel ill. I did the CI/CO calculation and felt that if I cut BACK on carbs, and refined sugars in particular, and boosted my veg and fruit and bean intake, while maintaining some protein and fat at every meal, I could lose weight. It was worth trying, anyway.
It's been working really well. I have a portion of carbs, fat, protein and fruit for breakfast (rolled oats), a big bean salad with lots of veggies and a slice of whole grain bread if I feel I need it to stay full for lunch. I snack on nuts and fruit and sometimes a bit of dark chocolate in the late afternoon, and if I have a carb portion then, then I don't have one (don't feel I need it) at dinner. Otherwise, meat or eggs or fish and a pile of veggies at dinner with a small potato.
I feel great and I've lost about 7lbs in the last 6 or so months. I'm fine with that pace--I have about 20 more lbs to lose, but I figure it took 2 years to put it on, and if it takes 2 years to take it off, that's ok. It's really important to me to eat in a way that feels totally sustainable to me, emotionally, culturally (peer group and family), as well as health wise. We used to eat pasta 1-2x a week when we were vegetarian back in the day; now I might make it once or twice a month. I just add more veggies and protein to balance out the carbs and try to keep my portions reasonable.
Remember that even in Italy, traditionally the risotto or pasta dish was a small portion of starch (maybe a cup's worth) before the main meal of meat and veggies would come out. The traditional balance was much different than we think of it today. But I don't think cutting out carbs completely is necessary for everyone, although I recognize that it really is important for some. I think growing up with a really processed, high-carb diet can really screw up people's metabolisms to the point where staying right off carbs is the only option. But if you're not obese and respond well to a more conventional balance, then go for it. The large-scale medical studies tend to show that the Mediterranean diet is either as effective or more effective at helping people keep off weight as the low-carb.
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Add me in as another "nope I can't do that" response. After much dieting (beginning as a pre-teen), I've found myself addicted to carbs and sugar. Even having regular starch and cutting out the sugar leads to food obsessions, energy and mood swings, and constant hunger.
Cutting out all starches and grains seems to be the only way to moderate my hunger and energy levels. I must admit it makes life boring sometimes though!
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I eat rice or bread with most dinners and lunch, and managed to lose ~15lb over the course of a year by increasing my exercise to about 1 hour of elliptical + weights, 2-3 times a week. In addition, I began eating everything else first (vegetables, small amount of meat) before putting rice or bread on the plate. I always get full easily, and often eat very little rice or bread for lunch. The other change was that I do not eat any "processed" carbohydrate snack (crackers, chips, cookies, etc).
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I lost 20lbs while not restricting any particular foods (including McDonald's--I ate out close to every day back then!) and simply counting calories. Sometimes that meant I ate a 120cal salad and a 500+cal dessert. I was also doing a HIIT-type workout 3 times weekly. I remember being very grumpy all the time, and I've gained all the weight back now.
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I lost 20lbs while not restricting any particular foods (including McDonald's--I ate out close to every day back then!) and simply counting calories. Sometimes that meant I ate a 120cal salad and a 500+cal dessert. I was also doing a HIIT-type workout 3 times weekly. I remember being very grumpy all the time, and I've gained all the weight back now.
You reminded me of how in 2016 I had dropped about 25 lbs but had a bad obsessive habit of eating Chipotles after every workout. I am still trying to figure out how I lost weight eating there 3-5 times every week for MONTHS (chicken tacos) although from what I remember I stopped eating sweets (my biggest weakest). Breakfast was usually oatmeal or eggs with grapefruit; a ton of turkey chili for lunch. I was also working out 5 days every single week with one hour of cardio and 15-30 minutes of weights. I'm not sure right now if I should go back to that plan (weight isn't dropping off as fast back then) or do the HIIT thing and be much more focused on the weights. I did have a trainer come up to me in the gym once (he'd see me there all the time) who was trying to urge me to cut the cardio way down and ramp up the weights.
I can't imagine eating at McDonald's though only because I don't eat beef/burgers and try to avoid fries at all costs (get hooked on those too easily) so I haven't eaten there in yearssss.
I don't count calories; just can't bring myself to do it daily. However, I am calorie conscious meaning, I will look at the calories in items when buying them and before cooking to keep in the back of my mind an idea of how much I might be consuming (although I do realize it's easy to underestimate).
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As another mentioned, on a whole, simplistic level, calories in and calories expended is the culprit. Where those calories come from does matter in terms of health, energy, blood sugar, etc. For weight loss, baby steps is often key. People do 180’s and are miserable and give up.
Check out Ezekiel bread. It’s far superior to any regular bread. It’s “sprouted” and made from whole grains and legumes as opposed to being refined. My wife and I virtually never eat regular bread, but have Ezekiel muffins for our carb intake post workout a few days a week.
I've never tried the Ezekiel bread. I do buy Trader Joe's Sprouted multigrain bread though - I love it and it's the only bread I'll eat at home. I used it pretty much exclusively for avocado toast and turkey blt & avocado/hummus sandwiches.
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Weight loss is almost always CICO (calories in, calories out), regardless of what you are consuming. Doesn't matter if you eat 1200 cals of salmon and veggies, or 1200 cals of pure bread. But you'll have other effects like you mentioned - a heavy carb diet makes me bloated too.
With regards to the glycemic index, pasta cooked al dente will be better for your blood sugar than pasta that is overcooked or "soft."
WRT to the "al dente" comment...you reminded me that I meant to mention this -
I was watching a cooking segment on YouTube and this Italian guy was making pasta and specifically speaking to losing weight and still incorporating pasta into his diet. He was talking about how where most people go wrong with pasta is the additional things added in with it (i.e., sauce) and the portion. I never really thought about that before but I guess it makes sense.
The pasta I mentioned in my OP is a new pasta I'm trying that's near the cheese - it's packaged in plastic instead of on the shelf in a box and requires only 45 seconds of boiling (brand is Buitoni). I'm actually not sure why this version only takes that amount of time...? Anyways, I've been having it with a salad prior to eating it. I also try to divide the package into 4 servings/meals (it supposedly contains 3 servings - 80 grams at 230 calories/serving).
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Short answer: yes. But eating only simple carbs with no fat or protein to slow down the blood sugar response is just not good for anyone's body b/c it causes insulin spikes.
However, to your question: I'm not really supposed to eat simple carbs and sugar b/c of endocrine/blood sugar problems, but if I don't eat at least a few servings of some sort of grain product every day, I start to drop weight in a frightening way. (I've tried subbing in fat calories, but that causes my already slow digestion to almost stop dead in its tracks).
If I'm in my usual mode of mild to moderate exercise, a couple servings per day will usually keep my weight stable. If I do any heavier exercise (esp interval training type stuff), I have to actively try to eat more carbs than I want to or it gets scary quickly and I can drop below 100 lbs in the blink of an eye. Usually I eat whole grain cereal most mornings (oatmeal with nuts and fruit, etc), and a decent-sized carb of some sort with dinner ( about a cup of rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, tortillas, etc). I don't eat a lot of sugar, though.
If you have lost weight in the past cutting carbs, you might try to just switch a few servings out per day. Or you could go with only low glycemic grains (whole grains only, brown rice, red potatoes instead of baked, etc) always combined with protein or healthy fat. Sensitizing your insulin response can make a big difference in weight loss for many people.
I wish I had your problem :)
When I'm "eating right" it's not just the carbs that are cut out but the sweets as well (I eat a ton of unhealthy amounts of sweets-I just have a horrible sugar addiction basically) so it's hard to tease out how much progress is due to elimination of sugars versus elimination of simple carbohydrates. I know both have an impact but not sure if one has a large impact than the other.
When I think of stretching out my meals for budgeting purposes (as mentioned in my OP) I automatically think of incorporating more things like pasta and rice. I know I just need to be more creative in the things I'm preparing basically.
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Yes. I l am a female who is losing weight cutting out sugar--the usual suspects of sweet baked goods and candy-- even as I continue to eat bread in the am and pasta for 2-3 meals a week. There may come a plateau where I have to get more strict but not there yet. I make sure my meals are pretty heavy/filling. No snacking works for me.
Luckily I'm not really a snacker.
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Yes. I am a big fan of the Blue Zone/Mediterranean diet-like eating habits. I was considering going low carb recently to lose some peri-menopausal weight, but the thought of all that protein and meat made me feel ill. I did the CI/CO calculation and felt that if I cut BACK on carbs, and refined sugars in particular, and boosted my veg and fruit and bean intake, while maintaining some protein and fat at every meal, I could lose weight. It was worth trying, anyway.
It's been working really well. I have a portion of carbs, fat, protein and fruit for breakfast (rolled oats), a big bean salad with lots of veggies and a slice of whole grain bread if I feel I need it to stay full for lunch. I snack on nuts and fruit and sometimes a bit of dark chocolate in the late afternoon, and if I have a carb portion then, then I don't have one (don't feel I need it) at dinner. Otherwise, meat or eggs or fish and a pile of veggies at dinner with a small potato.
I feel great and I've lost about 7lbs in the last 6 or so months. I'm fine with that pace--I have about 20 more lbs to lose, but I figure it took 2 years to put it on, and if it takes 2 years to take it off, that's ok. It's really important to me to eat in a way that feels totally sustainable to me, emotionally, culturally (peer group and family), as well as health wise. We used to eat pasta 1-2x a week when we were vegetarian back in the day; now I might make it once or twice a month. I just add more veggies and protein to balance out the carbs and try to keep my portions reasonable.
Remember that even in Italy, traditionally the risotto or pasta dish was a small portion of starch (maybe a cup's worth) before the main meal of meat and veggies would come out. The traditional balance was much different than we think of it today. But I don't think cutting out carbs completely is necessary for everyone, although I recognize that it really is important for some. I think growing up with a really processed, high-carb diet can really screw up people's metabolisms to the point where staying right off carbs is the only option. But if you're not obese and respond well to a more conventional balance, then go for it. The large-scale medical studies tend to show that the Mediterranean diet is either as effective or more effective at helping people keep off weight as the low-carb.
You make points RE: being balanced and about the traditional way pasta would be eaten in Italy. Regarding balance, if I do eat simple carbs I try really hard to only have them with one meal for that day.
I don't even want to think about how I ate as a child. We grew up with a lot of fried foods, sugary cereals, high sodium Tuna Hamburger/Helper and canned Chef Boyardee. No wonder why I had high blood pressure by 25 which runs in my family anyway.
I did have a previous doctor mention the Mediterran diet - thanks for reminding me of this. Was prompted to look up a few recipes which I might try (i.e., grilled chicken kabobs with a home made tzatziki sauce...that sounded good).
Just trying to find a good balance between:
-Eating to tone - i.e., still having enough protein to aid me in building muscle (starting to lose the little bit of toning I'd built up 2 years ago)
-Losing weight - for my body type it just seems the less carbs the better
-Staying under budget - hardest part which is why I'd like to incorporate a bit more carbs in some meals as they can be cheaper. But maybe I can try to look into some vegetarian recipes which don't have simple carbs like pasta included.
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Ok, not a woman here, but my wife has been going through the same thing.
What worked for her is diet and working out. Carbs are fine in moderation, but shouldn't be the basis of your diet. The general reason why people drop weight fast when eliminating them is because processing carbs requires your body to store a lot of water. So essentially when you go to a "no carb" diet, your body drops water weight. It seems impressive ("wow, I lost 8 pounds in one week!") it really doesn't do much to change your overall body composition long-term.
The thing that has worked for my wife is adding in High-intensity-interval-training (HIIT) and some weights. She goes a few days a week to a group-oriented workout class. HIIT works wonders because it increases your base metabolism for about 12-18 hours after the 45 min. workout- basically having your body burn more calories during the day. Weight lifting does similar- the more muscle you build, the more calories your body burns in a resting state.
She just checked this morning and she's already hit 100 workouts this year! The group setting really helps her stick to it. She's dropped 20 real pounds over 6 months. While some people would say this is slow, it is a steady and permanent change, not a yo-yo diet, and she feels awesome!
BTW- we had pasta and meatballs with garlic bread just a few days ago!
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You can lose weight on it if you portion it carefully and include lots of low calorie vegetable side dishes. The issue I have with pasta is I feel the urge to keep eating more than I should. It might still come down to CICO, but whichever sort of diet promotes your feeling of satiety is best. Hyper palatable, fast digesting food is the biggest problem. There isn't much satiety.
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Short answer: yes. But eating only simple carbs with no fat or protein to slow down the blood sugar response is just not good for anyone's body b/c it causes insulin spikes.
However, to your question: I'm not really supposed to eat simple carbs and sugar b/c of endocrine/blood sugar problems, but if I don't eat at least a few servings of some sort of grain product every day, I start to drop weight in a frightening way. (I've tried subbing in fat calories, but that causes my already slow digestion to almost stop dead in its tracks).
If I'm in my usual mode of mild to moderate exercise, a couple servings per day will usually keep my weight stable. If I do any heavier exercise (esp interval training type stuff), I have to actively try to eat more carbs than I want to or it gets scary quickly and I can drop below 100 lbs in the blink of an eye. Usually I eat whole grain cereal most mornings (oatmeal with nuts and fruit, etc), and a decent-sized carb of some sort with dinner ( about a cup of rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, tortillas, etc). I don't eat a lot of sugar, though.
If you have lost weight in the past cutting carbs, you might try to just switch a few servings out per day. Or you could go with only low glycemic grains (whole grains only, brown rice, red potatoes instead of baked, etc) always combined with protein or healthy fat. Sensitizing your insulin response can make a big difference in weight loss for many people.
I wish I had your problem :)
When I'm "eating right" it's not just the carbs that are cut out but the sweets as well (I eat a ton of unhealthy amounts of sweets-I just have a horrible sugar addiction basically) so it's hard to tease out how much progress is due to elimination of sugars versus elimination of simple carbohydrates. I know both have an impact but not sure if one has a large impact than the other.
When I think of stretching out my meals for budgeting purposes (as mentioned in my OP) I automatically think of incorporating more things like pasta and rice. I know I just need to be more creative in the things I'm preparing basically.
In your case, sugar is probably more of an issue than carbs then. Try cutting sugar way down while keeping your carb intake stable, but switching to all low-glycemic carbs eaten ONLY with protein or fat. Basically, cut out 'white' carbs and most added sugar for a while and see if the weight comes off.
I used to be a sugar and carb addict, but it made me so ill that by my late 20s I was desperate to feel better, and I cut sugar and simple carbs completely for a few months. The first few weeks were horrible: I craved shitty candy that in normal conditions I would have sneered at (gummy worms,etc). Then my body 'reset' and even fruit tasted too sweet for a while. After that, I gradually loosened up how strict I was and for the past 15+ years I find I can eat just a little of any dessert and be fine. DH and I eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream every few days, just maybe 3 spoonfuls each and then it goes back in the freezer. Whereas when I was young, I would have not been able to have it in my house without eating the entire container in one sitting.
I think a lot of this stuff is just habit. Once you form the habit, you can stick to it more or less permanently. If I could break myself of eating a teenage diet of mostly candy, soda, and shitty carbs, then I'm pretty sure anyone can.
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If you are paying attention to calorie density, you are going to naturally gravitate towards more filling, non calorie dense foods. I design my meals to be ~400 calories each, so a tiny little serving of something calorie dense, like pasta, isn’t very appealing. I would much rather a big bowl of black bean and quinoa stew or spiralizer “noodles” and pasta sauce instead.
This is a great point. I do something similar, only I think of it as 'nutrient bang for calorie buck' eating. When I plan my eating for the day/week, my first thought is: first eat the most nutrient-dense foods you can. If I build my meals around that idea, then nutrient-poor simple carbs and sugars naturally become like 'condiments' b/c if 2/3rds of every meal is lean protein, beans, veggies, fruit, etc., there isn't enough space left for grain-type carbs.
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I've lost weight without any difficulty while eating some amount of cereal, pasta, bread, or rice at every meal. These foods aren't going to make you fat if you limit yourself to a reasonable quantity and eat them as part of a balanced diet / exercise plan.
In the same way that some people preach giving up credit cards entirely because they can't control spending with them, others preach giving up cereal/pasta/bread/rice because they can't control eating with them. Neither approach is really wrong . . . but it is unnecessary for many people.
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You can certainly eat bread and pasta and lose weight if you want. I found that my weight was unstable though. I was always gaining a few, then having to lose a few.
There is a lot of confusion about what to eat. The science used to create the government food triangle is questionable.
All the additives that are in food are really complicated and it's really hard to understand what's going on.
Bread, pastries, pasta, cous cous etc all have gluten. Human's don't get nutritional value from gluten, it just passes through. Most people it doesn't bother them. About 30-40% of people are sensitive to it. 6-7% have celiac and can't eat gluten at all. I'm in the sensitive category and gluten makes me feel really tired. I also found out that eating gluten prevents me from absorbing iron, which makes my anemia worse.
There is one semi exception which is "wild" sourdough bread. It's what most people ate before industrialization and because the yeast pre-digests the gluten for us (I know that sounds gross, but stay with me), that is easier for humans to digest.
Whole kernel bread has some vitamins and fiber so it's better to eat that if it's important to you to eat bread. Since I don't eat gluten I make my own loaves from oat flour. Types of bread: https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/whole-wheat-whole-grain-breads-0
Sugar also doesn't have nutritional value but is OK in moderation. After the low fat diet craze it has been added to many processed foods. So check labels of foods that you might not expect to have sugar (like jarred tomato sauce) and it might.
White potatoes have high sugar content so you might want to stay away from those if you have high blood pressure. Same with white rice. So it's better to eat brown rice for that reason.
Factory farmed animals: Chickens and cows are fed wheat and corn to fatten them up quickly for slaughter. You are what you eat so they had a diet to make them fat, it will make you fat if you eat too much of it. Also chicken from the store is usually injected with saline to make it look plump in the packaging. Another thing to stay away from if you have high blood pressure. It would be better to eat chickens that have been fed their own natural diet but I've never seen that in the store.
As you can see it's really complicated and it depends on what your own needs are. It's better to be informed and control what goes into your own body.
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Weight loss is almost always CICO (calories in, calories out), regardless of what you are consuming. Doesn't matter if you eat 1200 cals of salmon and veggies, or 1200 cals of pure bread. But you'll have other effects like you mentioned - a heavy carb diet makes me bloated too.
With regards to the glycemic index, pasta cooked al dente will be better for your blood sugar than pasta that is overcooked or "soft."
This simplifies things FAR too much - especially for a complicated issue. If you ate 1200 calories a day of simple carbs, your blood sugar/ insulin reactions would completely take ove.
In any event the answer to the OP is - it depends.
I found as I went beyond the age of 40 and had a second baby that things didn't behave as they once did.
Strict calorie restriction didn't work anymore - in particular, 1200 calories was a recipe for disaster - not enough calories! I read a couple of books around the time that I was trying to lose the 2nd baby weight, and realized that the 20 years of government advice to eat 6-11 servings of carbs a day was BS.
I, too, like to keep my meals budget friendly, but I simply cannot eat that many servings of carbs a day. On a typical day, I probably eat 2-3 servings. If it's a big workout day, maybe 4 servings.
For me, this means a serving or two for breakfast (gets my brain moving) and one for dinner. The bulk of my meals are vegetables. The bulk of my calories for my meals are fats (olive oil based dressings, nuts, seeds, avocados, cheese, eggs).
When I was losing weight, my meals were centered around animal proteins. I prefer to not eat that many, so once I lost the weight, I gradually shifted. My carb intake went up a little (from 2 servings a day to 2-4). My fat intake went up. I started using beans as my protein instead of counting them as a carb.
It's interesting to note how particular foods may affect individuals. While I was losing the weight, on what was basically a well-balanced calorie reduced diet (1400-1500 cal/day), I was losing about 2 lb a month. For fun one month, I eliminated wine, wheat, sugar, and fried foods. Now, it's important to note that these four items were not major parts of my diet - a total of 3-4 servings a week (not each, total). I dropped 7 pounds that month. I repeated the process the next year and lost 6 pounds.
Fast forward another year and I am having digestive issues. I self-diagnose to pizza (wheat? cheese?) I give up wheat. I lose 8 pounds
It's important to note that I did not change my total calories nor the amount of carbs at any time. When I gave up wheat? I ate oatmeal, corn tortillas, potatoes, rice instead. It seems like it is something specifically with wheat. I've maintained this weight for almost a year now (far below what I thought I'd ever be at - and I was already at a healthy weight). I can eat rice, barley, gluten free pasta, gluten free bread, corn tortillas. And I do.
But volume-wise, it's not much. This morning: 1 piece of GF toast and 2 corn tortillas. For dinner? Fried rice (with white rice this time) and stir fried vegetables. Probably about 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup rice.
For lunch, 3/4 of the volume of my food is vegetables. For dinner, at least half.
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When I eat those things I eat a smalr amount, and eat it with a spinach salad.
Whenever I want to lose weight, the ol' spinach salad plays a major role.
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Bread, pastries, pasta, cous cous etc all have gluten. Human's don't get nutritional value from gluten, it just passes through. Most people it doesn't bother them. About 30-40% of people are sensitive to it. 6-7% have celiac and can't eat gluten at all. I'm in the sensitive category and gluten makes me feel really tired. I also found out that eating gluten prevents me from absorbing iron, which makes my anemia worse.
0.4 - 1% of the general population has Celiac disease. https://celiac.org/blog/2014/02/9-things-you-should-know-before-going-gluten-free/ (https://celiac.org/blog/2014/02/9-things-you-should-know-before-going-gluten-free/)
Prevalence of non-celiac gluten sensitivity is between 0.5–13% of the general population depending on the study you're reading. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/apt.13155 (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/apt.13155)
Potatoes have high sugar content so you might want to stay away from those if you have high blood pressure. Same with white rice. So it's better to eat brown rice for that reason.
100 g of white potatoes contains about .8g of sugar. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/11352?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=11352&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing= (https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/11352?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=11352&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=)
100g of white rice contains about .1g of sugar. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/20444?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=20444&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing= (https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/20444?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=20444&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=)
100g of brown rice contains about .4g of sugar. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/20037?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=20037&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing= (https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/20037?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=20037&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=)
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About once every other week, I buy a batch of Rice Noodle dumplings (shrimp) from the Chinese bakery near me and woof them down. That's about it, except that if I am eating out with friends, I might have a slice of (non-whole grain) bread.
If you are looking pregnant (as you say), you really should stay away from white flour/pastas/sugar. Just don't eat them. They increase inflammation in the body, mess with your insulin and make you fat (at least fatter than otherwise).
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Here in Italy, most people eat pasta or pizza at least once a day - often twice a day. And they eat bread with their pasta. Yet people here are thin and healthy. I never understood the carb-phobia of many Americans.
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About once every other week, I buy a batch of Rice Noodle dumplings (shrimp) from the Chinese bakery near me and woof them down. That's about it, except that if I am eating out with friends, I might have a slice of (non-whole grain) bread.
If you are looking pregnant (as you say), you really should stay away from white flour/pastas/sugar. Just don't eat them. They increase inflammation in the body, mess with your insulin and make you fat (at least fatter than otherwise).
RE: the bolded
Yeahhhhh......that's kinda what I'm thinking right now. (Why oh why did I make a new batch of pasta/tomatoes/pesto last night?) Anyways, I probably will just try to go back to the "no white carbs" thing (that's how I reference it).
But to the issue of getting my meals down in cost without adding in carbs, again, this is where I will need to be creative.
-
About once every other week, I buy a batch of Rice Noodle dumplings (shrimp) from the Chinese bakery near me and woof them down. That's about it, except that if I am eating out with friends, I might have a slice of (non-whole grain) bread.
If you are looking pregnant (as you say), you really should stay away from white flour/pastas/sugar. Just don't eat them. They increase inflammation in the body, mess with your insulin and make you fat (at least fatter than otherwise).
RE: the bolded
Yeahhhhh......that's kinda what I'm thinking right now. (Why oh why did I make a new batch of pasta/tomatoes/pesto last night?) Anyways, I probably will just try to go back to the "no white carbs" thing (that's how I reference it).
But to the issue of getting my meals down in cost without adding in carbs, again, this is where I will need to be creative.
FYI There are some pastas made from bean flour (lentils) or corn & quinoa that I think taste pretty good, though I'm not sure whether those are lower glycemic. Whole wheat pasta is lower glycemic than regular. But if you really want to kick-start weight loss, you are correct that it might work better to just cut the grain carbs and sugar totally out for a while.
Re: cost of groceries...I've been trying for 3 years to reduce food costs without increasing grains/carbs or eating fattier meat cuts. And to be honest (apart from shopping meat on sale/eating less meat; and eating a bit more of the cheaper veggies like beans, peas, carrots, squash, and corn than I did before) I've mostly given up. We aren't giving up salmon in favor of tilapia (gross), and salmon runs us 40-50$/month all by itself. We aren't giving up huge salads with fresh fruit/veg/avocados/nuts most days of the week, including out of season. We aren't going to eat hamburger (which I only like on rare occasions) instead of chicken breast, or pork chops (yuck) instead of pork tenderloin. We aren't going to stop buying dark chocolate (another 20-30$/mo). It's just not happening, and it is not worth it to us.
Consequently, we regularly run $500+ month for food groceries alone (not including alcohol or eating out) for 2 people. And one of us only eats twice per day. :shrug: There other ways we keep our costs down.
-
About once every other week, I buy a batch of Rice Noodle dumplings (shrimp) from the Chinese bakery near me and woof them down. That's about it, except that if I am eating out with friends, I might have a slice of (non-whole grain) bread.
If you are looking pregnant (as you say), you really should stay away from white flour/pastas/sugar. Just don't eat them. They increase inflammation in the body, mess with your insulin and make you fat (at least fatter than otherwise).
RE: the bolded
Yeahhhhh......that's kinda what I'm thinking right now. (Why oh why did I make a new batch of pasta/tomatoes/pesto last night?) Anyways, I probably will just try to go back to the "no white carbs" thing (that's how I reference it).
But to the issue of getting my meals down in cost without adding in carbs, again, this is where I will need to be creative.
FYI There are some pastas made from bean flour (lentils) or corn & quinoa that I think taste pretty good, though I'm not sure whether those are lower glycemic. Whole wheat pasta is lower glycemic than regular. But if you really want to kick-start weight loss, you are correct that it might work better to just cut the grain carbs and sugar totally out for a while.
Re: cost of groceries...I've been trying for 3 years to reduce food costs without increasing grains/carbs or eating fattier meat cuts. And to be honest (apart from shopping meat on sale/eating less meat; and eating a bit more of the cheaper veggies like beans, peas, carrots, squash, and corn than I did before) I've mostly given up. We aren't giving up salmon in favor of tilapia (gross), and salmon runs us 40-50$/month all by itself. We aren't giving up huge salads with fresh fruit/veg/avocados/nuts most days of the week, including out of season. We aren't going to eat hamburger (which I only like on rare occasions) instead of chicken breast, or pork chops (yuck) instead of pork tenderloin. We aren't going to stop buying dark chocolate (another 20-30$/mo). It's just not happening, and it is not worth it to us.
Consequently, we regularly run $500+ month for food groceries alone (not including alcohol or eating out) for 2 people. And one of us only eats twice per day. :shrug: There other ways we keep our costs down.
+1
We are at about $600 for 4 (not including alcohol and eating out), and my kids get free lunch. (everyone does at their school). We'd be higher if my salmon intake was as high as I'd like it to be.
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About once every other week, I buy a batch of Rice Noodle dumplings (shrimp) from the Chinese bakery near me and woof them down. That's about it, except that if I am eating out with friends, I might have a slice of (non-whole grain) bread.
If you are looking pregnant (as you say), you really should stay away from white flour/pastas/sugar. Just don't eat them. They increase inflammation in the body, mess with your insulin and make you fat (at least fatter than otherwise).
RE: the bolded
Yeahhhhh......that's kinda what I'm thinking right now. (Why oh why did I make a new batch of pasta/tomatoes/pesto last night?) Anyways, I probably will just try to go back to the "no white carbs" thing (that's how I reference it).
But to the issue of getting my meals down in cost without adding in carbs, again, this is where I will need to be creative.
FYI There are some pastas made from bean flour (lentils) or corn & quinoa that I think taste pretty good, though I'm not sure whether those are lower glycemic. Whole wheat pasta is lower glycemic than regular. But if you really want to kick-start weight loss, you are correct that it might work better to just cut the grain carbs and sugar totally out for a while.
Re: cost of groceries...I've been trying for 3 years to reduce food costs without increasing grains/carbs or eating fattier meat cuts. And to be honest (apart from shopping meat on sale/eating less meat; and eating a bit more of the cheaper veggies like beans, peas, carrots, squash, and corn than I did before) I've mostly given up. We aren't giving up salmon in favor of tilapia (gross), and salmon runs us 40-50$/month all by itself. We aren't giving up huge salads with fresh fruit/veg/avocados/nuts most days of the week, including out of season. We aren't going to eat hamburger (which I only like on rare occasions) instead of chicken breast, or pork chops (yuck) instead of pork tenderloin. We aren't going to stop buying dark chocolate (another 20-30$/mo). It's just not happening, and it is not worth it to us.
Consequently, we regularly run $500+ month for food groceries alone (not including alcohol or eating out) for 2 people. And one of us only eats twice per day. :shrug: There other ways we keep our costs down.
+1
We are at about $600 for 4 (not including alcohol and eating out), and my kids get free lunch. (everyone does at their school). We'd be higher if my salmon intake was as high as I'd like it to be.
What's the deal with the salmon obsession?
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About once every other week, I buy a batch of Rice Noodle dumplings (shrimp) from the Chinese bakery near me and woof them down. That's about it, except that if I am eating out with friends, I might have a slice of (non-whole grain) bread.
If you are looking pregnant (as you say), you really should stay away from white flour/pastas/sugar. Just don't eat them. They increase inflammation in the body, mess with your insulin and make you fat (at least fatter than otherwise).
RE: the bolded
Yeahhhhh......that's kinda what I'm thinking right now. (Why oh why did I make a new batch of pasta/tomatoes/pesto last night?) Anyways, I probably will just try to go back to the "no white carbs" thing (that's how I reference it).
But to the issue of getting my meals down in cost without adding in carbs, again, this is where I will need to be creative.
FYI There are some pastas made from bean flour (lentils) or corn & quinoa that I think taste pretty good, though I'm not sure whether those are lower glycemic. Whole wheat pasta is lower glycemic than regular. But if you really want to kick-start weight loss, you are correct that it might work better to just cut the grain carbs and sugar totally out for a while.
Re: cost of groceries...I've been trying for 3 years to reduce food costs without increasing grains/carbs or eating fattier meat cuts. And to be honest (apart from shopping meat on sale/eating less meat; and eating a bit more of the cheaper veggies like beans, peas, carrots, squash, and corn than I did before) I've mostly given up. We aren't giving up salmon in favor of tilapia (gross), and salmon runs us 40-50$/month all by itself. We aren't giving up huge salads with fresh fruit/veg/avocados/nuts most days of the week, including out of season. We aren't going to eat hamburger (which I only like on rare occasions) instead of chicken breast, or pork chops (yuck) instead of pork tenderloin. We aren't going to stop buying dark chocolate (another 20-30$/mo). It's just not happening, and it is not worth it to us.
Consequently, we regularly run $500+ month for food groceries alone (not including alcohol or eating out) for 2 people. And one of us only eats twice per day. :shrug: There other ways we keep our costs down.
+1
We are at about $600 for 4 (not including alcohol and eating out), and my kids get free lunch. (everyone does at their school). We'd be higher if my salmon intake was as high as I'd like it to be.
What's the deal with the salmon obsession?
uh...super delicious and nutritious?
-
About once every other week, I buy a batch of Rice Noodle dumplings (shrimp) from the Chinese bakery near me and woof them down. That's about it, except that if I am eating out with friends, I might have a slice of (non-whole grain) bread.
If you are looking pregnant (as you say), you really should stay away from white flour/pastas/sugar. Just don't eat them. They increase inflammation in the body, mess with your insulin and make you fat (at least fatter than otherwise).
RE: the bolded
Yeahhhhh......that's kinda what I'm thinking right now. (Why oh why did I make a new batch of pasta/tomatoes/pesto last night?) Anyways, I probably will just try to go back to the "no white carbs" thing (that's how I reference it).
But to the issue of getting my meals down in cost without adding in carbs, again, this is where I will need to be creative.
FYI There are some pastas made from bean flour (lentils) or corn & quinoa that I think taste pretty good, though I'm not sure whether those are lower glycemic. Whole wheat pasta is lower glycemic than regular. But if you really want to kick-start weight loss, you are correct that it might work better to just cut the grain carbs and sugar totally out for a while.
Re: cost of groceries...I've been trying for 3 years to reduce food costs without increasing grains/carbs or eating fattier meat cuts. And to be honest (apart from shopping meat on sale/eating less meat; and eating a bit more of the cheaper veggies like beans, peas, carrots, squash, and corn than I did before) I've mostly given up. We aren't giving up salmon in favor of tilapia (gross), and salmon runs us 40-50$/month all by itself. We aren't giving up huge salads with fresh fruit/veg/avocados/nuts most days of the week, including out of season. We aren't going to eat hamburger (which I only like on rare occasions) instead of chicken breast, or pork chops (yuck) instead of pork tenderloin. We aren't going to stop buying dark chocolate (another 20-30$/mo). It's just not happening, and it is not worth it to us.
Consequently, we regularly run $500+ month for food groceries alone (not including alcohol or eating out) for 2 people. And one of us only eats twice per day. :shrug: There other ways we keep our costs down.
+1
We are at about $600 for 4 (not including alcohol and eating out), and my kids get free lunch. (everyone does at their school). We'd be higher if my salmon intake was as high as I'd like it to be.
What's the deal with the salmon obsession?
uh...super delicious and nutritious?
Well yeah, salmon is delicious. There's nothing in it nutritionally that you can't get into your diet from cheaper sources though.
-
About once every other week, I buy a batch of Rice Noodle dumplings (shrimp) from the Chinese bakery near me and woof them down. That's about it, except that if I am eating out with friends, I might have a slice of (non-whole grain) bread.
If you are looking pregnant (as you say), you really should stay away from white flour/pastas/sugar. Just don't eat them. They increase inflammation in the body, mess with your insulin and make you fat (at least fatter than otherwise).
RE: the bolded
Yeahhhhh......that's kinda what I'm thinking right now. (Why oh why did I make a new batch of pasta/tomatoes/pesto last night?) Anyways, I probably will just try to go back to the "no white carbs" thing (that's how I reference it).
But to the issue of getting my meals down in cost without adding in carbs, again, this is where I will need to be creative.
FYI There are some pastas made from bean flour (lentils) or corn & quinoa that I think taste pretty good, though I'm not sure whether those are lower glycemic. Whole wheat pasta is lower glycemic than regular. But if you really want to kick-start weight loss, you are correct that it might work better to just cut the grain carbs and sugar totally out for a while.
Re: cost of groceries...I've been trying for 3 years to reduce food costs without increasing grains/carbs or eating fattier meat cuts. And to be honest (apart from shopping meat on sale/eating less meat; and eating a bit more of the cheaper veggies like beans, peas, carrots, squash, and corn than I did before) I've mostly given up. We aren't giving up salmon in favor of tilapia (gross), and salmon runs us 40-50$/month all by itself. We aren't giving up huge salads with fresh fruit/veg/avocados/nuts most days of the week, including out of season. We aren't going to eat hamburger (which I only like on rare occasions) instead of chicken breast, or pork chops (yuck) instead of pork tenderloin. We aren't going to stop buying dark chocolate (another 20-30$/mo). It's just not happening, and it is not worth it to us.
Consequently, we regularly run $500+ month for food groceries alone (not including alcohol or eating out) for 2 people. And one of us only eats twice per day. :shrug: There other ways we keep our costs down.
+1
We are at about $600 for 4 (not including alcohol and eating out), and my kids get free lunch. (everyone does at their school). We'd be higher if my salmon intake was as high as I'd like it to be.
What's the deal with the salmon obsession?
uh...super delicious and nutritious?
Well yeah, salmon is delicious. There's nothing in it nutritionally that you can't get into your diet from cheaper sources though.
Didn't I just cover that in my post lol? I mean, we COULD get all required nutrients from cheaper foods, but we don't like them as much as we love more expensive foods. Thank goodness I'm not into cheese, or our bill would be exponentially bigger than it is.
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Ah. I assume you also have a Vitamix blender? :P
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Ah. I assume you also have a Vitamix blender? :P
Heh. No way. Definitely not worth it.
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OP, not sure if this is much help but: like you, I love my “bad” carbs and like you I’ve been in a constant war fighting them and denying myself, except then when I break, I go hard, eat lots, gain weight and the rollercoaster goes again. Recently I started getting prepared fresh meals delivered and many have rice and pasta so I’ve gotten those as well. And wouldn’t you know it, I’ve lost weight! So, what’s different? Portion size. The rice might be half a cup, the pasta, maybe a cup. Now, I’ll tell you, if I was eating on my own, I’d surely eat more than that. But this works, there’s no extra rice or pasta to add anyways. So I get my taste but don’t go overboard. And bread I have one or two slices in the morning after my workout. What helps me is understanding how many proteins, fats and carbs I can have in a day, using Lose it on my phone to track and then sticking to that. You can have it all, you just can’t have as much as you think you want. Like life.
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Ah. I assume you also have a Vitamix blender? :P
Heh. No way. Definitely not worth it.
Might I add that besides being delicious and nutritious, I think this is about the easiest thing I ever make to eat personally. A little evoo, lemon and garlic...a few shakes of salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and throw in the oven and that's it. Takes all of what? 3 minutes to do that? Considering taste, nutrition "and" time saved it tops the list for things to cook at home (for me anyways).
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What's the deal with the salmon obsession?
salmon=omega 3 fatty acids
Since I rearely eat meat I take algae pills which have the omega 3 without the meat.
Thanks for calling me out GuitarStv. I should have clarified and said glucose and not fructose. I don't want to add to the confusion. Here is an article about white potatoes:
https://www.verywellfit.com/why-do-potatoes-raise-blood-glucose-more-than-sugar-2242317
For the number of people with gluten sensitivity/ intolerance it just depends on what study your quoting.
It's important to get your own tests done, EconDiva, I was very surprised to find out what I couldn't eat.
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Bread, pastries, pasta, cous cous etc all have gluten. Human's don't get nutritional value from gluten, it just passes through. Most people it doesn't bother them. About 30-40% of people are sensitive to it. 6-7% have celiac and can't eat gluten at all. I'm in the sensitive category and gluten makes me feel really tired. I also found out that eating gluten prevents me from absorbing iron, which makes my anemia worse.
0.4 - 1% of the general population has Celiac disease. https://celiac.org/blog/2014/02/9-things-you-should-know-before-going-gluten-free/ (https://celiac.org/blog/2014/02/9-things-you-should-know-before-going-gluten-free/)
Prevalence of non-celiac gluten sensitivity is between 0.5–13% of the general population depending on the study you're reading. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/apt.13155 (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/apt.13155)
Potatoes have high sugar content so you might want to stay away from those if you have high blood pressure. Same with white rice. So it's better to eat brown rice for that reason.
100 g of white potatoes contains about .8g of sugar. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/11352?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=11352&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing= (https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/11352?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=11352&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=)
100g of white rice contains about .1g of sugar. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/20444?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=20444&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing= (https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/20444?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=20444&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=)
100g of brown rice contains about .4g of sugar. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/20037?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=20037&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing= (https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/20037?fgcd=&manu=&format=&count=&max=25&offset=&sort=default&order=asc&qlookup=20037&ds=&qt=&qp=&qa=&qn=&q=&ing=)
Thank you for posting this. So many posts on this forum about diet and nutrition from people who have no business giving advice.
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Netflix has a show called "Explained." The episodes are pretty interesting. One episode does a deep dive into diets, including this long study that compared low carb and low fat.
Conclusion: No real difference in results between low fat VS low carb. Most people didn't lose any weight over the long term on either diet, because most people didn't stick with it. Some people did see great results on either diet. When interviewed those people normally made big changes and stuck with them. For instance, some people who removed carbs were successful because they had been eating a lot of processed foods, and they replaced their processed carbs with fresh vegetables and fruits. They were consuming around 200 less calories per day without counting calories or feeling hungry, because they switched which foods they were consuming.
The show also pointed out that diet tends to be much more important than exercise for losing weight. Exercise is still important for health, but the idea that you can eat more and then work it off doesn't normally work. The reason is that for most people the vast majority of your daily calorie burn is due to normal bodily functions. A 30 minute exercise might burn some calories, but it will likely pale in comparison to your heart, lungs, brain, etc. running 24/7. Obviously there are exceptions, like marathon runners who consume 4000+ calories a day, but for them the exercise demands the calories, not the other way around.
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What's the deal with the salmon obsession?
salmon=omega 3 fatty acids
Since I rearely eat meat I take algae pills which have the omega 3 without the meat.
Fish oil supplements are pretty cheap, and will be full of DHA / EPA . . . waaaaay cheaper than eating salmon multiple times a week. Chia seed is also jam packed with omega 3s if you're doing the vegan thing, although my understanding is that the omega 3s from chia seed are different in some way from the ones you get from fish oil.
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Netflix has a show called "Explained." The episodes are pretty interesting. One episode does a deep dive into diets, including this long study that compared low carb and low fat.
Conclusion: No real difference in results between low fat VS low carb. Most people didn't lose any weight over the long term on either diet, because most people didn't stick with it. Some people did see great results on either diet. When interviewed those people normally made big changes and stuck with them. For instance, some people who removed carbs were successful because they had been eating a lot of processed foods, and they replaced their processed carbs with fresh vegetables and fruits. They were consuming around 200 less calories per day without counting calories or feeling hungry, because they switched which foods they were consuming.
The show also pointed out that diet tends to be much more important than exercise for losing weight. Exercise is still important for health, but the idea that you can eat more and then work it off doesn't normally work. The reason is that for most people the vast majority of your daily calorie burn is due to normal bodily functions. A 30 minute exercise might burn some calories, but it will likely pale in comparison to your heart, lungs, brain, etc. running 24/7. Obviously there are exceptions, like marathon runners who consume 4000+ calories a day, but for them the exercise demands the calories, not the other way around.
Great post. Like I’ve mentioned in the past, the best diet is the one you can stick with, same with exercise. I’d say the vast majority of people that make drastic diet or exercise changes, eventually revert back to the old habits. There’s a big difference in the spectrum of life from someone who has exercised and ate healthy for 15-20+ years, vs those who can only maintain for a few years, often much less.
Someone who loves running and yoga and does it their whole life will be better off than the person who try’s to “make” themselves like lifting weights, and quitting after a year or two and reverting to no exercise.
Find exercise you enjoy. Find a diet you enjoy, eat foods you love but be REASONABLE. Be calorie conscious. A person who loves carbs will be better off finding a reasonable diet allowing carbs they enjoy as opposed to switching to some hardcore keto diet and again, quitting after a timeframe.
I have been lifting weights from 14-now (30). I love weight lifting. I love other forms of exercise but not as much as weight lifting, so fit other things in when I can but weightlifting takes precedence.
I’ve always maintained a great diet. Probably top 5% of the population. I don’t go overboard. I love ice cream and work it in around once a week. My meals are balanced and enjoyable. No - they aren’t like pizza and tacos, but stuff like stir fry made fresh, with all the calories/macros counted/measured. My meals are consistent and I might skip lunch if I know I’ll have a bigger “cheat” meal for dinner.
I look almost 100% identical to how I did 2 years ago. For my frame I have a ton of muscle and low body fat, I wouldn’t be far off from competing in a stage pretty easily. That being said, a lot has changed in even 2 years. I keep finding ways to make my diet and exercise more enjoyable and easier, yet getting the same results. That’s all trial and error that you can only learn over time as you better understand your own body.
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What's the deal with the salmon obsession?
salmon=omega 3 fatty acids
Since I rearely eat meat I take algae pills which have the omega 3 without the meat.
Fish oil supplements are pretty cheap, and will be full of DHA / EPA . . . waaaaay cheaper than eating salmon multiple times a week. Chia seed is also jam packed with omega 3s if you're doing the vegan thing, although my understanding is that the omega 3s from chia seed are different in some way from the ones you get from fish oil.
salmon and fish oil have EPA & DHA in their direct form. Plant sources of Omega-3 (such as from chia, hemp, flax seeds or trace amounts from almost any green vegetable) contain ALA. It is also an omega-3 fatty acid, but the body must first convert it from ALA into EPA and DHA before it confers the same benefit. The body is much less efficient at doing this conversion (single digit %s), so you have to eat a larger quantity of ALA to get the same "effective dose" of EPA & DHA compared to just eating them directly. I found that, personally, I have a genetic polymorphism that makes my body even less efficient at it than that!
I believe those algae sources actually contain EPA/DHA directly as well and do not count as the "plant sources" I mentioned above.
This is definitely minutiae and not really relevant to OP's question, but I figured I'd chime in with the answer.
https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/other-nutrients/essential-fatty-acids
I think the quality of fish oil supplement matters a lot, and ones that actually have a high enough amount of EPA/DHA are more expensive. But you are right that it's still probably a lot cheaper than eating salmon all the time.
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I eat bread/rice/ pasta daily and I'm pretty skinny. This can be true for you, too. However, all my bread is whole wheat seed type bread. I count calories, and bottom line is, you have to not eat more calories than you burn. Pasta is fairly calorie-dense and easy to over-consume. My suggestion is, eat the pasta, but let it be a small portion of your overall meal. Half your plate (at least) should be vegetables, let the pasta be a side.
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Ah. I assume you also have a Vitamix blender? :P
Heh. No way. Definitely not worth it.
Might I add that besides being delicious and nutritious, I think this is about the easiest thing I ever make to eat personally. A little evoo, lemon and garlic...a few shakes of salt and pepper. Wrap in foil and throw in the oven and that's it. Takes all of what? 3 minutes to do that? Considering taste, nutrition "and" time saved it tops the list for things to cook at home (for me anyways).
Yes, to be honest, it's one of the easiest and tastiest ways to get omega-3's. Regular intake of certain kinds of fish is associated with a lot of positive health outcomes.
That said, we only eat it about 2x a month.
I don't have a Vitamix, but I have a Blendtec! It was a birthday present many many years ago.
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Yes, I lost 20% of my body weight over 4-5 months and ate bread (white wheat) for one meal per day on average. Oatmeal, peas, rice, etc for the other two meals. The key was cutting my calorie intake by about half relative to before I started trying to lose weight. I was eating mostly healthy food (raw vegetables, fruit, no junk food, no sugar) but an unhealthy quantity before that.
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Yup. I'm eat some rice/potato/bread for most meals and am losing weight in a slow steady progression. I cut out eating between meals and sticking to one plate of food for a meal. I feel bad if I don't eat carbs and great if I do. And I say this as someone who has spent a LOT of time in bodybuilder forums and done years of paleo, before Crossfit was even a thing.
I *do* have a Vitamix but we found it in a giveaway pile, along with a slowcooker. It is one of my greatest hard rubbish scores to date.
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Weight loss is almost always CICO (calories in, calories out), regardless of what you are consuming.
"Almost always" is an overstatement based on the science. "Important" certainly, but definitely not the only major factor. We know weight loss is complicated, and significantly impacted by other factors.
Microbiome is likely to play a major factor:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/do-gut-bacteria-inhibit-weight-loss
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319411.php
Also, circadian rhythm and time of day you eat can dominate calories in/out:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22608008
That latter item was by this timely article in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/well/when-we-eat-or-dont-eat-may-be-critical-for-health.html
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Weight loss is almost always CICO (calories in, calories out), regardless of what you are consuming.
"Almost always" is an overstatement based on the science.
It's not, it (CICO) is the definition of how *weight loss* works. Basically a tautology, in the same sense that savings = spending less than your earn. Weight loss = take in less calories than your TDEE.
All the other stuff has an impact on the margin, sure, but absolutely does not dominate a caloric deficit.
Important note: Weight loss != *health*. You could lose weight eating McDonald's so long as you are in a caloric deficit, but that would not lead to the same health outcomes as a proper diet.
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Don't lump potatoes in with pasta. White potatoes, despite being white, are one of the most nutritious foods out there, full of potassium amd vitamin c and complex carbs. White pasta, on the other hand, is basically sugar.
There is a guy that ate nothing but potatoes for a year (and a multivitamin), lost a lot of weight, and the doctors proclaimed him perfectly healthy.
Aside from that, unless you're going the body building route, stay away from pasta slathered in oil. I've seen great results from low oil/low fat diets, and there are people with great results from low carb diets, it's all calories if you're trying to lose weight.
The absolute best thing you can do for weight loss is look at calorie density. My wife was raised a chronic overeater. Ditching all meat, severley reducing dairy, fat, oil, etc. and eating a lot of spaghetti squash with very low calorie sauce (often just soy sauce) is what got her to lose 50lbs in 6 months
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Weight loss is almost always CICO (calories in, calories out), regardless of what you are consuming.
"Almost always" is an overstatement based on the science.
It's not, it (CICO) is the definition of how *weight loss* works. Basically a tautology, in the same sense that savings = spending less than your earn. Weight loss = take in less calories than your TDEE.
All the other stuff has an impact on the margin, sure, but absolutely does not dominate a caloric deficit.
Important note: Weight loss != *health*. You could lose weight eating McDonald's so long as you are in a caloric deficit
, but that would not lead to the same health outcomes as a proper diet.
Bolded is not actually true, because there's a point where your body will stop losing weight, if you cut calories too much. Also, the type of calories matter and affect how your calories are burned. (Simple carbs, insulin, hormones affect calorie burn, plus water weight, etc.)
It's a pretty fascinating issue and the information that we have is in its infancy.
The largest effect, of course, is calories - simply because the vast majority of Americans eat too much. But when you get into the nitty gritty of individuals, that's where it gets tricky.
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Yes. I've lost 8 lbs over the last two months (10 more to go) and eat a serving of grain or potato with most meals. I do careful calorie counting, though, and am careful with portions. For example, brunch included a half-cup of dry oats (cooked before eating), and dinner includes a half-cup of cooked brown rice. Afternoon snack included a measured single serving of potato chips left over from a camping trip. I usually skip sweets other than fruit. I have celiac disease and dislike most gluten-free pasta options, so I usually eat zoodles or spaghetti squash if I want a noodle-like dish.
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Yes, I lost 20% of my body weight over 4-5 months and ate bread (white wheat) for one meal per day on average. Oatmeal, peas, rice, etc for the other two meals. The key was cutting my calorie intake by about half relative to before I started trying to lose weight. I was eating mostly healthy food (raw vegetables, fruit, no junk food, no sugar) but an unhealthy quantity before that.
I eat oatmeal without any concerns...I feel like it's some of miracle worker when it comes to curbing my appetite. I truly am at my best on the days I start off with a bowl of oatmeal.
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From what I'm reading sounds like I might be ok incorporating some things like brown rice here and there (although I don't really eat that - just not my thing), perhaps even white potatoes here or there and some other grains. But to stay away from the pasta which is the main thing I've been eating for dinner the past like week and a half. =/
Guess I'll try to just stay away from as much as I can and read more about what carbs might be healthier ones I can still have semi frequently (i.e., some of the ones mentioned above) because I do need to start coming up with some new recipes that, as I mentioned earlier, are cheaper. I already have oatmeal for breakfast like 50% of the time. I have no issues losing weight while eating that *and* it fits into my budget. When it's not oats for breakfast it's eggs which I'm fine with as well. I am a big kidney beans person so maybe I can learn how to make something else with beans besides chili...that recipe turns out to be pretty cheap per meal but man am I getting tired of making/eating that. Many of the other meals are salmon or they're chicken based so a bit expensive.
I may try to find some more things to make with spaghetti squash too. I tried that pesto recipe I'd been having the pasta with on spaghetti squash instead the other day but it just didn't taste too good to me. =/ I had made a "shrimp scampi" version on spaghetti squash before which is good but the pesto/tomato recipe for some reason didn't work on it for me.
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I've been maintaining my seventy-pound weight loss for a couple months while eating three or four potatoes nightly. Not sure what that is by weight, but I go through a ten pound bag in a week or two... if potatoes were going to send my appetite amok and wreck my discipline I think they'd have done it by now. And I throw rice into the soups that I usually eat for lunch.
Bread I just find is not very filling for the amount of calories it packs, and it soaks up fats and condiments with a will. If you love it, eat it -- some of it -- but pay attention to how many calories you're loading in with it. I ate lots of bread, toast and hamburger buns, during the early months of my big weight loss project, but as I had to cut calories, to keep losing, I found that keeping it in my diet was just too "expensive." To keep eating it I would have had to jettison practically everything else.
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Bolded is not actually true, because there's a point where your body will stop losing weight, if you cut calories too much.
Absolutely, 100%, patently, and completely untrue.
Yes, if you drop your calories too low, then your body will lower your output and slow down your caloric expenditure to become very close to your basal metabolic rate, ie: the amount of calories you need to spend to exist. Most of the calories you need in a day are required to keep your brain working and your body warm.
If your extremely little, you will become exhausted and barely move if your starve long enough and get thin enough, and you will sleep most of the day and grow a layer of fuzzy body hair to insulate your organs, but you won't stop losing weight if you eat below this level. If too low intake ceased weight loss, anorexia wouldn't be so deadly.
If you drop your calories low, then yeah, you may stop losing as your daily expenditure lowers to match that intake, but it can only drop by a certain amount. Dropping it further won't stall your weight loss further, it will restart it and guarantee it.
CICO doesn't mean consuming any diet of the same caloric value will produce the same weightloss outcome regardless of the nutrient value.
It really is CICO, but yes, diet can affect the amount of calories out, since being malnourished can negatively affect the calories out by lowering your energy and organ function. People who say it's not CICO are really trying to say that the calculation isn't as simple as it seems, but to say that it's not CICO is misleading.
It is legitimate to say: different diets affect the "calories out" part of the equation in unpredictable and difficult to define ways, which means that 1500 calories of KitKats daily will produce a different result than 1500 calories of veggies and lean protein. But at the end of the day, weight loss is absolutely, 100% determine by a difference between how many calories you consume vs how many your body uses. No exception. It's physics.
Ah well, I'm just reporting what actually happened to me when I was losing weight, but okay. I guess you are the expert on absolutely everyone?
I lost weight. Hit a my goal weight, which was good because I stopped losing weight anyway. Added in more calories for maintenance. Started losing weight again, and fairly quickly. Added in even more calories to stabilize my weight. I'm guessing at the point when I stopped losing, my body said "eff you".
If you care, but you probably don't with your "absolutely false" statement, the point at which I stopped losing weight was approximately 1200 calories, and in order to maintain my weight I needed to be at 2000.
In short "It's physics!" is pretty meaningless when you are discussing calories in and calories out, when you really only know one half of the equation. You know what you are taking in, but you don't necessarily know what is going "out", as that changes.
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This post explains really well my current attitude to white bread etc. Using moderation, variety, and flexibility I've lost 20 lbs and am comfortably maintaining. Honestly, everything about the 10 Principles is great.
https://www.the10principles.com/i-lost-weight-by-eating-white-bread/
As you can tell, I'm a huge fan of the eating approach set out on her website and HIGHLY recommend it but I mostly hope than you find an approach that feels good to you and does what you want.
Good luck!
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Have you tried chickpea pasta (like the brand Banza)? I'm losing weight, and it has worked well for me as a substitute!
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This has been intentional as in the past, the change in diet that has the most impact on me being able to lose weight "seems" to be dropping the so called "bad carbs".
It's total calories. 1 cup of cooked pasta is about 220kcal, to get 220kcal of broccoli would be 1.5lbs of the stuff. It's a lot easier to eat a cup of pasta than a pound and a half of broccoli.
So by reducing the energy-dense foods like jam doughnuts, pasta and so on, you tend to consume less calories over all. What happens when your income drops a little below your spending? You draw on your savings. For the body, that's body fat.
There's nothing "bad" about any food. It's just that some foods are calorie-rich and nutrient poor (like McDs) and others are calorie-poor and nutrient rich (like most fruit and vegies). When people come to my gym, I am usually less concerned with their calories than their nutrition - because they eat so much energy-rich but nutrient-poor food, they're overweight or obese but always tired and often sick, and have either diaorrhea (high fat diets from KFC etc) or constipation (high-starch diets from white bread etc) every day. If we can get them eating more fruit and vegies, well they might still be getting more energy than they need, but at least they're getting lots of nutrients and fibre - so they start feeling better, more energetic, not sick so often, and their digestive system offends them less.
Most financial approaches work - not just MMM - because it's the first time in their lives they're actually conscious of their spending. Likewise, most diets work because it's the first time in the person's life they're actually conscious of what they eat.
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Bolded is not actually true, because there's a point where your body will stop losing weight, if you cut calories too much.
Absolutely, 100%, patently, and completely untrue.
Yes, if you drop your calories too low, then your body will lower your output and slow down your caloric expenditure to become very close to your basal metabolic rate, ie: the amount of calories you need to spend to exist. Most of the calories you need in a day are required to keep your brain working and your body warm.
If your extremely little, you will become exhausted and barely move if your starve long enough and get thin enough, and you will sleep most of the day and grow a layer of fuzzy body hair to insulate your organs, but you won't stop losing weight if you eat below this level. If too low intake ceased weight loss, anorexia wouldn't be so deadly.
If you drop your calories low, then yeah, you may stop losing as your daily expenditure lowers to match that intake, but it can only drop by a certain amount. Dropping it further won't stall your weight loss further, it will restart it and guarantee it.
CICO doesn't mean consuming any diet of the same caloric value will produce the same weightloss outcome regardless of the nutrient value.
It really is CICO, but yes, diet can affect the amount of calories out, since being malnourished can negatively affect the calories out by lowering your energy and organ function. People who say it's not CICO are really trying to say that the calculation isn't as simple as it seems, but to say that it's not CICO is misleading.
It is legitimate to say: different diets affect the "calories out" part of the equation in unpredictable and difficult to define ways, which means that 1500 calories of KitKats daily will produce a different result than 1500 calories of veggies and lean protein. But at the end of the day, weight loss is absolutely, 100% determine by a difference between how many calories you consume vs how many your body uses. No exception. It's physics.
Ah well, I'm just reporting what actually happened to me when I was losing weight, but okay. I guess you are the expert on absolutely everyone?
I lost weight. Hit a my goal weight, which was good because I stopped losing weight anyway. Added in more calories for maintenance. Started losing weight again, and fairly quickly. Added in even more calories to stabilize my weight. I'm guessing at the point when I stopped losing, my body said "eff you".
If you care, but you probably don't with your "absolutely false" statement, the point at which I stopped losing weight was approximately 1200 calories, and in order to maintain my weight I needed to be at 2000.
In short "It's physics!" is pretty meaningless when you are discussing calories in and calories out, when you really only know one half of the equation. You know what you are taking in, but you don't necessarily know what is going "out", as that changes.
When you carry more muscle mass, you burn more calories even when you're not exercising. Most people who lose weight through dieting lose a fair amount of muscle mass as well as fat, either because they fail to do resistance training along with their dieting or because they cut calories too much and their bodies catabolize their muscle for energy. Once you've lost this muscle mass, you have to keep eating less calories because your body requires fewer calories each day. You have effectively reduced your 'calories out' part of the equation.
By increasing the amount that you eat (particularly if you're doing regular exercise and eating a higher protein diet) your body will be able to rebuild some muscle, and your base metabolic rate will increase again. Increasing calories can also have the effect of increasing energy during the day . . . so you might go up a flight of stairs faster, walk around more in your office, or do something else that increases your calories spent.
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At one point I lost 60 pounds and I was simultaneously teaching myself to bake bread! (Actually, I found bread-baking to be less hazardous than other kinds of baking because there was less temptation to taste during the cooking process. Raw bread dough doesn't taste that great!)
I was also told by my doctor to get the triglycerides down a few years ago due a family tendency to Type II diabetes and some warning signs. I looked at the low-carb diets like South Beach and freaked out, because I knew I would be miserable eating that way. Guess what--cutting back refined carbs (fewer carby snacks like pretzels, smaller relative portions of carbs (ie, make a pasta salad with TONS of veggies, a good amount of protein, and a modest amount of pasta), trying to have one refined-carb free meal per day, making things like bagels, sandwiches on big rolls, and big bowls of pasta treat foods instead of at-home foods) did the trick.