Opinions?

[Rick Murchison]

When I lived in Europe (three years) I ate local, gained weight.
I've been at the weight control business for a long, long time, and have come to the conclusion that it's a whole lot simpler than most folks want to make it. To lose weight, eat less than you burn. To enjoy food, eat the real thing.
Any questions?
Rick

 

[mania]

Janet is absolutely right. Most of food scientists - at least here in Europe are convinced that the best diet is the so called Mediterranean diet, which consists plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil instead of butter, pasta with a little bit of sauce, a lot of fish and fruit di mare, meat - mostly grilled or fried with a minimal amount of oil. Red wine and.....standard Italian dinner takes 2- 3 hours.....
There are between meals snacks but mostly fresh fruits.
As I also wrote in the Exercises thread what struck me when I came to the US for the first time was that nobody walks there. I remember going with my friend (Polish) and his daughter (US born) to a mall. We were looking for a parking space and found one but quite far from the entrance. My friend's daughter said - Dad find something closer, this is not Poland, you don't walk here!!!!
In Warsaw I have a friend who had a serious heart problem. The doctor refused any treatment before she loose some weight (she was fat). For half a year she was walking to and from her office (something like an hour walk). Within 6 months she lost 20 kilos. Just from walking - she ate the usual.
And - to be honest - the number of overweighted people I saw in the US horrifies me....
According to the latest WHO findings Americans are number one but the next are ...British.
Mania

 

[element]

I have been on a lower carb diet for a while and lost significant weight. Started off as ATKINS but evolved into my own diet. I felt I should be able to eat fruit and vegetables in large quanties . I really only avoid sugar, potatos and breads. I stay active , and feel great. I know this works for me and it may not be for everyone. Even though the diet says you can eat tonns of eggs and bacon that got real old real quick. I eat fruit for breakfast and have salads(w/ meat) for lunch every day. For snacking I eat nuts and pumkin seeds.

 

[mania]

One more thing. When I was a child being taught table manners one of the basic rule of a "Lady like" behavior was - never eat too much. You should leave the table a slightly hungry....
This is also good thing to remember when trying to loose weight.
Mania

 

[tholt576]

Here's what I had yesterday:

Breakfast: 4 cups of strong coffee, sweetened with 1/2 pack of Equal. Whole wheat bagel, nothing on it

Lunch: 2 medium sized apples

Dinner: 1 medium sized apple and a Diet Coke

I also went indoor rock climbing for 1 1/2 hours in between lunch and dinner.

Mind you, I don't do this all the time, I couldn't survive. However, I used to weigh 227 lbs and I weigh 167 now.

Mel

Hmmmm, that's about 500-600 calories. Considering that you probably burned that much doing the rock climbing. I'd say you should be losing about 2-4 lbs per week. Is that what you're seeing?

 

[tholt576]

When I lived in Europe (three years) I ate local, gained weight.
I've been at the weight control business for a long, long time, and have come to the conclusion that it's a whole lot simpler than most folks want to make it. To lose weight, eat less than you burn. To enjoy food, eat the real thing.
Any questions?
Rick

I absolutely agree with this. The problem is that most people don't have a "feel" for how much they burn or how much food is too much or even what foods have how many calories. That's what I had to learn before I could lose weight.

 

[Upwelling]

I would recommend the book "Stop Inflammation Now" by R. Fleming to anyone interested in learning not only about how to lose weight but about cholesterol, processed foods, etc.... I've doing a modified version of the diet outlined in the book for about 2 months now. Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...104-3349796-2592715?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

 

[papps953]

The low-carb diet also works very well for me. I've found if I stick with lower carb foods I generally eat fewer calories too. I have tried eating less calories and not monitoring my carbs, but I didn't have any success. I've read insulin causes your body to store calories as fat and inhibits your body from converting fat into energy.

A typical day for me is:

breakfast: two fried eggs, two pieces of bacon; 273 calories, and 1 carb
lunch: a cheeseburger with 1/3 lb of meat, 20 seedless grapes; 634 calories and 54 carbs
dinner: 1 cup of chopped turkey and 2.5 cups of vegetables (brocholi, cauliflower and carrots) 20 more seedless grapes; 411 calories and 31 carbs
total: 1318 calories and 86 carbs.

I may throw in an evening snack like a lettuce salad with real ranch dressing and a couple ounces of grated cheese.

As was mentioned in an earlier post, each person is different and we all have to do what is best for each. Additionally while on the Atkin's diet I lost weight and my blood pressure dropped 10 point in a month.

Bill

 

[MiniMe]

Hello from North of the border!

I have to admit every time I travel to United States I’m amazed as to how much larger the portions are and how people actually manage to consume all the food. I recently stopped at Subway to get a sandwich, and asked for light mayo. I kid you not, I thought they dropped half a bottle of Miracle Whip on me. :11: Now – I can live with once in a while, but for many people it looks like just another part of regular diet. Compared to what we see in Canada, I do notice a lot more people the are overweight, or obese.

 

[jhelmuth]

I'm not a nutritionist, nor do I play one on TV (but I did sleep at a Motel 6 last night!)

Heather,

Sounds correct to me. Correct nutrition has never really changed. What has changed is where we get our "food" from. Way too much processed food these days. Eat sensibly and eat "good" whole foods. Meals should be produced from raw materials - not Micky D's, or even a lot of the garbage that you can buy at the grocer.
Combine this with moderate and regular physical activity and you are on your way to a healthy life-style.