Fruit, veg and protein.

[magicre]

I eat lots of chicken and fish. I've been told to stay away from cooked red meats, as anything that increases my risk of cancer is a definite issue. Although I have to say I am a burger and steak lover. :[ It's hard to turn down a lightly seared ribeye. :D

Re, why are you adding in more starches? Just curious. I tried cutting all starchy foods out of my diet and I feel loads better.

i'm thinking about mcdougall's diet plan which is very starch based.....i never could eat pastas or potatoes but i wasn't so damaged then....i am now....

brown rice is a starch, but it's a low glycemic starch.....i won't be adding pasta any time soon. makes me feel like glue.

and getting my fats from avocados, etc...sounds like it's worth trying....a day without pain would be awesome. so it can't hurt to try.

i always felt great eating steak fish and veggies and fruits....that is my diet....i'm not listening to jeff novick who is bashing olive oil.....which goes with the mediterranean way of eating. i thought olive oil was good for me....apparently, according to him, it isn't.

so now, i'm thinking of starting over.....and modifying my entire way of thinking....

[frogdog]

I love avocados...so yummy.
Olive oil is believed by many to be a processed food.

It sounds to me you're wiser than most of us here and very knowledgeable concerning health/nutrition

[cprcheetah]

My husband and I have to eat a very specialized diet due to him having Grain sensitivities, we eat no wheat/pasta (except brown rice kind), bread, sugar, etc, we eat mainly protein/meats, veggies and fruits. He has lost over 100# in a year. I am not so lucky...because I cheat LOL! Our Dr actually put us on this diet for my hubby's health.

[splitnightsky]

first of all, I'm curious - why did any of you cut grains out of your diet?

and Re, what exactly do you mean by "damaged"?
I mean, I'm not trying to be nosy when I ask, I just want to know so I can figure out why so few starches and grains...

also, home raised chickens are fed scraps and garbage.
no joke. they'll eat just about anything - which is why they so willingly stuff themselves up with the corn they feed them.

read the label when it comes to soy - many brands will have listed on the side "Non-GMO", such as Silk
(I am not advocating Silk in particular nutritionally at all, just saying they are one example).

[magicre]

I love avocados...so yummy.
Olive oil is believed by many to be a processed food.

It sounds to me you're wiser than most of us here and very knowledgeable concerning health/nutrition

not necessarily.....i've studied medicine and i'm studying nutrition.....and i'm not sure what a person knows counts if it's not working. :)

why is olive oil considered a processed food....because of the expeller process of getting the oil out of the olive?

why is soy used so much when it's genetically modified and is so closely linked to breast cancer and thyroid conditions....and then soy is made into so many things.....what an industry.....i think this is what has prevented me from going down this road before...i simply will not eat soy because of what i know to be true....

so can one be a vegan or vegetarian without soy? :)

[magicre]

splitnightsky:

i'm structurally damaged...my musculo skeletal system is sick.....myositis and arthritis and spinal stenosis with a compressed nerve...myositis is an inflammation of the muscles...the heart is a muscle. makes this a particularly nasty little disease.....and it's objectively diagnosable...i have hashimotos' thyroiditis...i have no ovaries which were removed because my mother had ovarian cancer and so did my maternal grandmother. seemed like the thing to do...

didn't do much for my metabolism :)

i have no gallbladder and my liver is damaged from too many surgeries.

that's what i mean by damaged.....

i had cut grains out of my diet for a few reasons....

i thought they had bloated me and i felt like glue when i ate pasta...

i also thought that i did not want to eat genetically modified grains....

and i really didn't feel that humans were herbivores.....

i'm re thinking this.

i am giving up chickens regardless of what they eat, though the commercial ones proudly say they are fed soy and corn....and if not fed that, well, that's fine, but i don't live on a farm.

hard to be organic and free range when you can't afford a 16 dollar chicken that is organic and free range and is STILL fed corn and soy.

plus eggs don't peel right.....for me..and i buy organic free range omega three eggs.....and they don't taste right....

i will read the labels...thanks...i've been seeing that a lot....there was, however a documentary about monsanto and con agra's grains soaring through the air and landing on non monsanto and con agra farms.....the two big companies are making these small farms pay for using their grain...one of the small farmers was saying that, in twenty or thirty years, all grain will be gmo....so i'm not sure how anyone can honestly say their grain isn't gmo...

cprcheetah:

that is what i thought i had plus no thyroid to metabolyse carbs....so we both gave up grains....and not only haven't we lost weight, we haven't gained weight, but we both feel like crap.

the structural damage to both of our bodies is such that a day without pain would be so awesome, that i'm willing to try it again.....

[PDXdogmom]

not necessarily.....i've studied medicine and i'm studying nutrition.....and i'm not sure what a person knows counts if it's not working. :)

why is olive oil considered a processed food....because of the expeller process of getting the oil out of the olive?

why is soy used so much when it's genetically modified and is so closely linked to breast cancer and thyroid conditions....and then soy is made into so many things.....what an industry.....i think this is what has prevented me from going down this road before...i simply will not eat soy because of what i know to be true....

so can one be a vegan or vegetarian without soy? :)

Most certainly. My son has been vegan for five years and does not cook with or order soy-based dishes at restaurants. He has impressive health so far. As you know, I'm pescatarian and try not to use soy. Sometimes I make an exception like last night when I made a vegan chocolate peanut butter pie. It used one box of Mori-Nu non GMO soft silken tofu which I have no problem with upon occasion.

On a more general note on this broad subject of healthy eating: I think so many U.S. people seem to think they need to follow a specialized diet promoted and named for a specific individual (doctor or nutritional guru) or the particular avoidance or inclusion of a food group.. I have friends who are significantly overweight with some chronic health problems and over the years they have followed many different special diets touted by some book or individual. Most of them remain pretty much at the same weight. It just seems that if they more often than not made healthy food choices in general and incorporated 40 min. of physical activity daily, they would be much better off.

[sozzle]

I gave up wheat and sugar over 14 months ago after finding Mark Sisson and The Primal Blueprint. I had put on weight after my first child was born 14 years ago and never lost it all. I love food and cook every meal from scratch for my family. I think I was addicted to carbs, I certainly ate bread every day. I gave up pasta and bread and although it was slow I have lost 11kg which is about 23lbs and I had intended to lose 10kg so that's great. It was really easy and adaptable and I eat eggs, veges, fruit (not too much), all meats, fish, nuts, butter, coconut oil, lard, olive oil. I do now eat basmati rice and potatoes a couple of times a week as I find they don't raise my blood sugar like flour used to.
I now have more energy and don't fall asleep in the afternoons and I now don't have severe bloating which I'd say was the gluten.
I walk my dog everyday and lift the odd weight when I am watching TV.
I don't want to have to do hours of exercise everyday I'm too lazy for that but I do want to be able to run around with kids and dog and not feel like a total blimp.
I don't want to have to control my portions I'm too lazy for that.
I now eat when I am hungry which is normally two meals a day and I eat what I want. I do also snack but it's normally a spoonful of nut butter or beef jerky or an apple.
If I pig out or eat the 'wrong foods' one day I feel like crap the next but am back on track the next day and don't feel guilty about it.
I've never been an emotional eater so I'm sure that has helped.
I don't think I will ever go back to eating bread or pasta or cakes and biscuits again as I know the weight will go back on and I am happy where it is now.
I also think the older we get the harder it is to lose flab and restricting my calories didn't work for me.
I have done heaps of my own research too and have my alternatives to cakes etc and visit sites like 'elanaspantry' for grain free recipes as I do like a biscuit/cookie with a cup of tea in the afternoons just not one that raises my blood sugar to such an extent that I need a lie down. I still bake cakes and cookies for my kids but they don't interest me.
I still make bread for my family and might have a tiny tiny taste slathered with butter, but I have no desire to start eating on regular basis.
If I go to a cafe for lunch and see heaps of cakes and desserts they don't tempt me anymore as I have no desire for overly sweet things.
I normally eat breakfast about 11am-12pm as that's when I start to feel hungry and I normally have a two egg omelette with cheese or veges or I have a tin of fish with salad drizzled with olive oil.
I do eat dairy products as I like them and can tolerate them.
I do still eat beans and lentils(occasionally) but always soak them first.
I do drink wine most nights and yes it converts to sugar but I still lost weight and I've dropped 2 dress sizes.
Everyone is different and responds in different ways to different foods but getting off the old pasta and bread/refined carbs will really help your weight I'm sure.

Good Luck!

[magicre]

Most certainly. My son has been vegan for five years and does not cook with or order soy-based dishes at restaurants. He has impressive health so far. As you know, I'm pescatarian and try not to use soy. Sometimes I make an exception like last night when I made a vegan chocolate peanut butter pie. It used one box of Mori-Nu non GMO soft silken tofu which I have no problem with upon occasion.

On a more general note on this broad subject of healthy eating: I think so many U.S. people seem to think they need to follow a specialized diet promoted and named for a specific individual (doctor or nutritional guru) or the particular avoidance or inclusion of a food group.. I have friends who are significantly overweight with some chronic health problems and over the years they have followed many different special diets touted by some book or individual. Most of them remain pretty much at the same weight. It just seems that if they more often than not made healthy food choices in general and incorporated 40 min. of physical activity daily, they would be much better off.

i think what you're saying is absolutely spot on.....i believe i do make healthy choices and i still weigh the same, so it's time to examine what i eat.....

as to the moving....i walk every day....it's not enough but it's what i can do....
so the goal is to get to the point where i can move more easily and not be in so much pain.

[schtuffy]

I cut out carbs temporarily. The Atkins diet was popular when I was in college, and all I did was ridicule it. Then my husband and his friend decided to do it to lose weight, so I thought I would join them and try it out for a few weeks. After all, I thought I would be more justified in criticizing it if I had actually tried it myself. Another reason I tried it out was to see if drastically cutting down my carbs would make me feel better. I used to eat a LOT of carbs, and the blood sugar and insulin spikes always left me feeling like crap.

So I tried Atkins, and it was a neat learning experience, but ultimately I gave up because I didn't like all the meat and sugar substitutes. Watching carb intake so strictly when I was on the diet really helped me when I went back to eating carbs. Right now I'm trying to find a happy medium and eat most things in moderation. I run at least 5 days a week, totaling at least 25 miles per week, and nothing is off limits...I eat the occasional ice cream or cup cake now and then.

I eat meat maybe once a week...I still eat soy (mostly in the form of tofu, sometimes sprouted, and silk non-GMO soymilk --- but it's like Re said, how can you know your non-GMO soy wasn't cross-pollinated with GMO soy at some point?) because I'm Asian and I was brought up eating soy...but I am doing my research and trying to approach it from a different mindset. I've replaced white and brown rice in my house with quinoa. I've replaced all pasta in my house with 100% whole wheat pasta. I used to eat pasta many times a week, now I eat it once or twice a month.

I know the way I eat is nowhere near perfect, but that's why I'm constantly open to suggestions and trying new things. You never know until you try, and you guys have given me some awesome info and ideas