I read an article today about the top 20 worst foods of 2010. I was actually a little surprised by the disgustingly gigantic calorie, fat, sodium, and sugar content of some common foods, particularly those sold under the guise of being healthy. I’ve always been very suspicious of processed food – my dad follows the extremely strict Pritikin diet, and I try to follow the Okinawan diet, in general, though it takes skill to avoid food labeling trickery. I knew that nearly all restaurant food and freezer isle food is to be avoided, but I didn’t realize how bad it’s become! Some single meals carry more than a day’s worth of calories, pushing 3,000 calories! That’s way, way too much to eat in one day, let alone one meal. You can read more here: 20 Worst Foods of 2010.
Over two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. This leads to many complications such as diabetes and heart disease and generally reduces a person’s lifespan by a decade or more. It is easy to eat junkfood, and I’m not just talking about fast food. Junkfood includes about 90% of the cereal at our grocery store, most of the meat, almost all of the processed food, whole milk, etc. There is little regulation on food, meaning words like “organic,” “immune boosting,” “heart healthy,” and “rich in whole grains” are totally meaningless. The FDS does NOT regulate these words, so you have to do a little homework yourself and be careful to read the nutrition label, particularly in terms of serving size. Weight gain is a direct result of caloric intake – if you eat more calories than you burn, then you’ll gain weight. For most of us, that means eating 2,000 or fewer calories each day. I could write a book on dieting, and we all know there are many, but these are some good rules of thumb…
- Eat 2,000 or fewer calories per day. Eating more than that will cause you to gain weight. Period.
- Focus your diet on “featherweight” foods like fresh fruit and vegetables. Featherweight foods are those foods that have a low caloric density like oranges and whole grain rice. Some foods have virtually no calories, such as celery and dill pickles – you can eat as much as you want.
- Drink lots of zero-calorie fluids, particularly water. Fluids make you feel full faster and longer, and your body needs a lot more water every day than most people realize. There are many options for zero-calorie beverages if water isn’t your thing. Coffee and tea (without added milk or sugar) both have zero calories. There is some debate over whether diet drinks increase appetite, so be aware of them. I know for me, diet soda makes me hungry.
- Avoid refined carbohydrates AKA simple sugars. Some studies are showing that refined carbs are the primary cause of American obesity, even more so that saturated fats. Look for complex carbohydrates – they can be found in whole wheat bread and whole grain brown rice. Avoid white rice, white bread…pretty much anything white when it comes to grains. The word “whole wheat” is regulated by the FDA and you should make sure it’s the first ingredient in any kind of bread or cereal you buy. Other labels like “enriched wheat flour” or “whole grain” don’t mean a thing and could easily apply to cheap Wonderbread.
- Be careful about serving size. Labels can be tricky – make sure you’re not eating more than you think you are. Also be weary of cryptic ways of including sugar in the ingredients, such as “corn syrup,” “fructose,” “sugar cain,” “corn sugar,” and “sucrose.” Remember that “organic” is just a trendy pop-culture word and even if it is truly FDA Certified Organic, organic sugar, organic salt, and organic fat is still sugar, salt, and fat.
- Eat unsaturated fats and avoid saturated and hydrogenated oils. The latter will send you to an early grave! You don’t have to stop eating meat – there are many lean meats, like fish and chicken, but these are only lean if you don’t add calorie-dense sauces and oils.
- Exercise. In general, exercise is not an effective way to lose weight. Dieting is really the only way you are going to lose weight, but exercise can help a little, and losing weight should not be your only concern. Maintaining a healthy weight is a big first step in overall health, but it’s not the only step. Trade in the lengthy cardio workouts for short, intense strength-training. There is little evidence to support any benefits from cardio exercise. Brief and intense strength training builds muscle and this process burns calories long after the workout.
- If you are overweight or obese, your body requires more than 2,000 calories per day to maintain that fat, so eating 2,000 calories each day will still result in weight loss. However, if you are trying to lose weight a little faster, it’s usually good to start with 1,800 calories a day, then move down to 1,500. At 1,500 calories a day, even someone at a healthy weight will lose a pound or two each week. Fasting doesn’t work. First of all, when you fast your body slows down your metabolism. You will feel sick and become tired and weak. Fasting or eating fewer than 1,500 calories per day is unhealthy because it causes you to become malnourished and makes you more vulnerable to illness. It’s better to keep your metabolism working by eating small amounts of food all day long.
Dieting and exercise are the only way to maintain good health – there are no secrets or special methods, like avoiding carbs altogether or taking weight loss pills. The simple answer has always been true. We need to change our attitudes about eating and exercise. I was somewhat irritated when I saw my doctor the other day – she said she thought I might have an eating disorder because I wanted to lose 10 or so pounds. I currently have a healthy body mass index (BMI), I exercise, but I could have a little healthier BMI if I lost 10 pounds or so. Several of the staff and doctors themselves there are overweight or obese – it is reflective of our culture that a doctor working in such an office would see someone such as myself, someone at a healthy mid-range weight, as being too thin. At the University of Maine there are regular programs to help people with eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, yet such eating disorders affect only about one-third of one percent of the American public. It seems that in general there are few genuine programs designed to help people eat healthier and lose weight, despite every other commercial offering a miracle weight-loss drug. Nobody can lose weight for you. It’s up to you.
Here’s an example of what I do. I try to exercise at least twice a week, usually strength-training for about 20 minutes. I drink about one or two gallons of tea every day (literally), along with a little coffee, both sweetened with Stevia. I happen to love tea, but you don’t need to drink quite that much – dieticians recommend about 8 cups (that’s 4 16oz soda bottles) of water per day. I eat low-calorie foods like bananas and canned or frozen vegetables. When I eat eggs, I trash the yoke – an egg is nearly 100 calories, 85% of which is the yoke. Want a nice 100 calorie snack? Scramble five egg whites. I almost never eat red meat. In general I don’t eat much meat, but when I do it’s either fish or chicken. I don’t use any oils to prepare them – water or a very tiny amount of olive oil is good enough to cook chicken. Fish is baked. Herbs and spices are good enough – I don’t need extra oils and sauces. Same goes for sandwiches and salads. For salads I often use vinaigrettes, which have very few or no calories. If I’m near 2,000 calories for the day and I’m still really hungry, I grab zero-calorie food, like dill pickes, celery, etc. Oranges have 80 calories in them, but they have the greatest satiation of any food – that means they make you feel full. At the other end of the satiation index are chocolate chip cookies and Chinese food.
That said, I’m not obsessed. I do eat out occasionally, but you can be careful about what you eat at restaurants, too. Most places now have healthy options or at least give you a general idea about calories and fat in the food they serve. Any diet too strict is always doomed to fail. You have to give yourself some allowances, especially in our culture. A little junkfood here and there isn’t going to hurt you – it’s the habitual consumption of calorie-dense and large portions of non-nutritive crap that makes us fat. Being mindful of what you eat is the best thing you can do for yourself. Realize that eating healthy is your responsibility and you can’t blame overeating or obesity on society, family, or your metabolism. In fact, overweight and obese individuals burn significantly more calories during the day and during exercise than someone who maintains a healthy weight, so there is even less of an excuse, yet an even greater incentive. When you blame others you concede powerlessness; by taking responsibility for your life, you take back control and can affect real change.