I have had this idea for my own diet for awhile now. I am wondering what the effects may be if I am utilize it.
My plan is this:
[li]eliminate all junk and fast food[/li][li]eliminate as much sugar as possible from what I eat[/li][li]eliminate starches, carbs, i.e. rice, pasta, bread, crackers, etc[/li][li]eliminate all meat except for fish. I would eat mainly tuna, as it is very high in protein, but has virtually no fat or carbs[/li][li]low fat and no fat everything else[/li][li]eat lots of veggies[/li][li]drink lots of water[/li][li]daily exercise[/li]
Is this a bad idea? Could this make me ill, or would it send my metabolism into machspeed? I am sick and tired of this Homer Simpson belly of mine and want to do something about it. I already have a home gym, so the exercise part is no problem.
MSK, you do have to have some fat and carbs in your diet, or your body will shut down and grind to a half.
Cutting out the refined sugars is a good idea. Drinking lots of water is a good idea. Limiting fat intake to under 30%, and especially limiting intake of saturated fat is a very good idea. Eating lean protein is a good idea. Exercising dailing is a great idea.
Do take good care of yourself. Do eat responsibly. Don’t go all weird on us, m’kay? We like you better with your pot belly than we like you dressed nicely and reclining six feet under.
Is your goal to loes weight, or just to generally make yourself healthier? If you’re just going for healthiness, concentrate on getting unsaturated fats rather than elimnating fat entirely. IIRC, the ideal percentage of calories from fat is somewhere around 20 to 30 percent. What, exactly, are you planning on eating? Just fish? Vegetables are mostly (other than water) suger and other carbohydrates, which elimates them under your criteria. Keep in mind that calories are calories. 100 calories from protein are still 100 calories.
You can get overly obsessive about diets. Triskadecamus posted this in another thread, and I think it’s worth repeating:
"Good nutrition is not a list of bad and good foods. Good nutrition usually means avoiding exclusive consumption of one or another type of food. Fat is an essential nutrient. You will die, if you don’t get any fat in your diet. Fat is not bad for you. You will die if you don’t get any salt in your diet. If you have a specific type of coronary/circulatory disease, you can easily get too much salt for your health. Salt is not bad. Salt is simply not needed by the body in any where near the quantities that most Americans eat it. Same thing with fat. A diet of nothing but steamed broccoli would not be good for you. Protein and fats you need would not be available. Broccoli is not bad for you, it is simply that it is not a sufficient food source for all your nutritional needs.
Eat different foods. Choose foods of very wide varieties. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes in nearly equal amounts, and a small amount of foods from animal sources, like fish, eggs, meat, milk. Nutritionally, you don’t need candy, cookies, cake, syrup, sugar, and things like that. They are not poisons. They are highly refined sugars, which the body assimilates quickly, and uses before it uses the more complex structures of organic Carbohydrates.
The occasional sweet does not harm you. Habitual replacement of other foods with sweets will do you harm. Your digestive system will change itself to accommodate the high sugar diet. Among other things, that accommodation can include loss of function of the regulatory systems for glucose and glucogen in the blood. Those are serious conditions.
Fat in the diet is another area where Americans are unlikely to be deficient, and very likely to be able to obtain an excess. Fat is not poison, it is highly nutritious, providing very high levels of calories, and many essential micronutrients. Getting too much fat is pretty easy, since it has 2000 calories per pound, and you don’t need much more than 1800 calories a day altogether. Your body can manufacture it’s own fat, although you do need some fat in your diet.
Nutrition is pretty easy. Eat your veggies, don’t eat your desert until you finish your beans. Drink your juice. Drink some water. Have some of Aunt Daisy’s cookies, but don’t make a pig of yourself. You remember this stuff, right?"
I don’t see much wrong with the diet you propose so long as you have enough variety among your fish and vegetables. You will be eating some fat and carbs, but as others have pointed out, you need them.
You might want to check out http://www.ediets.com, http://www.asimba.com, or http://www.nutrio.com for their recommended menus. The first is a service you pay for (like $10/month or something equally minimal) and the other two are not as good, but free. All of 'em promote “healthy eating” as opposed to diets. You can put in your age, height, and current weight, and they’ll spit out a nutritious menu based on real food (not weirdo diet stuff) and give you an idea of how much and what type of food you should be eating.
Another good web page is http://www.onefatman.com. He’s a very large man with a really good attitude and good ideas about how to lose weight.
Another suggestion - rather than concentrating on what NOT to eat, try concentrating on what TO eat. Get a copy of the ADA Food Pyramid (I know, I know, not everyone agrees with 'em, but it’s a good starting place) and try eating what they suggest. Things like 7 servings of veggies a day and 5 servings of fruit is going to make you full, and suddenly you’ll find that the junk food has been cut out simply because there’s no more room in your belly for it. Easier than denying yourself, I think.
If you want to lose weight, try building lean muscle mass. This requires weight training with heavy weights. Obviously if you’re in doubt on whether you can handle a heavy weight program, contact your physician. And, start out slow, and mix in cardio to lessen the impact on your body. Remember, even if you work out daily, it’s not going to do much for you if you’re using low weight. You’d be better off just taking a walk every night.
Heavy weight = more muscle = more calories burned = weight loss (if you maintain your normal diet). Don’t worry about gaining too much muscle, because you won’t, unless of course you’re a freak or you’re adding steroids into the mix.
Another way of losing weight is by eating a vegetarian diet and cutting back on simple starches like sugar and white bread. That seems like the diet you’re going for, and in my experience it’s very effective. Some vegetarians worry about protein and B-12 intake, but, really, protein is easy to find, and although B-12 is found in low quantities, you’re body doesn’t need much. Supplements help, as well as eating yeast. If you must eat fish, do it only once every week or two.
I know a lot of vegetarians that don’t lose weight, though. Their diets are typically high in dairy and bread and soda. Don’t eat a lot of sugar, starch, and saturated fats.
I don’t know what the deal is with everybody trying to eliminate starches.
Rice is good.
Anyway, my friend who wanted to lose weight followed that “don’t eat carbs” fad diet.
It worked, he dropped a few pounds quickly.
He thought that part was great, but he said it made him feel tired all the time.
Exercise would be difficult, and in any case where the choice must come down to “eat less or exercise more”, the latter is always the better choice.
Besides, my friend was unable to go on like this for long and went back to his old eating habits and gained weight again.
I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on T.V., so this is just my two cents:
Good idea. Most junk and fast food is high in fat and additives and low in fiber and nutrition.
I’d make this “eliminate as much refined sugar as possible from what I eat.” Fruit has sugar; carbohydrates break down to sugar. Honey and black strap molasses are okay (IMO) in reasonable amounts. Just try to cut out the white (and brown) powdery stuff – and foods that contain it.
Carbohydrates are good for you; the idea that they are not is just the latest fad. But people tend to eat way too much of them, and in processed forms and, yes, bread and pasta are “processed.” I would try to eat “whole food” carbohydrates – rice, potatoes, corn, beans, and stay away from the processed forms.
Why? Turkey is good for you, as is chicken. Lean beef is okay, as is lean pork, but no cut of beef or pork is truly “low fat.” If I was going to be as strict with myself as you seem to propose being, I’d go vegetarian and not eat any type of meat or fish. On the other hand, I’d eat fish and poultry but not beef or pork. But certainly there’s nothing wrong with just eating fishl, except you might get pretty bored with it. Eat lots of beans and rice as alternate sources of protein.
If you eat “whole foods,” (stuff that grew the way you eat it), you’ll find that most everything you eat is low fat anyway, with only a few exceptions (nuts and avocados, to name two). If you try to eliminate most processed foods and eat lots of veggies, limiting but not eliminating your use of fat (through judicious use of olive oil, for example), I think you’ll find you don’t have to watch the fat in your diet really closely, because you’ll naturally be eating low-fat.
Yes, yes, yes. You cannot eat too many veggies. Eat a variety of kinds (so you get a variety of nutrients and you don’t get bored) and try to eat colorful veggies – bright greens, oranges, reds. Try to eat them fresh (or fresh cooked). If you can’t, frozen are okay (but not great). Worst of all are canned. Frozen and canned do not taste nearly as good as fresh, which is another reason to eat fresh as much as you can.
A good idea, but not significant in terms of trying to change your eating habits. Nobody ever lost weight just from drinking tons of water.
Another good idea. Changing your eating habits (and I don’t mean dieting) will produce changes in your body and appearance, including, almost certainly, some weight-loss. But to maximize weight-loss and over-all health, exercise is key.
The only comment I would make is that taking an extreme, draconian approach to eating rarely works. People who undertake very rigid diets tend to fall off them very quickly. You crave something, you have a bad day, you get sick of eating the same thing all the time (in your case fish, I would imagine) and the next thing you know you’re crouched in the corner with a pint of Haagen Daz. Eat what you like, just try to eat low-fat, unprocessed food as much as possible. The formula I’ve always heard as a healthy one to shoot for is 40% carbs, 40% protein, (no more than) 20% fat.
– Jodi (who has lost more than 20 pounds but has more than 20 pounds left to lose, and therefore is no expert)
Your main problem is the fat. You will die without fat. Your body needs fat to make parts of itself–things like your brain and nervous tissue.
Your other problem is sustainability. You shouldn’t be looking for a diet that will help you lose weight and that you will then abandon once you reach your goal weight. You need something you can stick to for the rest of your life–after all, your “normal” diet/lifestyle made you fat. Going back to it will only repeat the process.
Now, personally, I couldn’t cope w/ just eating tunafish and veggies. But then I couldn’t be a vegan, either. Some people can. Ask yourself honestly if you could maintain any sort of new way of eating before embarking upon it.
The reason I answered this post in the first place:
I switched to a low-carb lifestyle 6 months ago. I lost 30+ pounds and, for the first time in my life, am not overweight. I started out at an extremely low level of carbs (less than 20g per day) and got most of my calories from protein and fat (including my own body fat). I can tell you that you DO NOT need carbohydrates to survive, and certainly not anywhere near the amt. the FDA recommends. But without carbs, you don’t have a handy supply of glucose/glycogen, and need to consume fats/protein at a fairly steady pace throughout the day to avoid feeling weak, tired, and generally f’d up. And let me tell you, the transition from high carbs to low carbs is a bitch. Talk about withdrawal symptoms.
I’m now in a lifelong maintenance mode. Here’s what I don’t eat:
added sugar
starches like breads, pastas, rice, potatoes
milk
some fruits
I eat cheese and occasionally yogurt (the lactose has too many carbs, and these have less), eat berries, grapes, and melons, just about any kind of meat/fish, eggs, oils/butter, nuts, and as many veggies as I can handle (mostly string beans, spinach, broccoli, zucchini/squash, and lettuce). I occasionally will have a Wasa cracker or some sort of dry beans (in soup, chili). I drink unbelievable amounts of water (minimum of 1 gal. per day, usu. between 1.5 and 2).
I’m thin, I feel great, I have energy. I’m not hungry all the time, and when I do get hungry, I eat something! I don’t get sleepy after meals from an insulin spike. And, surprisingly, I don’t miss the starches! Most people who ask me about the diet say they could never live w/o some specific starch (potato, rice, corn, pasta), but that’s them. We all have to eat in a way that we can maintain.
Above all, so a diet you can stick to, and that’s good for YOU. We all have different bodies and different preferences.
As the joke goes–I’m allergic to carbohydrates. They make my ass swell up.
OTOH, the low-carb diet made me (extremely) sick. And ketosis isn’t necessarily good for your liver. But I tend to low-blood sugar, anyway, so that may have been a part of the problem.
The only time I’ve lost weight on a diet wasn’t when I was “dieting” but just the opposite, in fact. I didn’t deny myself any particular food, but instead paid attention to how hungry I was (or wasn’t), tried to only eat when I was hungry and not eat just because I was bored or upset or whatever. I’m about to start working with a personal trainer; one of the “services” they provide (require) is a diet based on a set-point ideal. This is fine, I’m willing to try again, but unless this program also addresses my relationship with food (the whys of my eating, rather than just the whats) I have no hope of sticking to it.
And I think I’m rambling, so I’ll stop now. I guess my point is just that different things work for different people, which shouldn’t be too surprising. Maybe you should ask your doctor about seeing a nutritionist and see what advice they have about your diet plan.
Someone said: Getting too much fat is pretty easy, since it has 2000 calories per pound
Nope. It has over 4000 cal/lb but I hope nobody is eating fat by the pound.
Low carb, high protein diets have been shown to be quite unhealthful and a few people have died from kidney damage.
A good diet has low fat (and make that unsaturated), enough protein, and enough carbohydrates to burn for energy. Your brain needs the carbs and if you don’t feed it it will degrade even more.
So, a diet of fruits, vegetables, cereals, legumes, beans, etc with small amounts of fish or poultry etc. is good for you. Keep it balanced and keep the total caloric intake low and you will be fine.
No matter what you eat, if you intake more calories than you burn you will gain weight. And viceversa: NO matter what you eat if you intake fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. There is no way around it.
The best kind of fat to eat would be monunsaturated…it lowers your bad cholestoral and RAISEs your GOOD cholestoral (yes, there is such a thing).
Drinking lots of water actually IS good, as it flushes your system and cleanes your body. It’s also GREAT for your skin.
Spicy foods are supposed to raise your metabolism…
Eat lots of leafy green veggies…especially romaine and leaf lettuce, spinach, broccali, etc. Eat tomatoes (I adore them!) Bananas, grapes. etc
Because for some people (like me) a low fat diet doesn’t work.
Rice may be good for you. It makes me fat.
Eating low-carb is not for everyone. But it is definitely for me - I lost 50 lbs and and now wearing size 8 jeans. I have been eating this way for over a year and a half and have no intention of ever going back to a high-carb diet. My blood work is perfect and I feel better than I have in years.
Everything I would have said has already been said above, especially the part about exercise. You can eat a lot and still lose weight with the right exercise program.
Before trying to give more specific details, though, it would help if we knew more about you. I presume from your post that you are male. How old are you? What do you weigh? Have you had a body fat measurement done? How long have you had the Homer belly? Do you have any medical problems that restrict your diet or your ability to participate in sports? What sorts of exercise have you done in the past and how intensely? Most importantly, what are your diet and exercise habits like right now? There are a lot of things to consider before choosing a particular program.
Well, my stats are: 6ft 1in, 190lbs, 38in waist. That may sound fine, but it isn’t. I am proportional everywhere except the old spare tire. On a bad day, I literally look like I am nine months pregnant. OTOH, if I eat light for several days, “Homer” doesn’t look so bad at all. In fact there are days when my belly looks quite un-fat. The odd thing is, it seems I have what I call, an “elastic” belly. Yes I am overweight, but I have no idea exactly HOW overweight I am. All I know is the ole gut, when full, blows up like a baloon. It often causes me back pain. My WAG is that I could/should lose about 15-20 pounds. It’s all in the gut area and love handles.
I am not terribly active. I used to be an avid bicyclist, but have not done so in about 2+ years. I do walking occasionally. I have a home gym, but I can’t seem to stick with using it due to time restrictions.
My main problem though I admit is diet. I eat out a lot. I rarely have a homecooked meal. I don’t mean a microwave, or boxed meal, I mean a good old fashioned homecooked meal like grandma used to cook, kinda meal. VERY rare
I am quite a good cook, but I don’t cook very often at all anymore.
Its all my own fault I got Homer Simpson syndrome, I know.
I used to have a 32 waist years ago, and weighed 155. I was too skinny. Ironically, some people still say I am too skinny, except for the Homer gut. Arrgh I think I need a geniune body mass index test.
You cannot gain weight on a healthy, balanced diet if your caloric intake is below what you burn.
Low carb, hi protein diets will make you lose weight but they are not healthy and many people have become severely sick or even died of renal failure. But, yes, they will make you lose weight as many other unhealthy things.
You cannot starve yourself into being thin without serious consequences. If your diet has too few calories your metabolism will go into starvation response which simply means that it will slow down and not go into mach speed as you suggest.
If you know any diabetics they should have a wealth of information for you as to what constitutes a healthy diet. My mother lost 30 pounds after she was diagnosed with diabetes as she went on a strict diet which cut out or severely restricted many of the foods she had been eating.
If you send me your stats like; age, height, weight, sex, I can send you some interesting information on diet plans that work. I can be reached at: feynn@powersurfr.com
I have been eating this way for over a year and a half and have no intention of ever going back to a high-carb diet. My blood work is perfect and I feel better than I have in years.