Looking for advice on the best way to start eating healthier
ep4444
Posts: 8 Member
Hello everyone. I've decided to rethink the way I eat and am just wondering where to start. There are a lot of "diets" to try and follow. Some seem to contradict others and all of them seem like a very difficult commitment for your average person. So where would you start? Is there a way to ease into this without jumping into a whole30 or Paleo diet? I'm not looking to just dip my toe in, I'm looking to commit to better eating and more fitness. I'm just at a loss for where to start. Would cutting bread be a good start? Or is eating whole grain bread beneficial? I read that brown rice is good for you - but also that you should try not to eat carbs. It's very confusing... Any advice would be very appreciated.
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I am a voracious reader. I read everything I could find on the interwebs. You could start with the launchpad here.2
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Start with whatever you can commit to/whatever works best for you. Some do good gradually getting stricter, some do better cold turkey.
I personally jumped in with a carb limit of 20 per day and a (very repetitive) meal plan that followed that. I planned for plenty of food/snacks and did not worry about calories for the first couple weeks while I was adjusting to a dramatic drop in carbs.2 -
Maybe just a simple plan like
1) No bread, pasta, potatoes, sugary foods.
2) No fake fats. Eat only real fats like butter, olive oil, coconut oil, etc...
3) Eat only at meal times. I promise you won't waste away without a snack between meals.
That's about as simple as it gets and should get you started making progress quite quickly.
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Thank you all for your responses.
I plan to try to cut out as many carbs as possible. I think I will be able to cut out sugary foods as I'm not really a fan of sweets. Bread may be difficult, but I think I can do that. As far as OK items... what about beans? Black, Red, etc.? Are whole grains OK? Or are they lumped in as carbs and should be avoided?
Thank you again. I do appreciate the advice.0 -
Thank you all for your responses.
I plan to try to cut out as many carbs as possible. I think I will be able to cut out sugary foods as I'm not really a fan of sweets. Bread may be difficult, but I think I can do that. As far as OK items... what about beans? Black, Red, etc.? Are whole grains OK? Or are they lumped in as carbs and should be avoided?
Thank you again. I do appreciate the advice.
It depends on what way of eating works for you. There's a huge range here from 0-150 grams of carbs/day, so the "allowed" foods will vary based on the carb limit you set. Personally, at this point, I don't do grains, beans or fruit. My carbs come from non-starchy vegetables, full fat dairy and nuts. But my goal is under 20, so your goals may be different.1 -
Thank you all for your responses.
I plan to try to cut out as many carbs as possible. I think I will be able to cut out sugary foods as I'm not really a fan of sweets. Bread may be difficult, but I think I can do that. As far as OK items... what about beans? Black, Red, etc.? Are whole grains OK? Or are they lumped in as carbs and should be avoided?
Thank you again. I do appreciate the advice.
It depends on what way of eating works for you. There's a huge range here from 0-150 grams of carbs/day, so the "allowed" foods will vary based on the carb limit you set. Personally, at this point, I don't do grains, beans or fruit. My carbs come from non-starchy vegetables, full fat dairy and nuts. But my goal is under 20, so your goals may be different.
OK, that clears it up a bit. I'm going to have to try to do a lot more label reading and meal planning. Is there anything available to download that gives strict weekly meal plans? I'm not lazy (well maybe a little), just really busy. It seems like all of this takes an incredible amount of time and planning. If I could just look and see "today you eat this..." it would be very helpful!
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Here is a link to the great nutrition debate from about 15 years ago. It had several "experts" ranging from Dr. Atkins to Dean Ornish, so from zero/no carb to hard core vegan. Assuming you don't want to watch the whole 3 hours, I will tell you there were 2 things they all agreed on:
1) No one should eat processed sugar (i.e. white sugar) and processed carbohydrates (i.e. all the various crackers, breads and pastas)
2) Everyone should move more - even if it is not a regimented exercise plan but just getting up and moving more often.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feCpP40ZHqI
I actually did get all the way through this, although not at one time. My attention span is not long enough for that. I broke it into 4 or 5 segments. Given the fact these people vehemently disagreed on so many things, the fact that these 2 items were agreed upon by all likely means they would be very hard to refute.
To be even cleaner, you could almost get 100% consensus on only eating from the outside aisle of the grocery store meaning none of the stuff in the center aisles that are in boxes/bags with two exceptions: frozen veggies are frequently fresher than those in the produce aisle because they are frozen immediately and not 2-3 days old like those just arriving in the produce section, and oils like olive, coconut, avocado, etc. which are healthy for you to have in your diet.
If you start with the first two items above to start, then do as @SuperCarLori suggested and start reading what you can and gradually try some variation to see how your body responds, you will work your way into the best fit for you. There is (IMHO) no one size fits all. Keep self-experimentation going and use forums like this for ideas on how to experiment.3 -
My opinion on grains is pretty hard core, do not eat them if you care about health. I know, that's very rigid and hard to take. I know plenty of people say they tolerate them in very small amounts. I tend to think of that the same as how arsenic can also be tolerated in small amounts. lol
Okay okay, I'll try to lighten up.
Honestly, I suggest trying at least 21 days grain free then introduce a small amount and see if you notice any unfavorable response. You may be surprised. Or maybe I will be the one surprised and you come back and make me retract my opinion.
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Thank you all for your responses.
I plan to try to cut out as many carbs as possible. I think I will be able to cut out sugary foods as I'm not really a fan of sweets. Bread may be difficult, but I think I can do that. As far as OK items... what about beans? Black, Red, etc.? Are whole grains OK? Or are they lumped in as carbs and should be avoided?
Thank you again. I do appreciate the advice.
It depends on what way of eating works for you. There's a huge range here from 0-150 grams of carbs/day, so the "allowed" foods will vary based on the carb limit you set. Personally, at this point, I don't do grains, beans or fruit. My carbs come from non-starchy vegetables, full fat dairy and nuts. But my goal is under 20, so your goals may be different.
OK, that clears it up a bit. I'm going to have to try to do a lot more label reading and meal planning. Is there anything available to download that gives strict weekly meal plans? I'm not lazy (well maybe a little), just really busy. It seems like all of this takes an incredible amount of time and planning. If I could just look and see "today you eat this..." it would be very helpful!
There are a lot on Pinterest. I personally don't like them though because it's a different B/L/D every day and that level of grocery shopping/meal prep is tedious. Also, I'm OK with the same foods every day, so I basically ate this:
B - egg/cheese/broccoli/sausage muffin things (I made a huge batch on Sunday)
L - Hamburger patty w/ cubed avocado
D - Roasted meat, roasted vegetable, salad with olive oil/vinegar dressing
PB w/ celery as needed as a snack
string cheese as needed as a snack
By the 2nd week I didn't need snacks any more and was having salami and cheese for lunch quite a bit
By the 4th week, I was doing 16/8 IF and just having coffee with a bit of coconut oil for breakfast.
We did a lot of amazing dinner salads for a while (cobb/taco/chef) and are now playing with soups (broccoli cheddar/egg drop).
It's actually easy and becomes second nature. You sort of stop stressing about food and having it available. Nothing for lunch? I guess I'm just fasting today.
Honestly my salt is more important than my food.
Read the launchpad and make sure you know about electrolytes before going really low carb. 1 -
SuperCarLori wrote: »I am a voracious reader. I read everything I could find on the interwebs. You could start with the launchpad here.
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Thank you all. Some great advice!
cstehansen - That's great information. I'll plan to watch that video (in pieces also). I've been reading about clean eating and agree with you 100%.
Sunny_Bunny_ - I think a lot of people feel the same way about grains. I definitely want to cut down... A month without is a good goal. I think I can try that.
Cadori - I don't mind eating the same thing all the time either. Good info! Thanks again.
kpk54 - Yes, I saw the tip from SuperCarLori (thanks SCL). First day in this "group" and was reaching out. I will read through the launchpad for ideas as well.
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Cadori - I don't mind eating the same thing all the time either.
If you don't mind eating the same thing all the time, I have one word for you: eggs. I know I am not the only one in this group who eats a ton of these. My average is about 18-20 per week. I bought a couple of those cheap microwave egg poacher things (one for home and one for work) and vary how long I cook them to get everything from the poached for which they are intended to basically the same as soft boiled or hard boiled or even scramble them. I will season them prior to cooking with cayenne powder, garlic powder, pepper. I will frequently only cook them half way then add a bit a cheese and finish cooking them so the cheese melts into the egg.
This doesn't count the pickled eggs, the sausage (or bacon) and cheese omelets I make at least once a week. Hard boiled eggs on salads. I could go on and on about what I think may be the single most versatile low carb food there is.3 -
Hi,
Im not strictly keto, which usually means between 20-50 grams of carbs per day, but the first way I cut down on carbs was to eliminate all "white foods" which was rice, flour, sugar, and potatos. Since I have Type 2 Diabetes, I saw an immediate decrease in my blood sugar levels. Believe it or not, once you eliminate those "white foods" you realize how much of it you actually eat lol At least that was my experience. I used this pyramid and veggie/fruit list to see what was acceptable. Now like someone mentioned earlier, you can go up to 150 carbs and be low carb. So some people will occasionally eat higher carb veggies or a little more fruit. Hope this information helps
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My suggestion to someone who wants to jump into something simple without making any difficult commitment is three-fold:...There are a lot of "diets" to try and follow. Some seem to contradict others and all of them seem like a very difficult commitment for your average person. So where would you start?- Eliminate refined/processed carbohydrate;
- Eat whole foods (not packaged) wherever possible/practical;
- Eliminate refined oils - use natural oils such as butter, lard, peanut/coconut/olive/etc. oil. (Basically - if you melt it and get oil, or squeeze it and oil comes out - use that.)
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Hello everyone. I've decided to rethink the way I eat and am just wondering where to start. There are a lot of "diets" to try and follow. Some seem to contradict others and all of them seem like a very difficult commitment for your average person. So where would you start? Is there a way to ease into this without jumping into a whole30 or Paleo diet? I'm not looking to just dip my toe in, I'm looking to commit to better eating and more fitness. I'm just at a loss for where to start. Would cutting bread be a good start? Or is eating whole grain bread beneficial? I read that brown rice is good for you - but also that you should try not to eat carbs. It's very confusing... Any advice would be very appreciated.
I think the number one important thing is to cut out sugar, especially sugar eaten alone with nothing else. Just do that and I bet you get some results.
As far as exercise goes, do resistance and cardio. Don't go too heavy to fast with resistance and don't do too much quantity either or you can get injured. Don't do too much cardio on your feet if your real heavy, swimming and biking are more forgiving.0 -
cstehansen - I love eggs, that's good to know. I'm going to try to use them (HB) in salads to help me feel more full.
genmon00 - That's a very helpful food pyramid. Thank you.
albertabeefy - That's pretty much where I'm going to start. I did a bit of an audit on the go to foods in our house. There is a lot we can change.
blambo61 - Yes, the cutting out sugar seems to be one of the most important steps to take. As I do more label reading I've been amazed how many foods have extra sugar added. For exercise, I try to workout at least a few days a week. I usually do some weight lifting and cardio. I can never decide which to do first though! Most recently I've been warming up a little, followed by weight lifting, then 20 minutes of cardio (limited time). When i do cardio first I seem to lose my motivation to lift...
Thanks again everyone.1 -
I like this schedule:
Sun - rest
Mon - run, lift lower body (deadlift, squats or leg presses, calf raises)
Tues - upper body lifting, cycle
Wed - Rest
Thurs - Same as mon
Fri - same as Tues
Sat - Run or hike hills1
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