Foods to avoid ?

Ashlove5

So i know some people go crazy sometimes and avoid pretty much everything like pasta , bread , cheese ect ect. While some people say they eat what ever they want under their calorie limit. Which way is better to follow?

nutmegoreo

The best way for you, is the way you will stick with. Personally, I find that if I deny myself things, I tend to white knuckle for a period of time and then give in and eat all the things. I also find that there are certain foods I will overeat if they are in the house, so I enjoy those things once every week or two, but by buying a single serving. This is what works for me. Others find that they absolutely cannot have a taste of certain foods, and for them, giving them up altogether is more effective.

neugebauer52

Find your own preference and over time you will notice how your macros adjust to your life style. Avoiding certain food groups can lead to cheat days and can trigger overeating. Just prepare a decent meal plan within the goals set by MFP and take it day by day, meal by meal.

Ashlove5

neugebauer52 wrote: »

Find your own preference and over time you will notice how your macros adjust to your life style. Avoiding certain food groups can lead to cheat days and can trigger overeating. Just prepare a decent meal plan within the goals set by MFP and take it day by day, meal by meal.

That’s true thank youu !!!

apullum

Weight loss happens when you eat fewer calories than your body burns. This is true regardless of what foods or macros those calories come from.

Some people choose to restrict their diets in various ways due to personal preference and/or medical needs. You can do this if you want or if it's needed for you, but it's not necessary for weight loss.

thisPGHlife

I truly believe it ends up being a little bit of both. You're trying to eat in a way that will be sustainable for the rest of your life. For most find it will be just about eating less of foods you like to fit them in. For me, there are a handful of food that I can not limit myself on. I end up over eating then no matter how strong my "willpower" is. Those food I generally try to avoid unless I intentionally am going to go over my calories or if I have created a huge deficit.

Balance and sanity.

lalalacroix

80% of more of my diet is what most would consider healthy foods. The other 20% is whatever I want including wine, chocolate, etc. Only a calorie deficit is required for weight loss. I lose weight exactly as expected.

MikePTY

There is no need to avoid certain foods for weight loss. There is no such thing as a food that is better tor worse than another food. Calories are calories.

If you are the type of person who absolutely cannot do moderation, then sometimes it can be beneficial to cut out foods entirely from your diet so you are not tempted to overeat. But I think for most people, you build better long term habits when you learn how to eat what you enjoy in a controlled matter.

But things like pasta (or in my case rice), bread, cheese, etc are major staple foods and I personally couldn't imagine completely restricting them. I eat multiple servings of those foods every single day and have still lost 25 pounds.

Keep_on_cardio

Factors to think about, medical history (high blood pressure, diabetes, GI, thyroid, hormonal and the list goes on).

each individual have particular meal plans that work for them, for good reason. I’d find something that best works for you. If there’s no health concerns, it’s mainly portion control and properly tracking calories.

neugebauer52

Keep_on_cardio wrote: »

Factors to think about, medical history (high blood pressure, diabetes, GI, thyroid, hormonal and the list goes on).

each individual have particular meal plans that work for them, for good reason. I’d find something that best works for you. If there’s no health concerns, it’s mainly portion control and properly tracking calories.

Yes, that's it in a nutshell. I am sure there is a "special" meal plan for every single overweight person out there. The trick is to find the combination I am happy with and which I can maintain very long term.

missysippy930

Whatever is sustainable long term for each of us is. Long term sustainability is important to me.
For me, all foods, that I like, in moderation.
Paying attention to portion control.

Fivepts

Sometimes what is going on inside our bodies has more to do with our weight than outside. Many people who carry extra weight around the middle, like I do, have a fatty liver that is not processing food correctly. That, in turn, causes more weight gain. For those of us in this situation, certain types of food need to be eliminated, such as processed sugar, etc. If your liver enzymes test high, this could be a possibility. So, yes, for "healthy" people abstaining or drastically cutting back from certain foods, ie moderation, is sufficient; but not for others.

Dilvish

The problem is most Doctors know surprisingly very little about proper nutrition. Of the years they spend in training and academics, they spend roughly 6 weeks on nutrition. It is not considered "vital". Veterinarians too can opt out of nutrition courses as they are "electives" that most completely ignore. So the medical industry (and subsequently the weight loss industry) isn't looking at nutrition per se.

Having said that, it's clear that today's food industry caters to taste rather than to health and ignores health in favor of profit.

Packaged and processed foods contain a lot of unhealthy ingredients regardless of their calorie content.

The best advice is simply stay away from packaged/processed/fast foods. Learn to create your own meals from raw ingredients and choose Organic where possible to reduce unwanted chemicals.

Refined sugars (know the many names they go by) and excess sodium should also be avoided. Over time these two staple ingredients can wreak havoc on your system and more science based evidence suggests a major reduction in both for overall health and weight loss.

janejellyroll

Dilvish wrote: »

The problem is most Doctors know surprisingly very little about proper nutrition. Of the years they spend in training and academics, they spend roughly 6 weeks on nutrition. It is not considered "vital". Veterinarians too can opt out of nutrition courses as they are "electives" that most completely ignore. So the medical industry (and subsequently the weight loss industry) isn't looking at nutrition per se.

Having said that, it's clear that today's food industry caters to taste rather than to health and ignores health in favor of profit.

Packaged and processed foods contain a lot of unhealthy ingredients regardless of their calorie content.

The best advice is simply stay away from packaged/processed/fast foods. Learn to create your own meals from raw ingredients and choose Organic where possible to reduce unwanted chemicals.

Refined sugars (know the many names they go by) and excess sodium should also be avoided. Over time these two staple ingredients can wreak havoc on your system and more science based evidence suggests a major reduction in both for overall health and weight loss.

There is no inherent virtue in eating raw foods. In fact, processing methods like freezing and canning are ways that make it easier for us to meet our nutritional needs by making it more affordable and convenient to eat fruits and vegetables year-round.

The trick is to learn to evaluate foods by what is in them and what they're providing nutritionally and avoiding arbitrary restrictions like "nothing processed" or "only organic."

amusedmonkey

The best thing to follow is eating anything you want within calories provided that "anything you want" doesn't cause more suffering than avoiding it. The best diet is the most sustainable, and that can be different for people.

I eat most things within calories, which includes chips, ice cream, pizza, pasta, chocolate, bread daily... almost everything. There are things, however, that I feel the need to severely limit and only eat on occasion like nuts, condensed milk, and moussaka. Eating a reasonable portion of these leaves me very mentally unsatisfied and I wish I hadn't eaten them when I do. That's why I don't eat them, but very occasionally I would take a maintenance or slight surplus day to enjoy them in portions that satisfy me.

zeejane03

Dilvish wrote: »

The problem is most Doctors know surprisingly very little about proper nutrition. Of the years they spend in training and academics, they spend roughly 6 weeks on nutrition. It is not considered "vital". Veterinarians too can opt out of nutrition courses as they are "electives" that most completely ignore. So the medical industry (and subsequently the weight loss industry) isn't looking at nutrition per se.

Having said that, it's clear that today's food industry caters to taste rather than to health and ignores health in favor of profit.

Packaged and processed foods contain a lot of unhealthy ingredients regardless of their calorie content.

The best advice is simply stay away from packaged/processed/fast foods. Learn to create your own meals from raw ingredients and choose Organic where possible to reduce unwanted chemicals.

Refined sugars (know the many names they go by) and excess sodium should also be avoided. Over time these two staple ingredients can wreak havoc on your system and more science based evidence suggests a major reduction in both for overall health and weight loss.

I'm eating all sorts of packaged and 'processed' foods today, from the whole grains and seeds bread I ate for breakfast, the large salad I'll eat for lunch which has packaged veggies, canned black beans and bottled dressing, to my afternoon green smoothie which will include a package of Greek yogurt, frozen bagged blueberries and bagged kale, to my evening meal of bagged blended veggies, which I'll eat with packaged brown rice and packaged shrimp. After this day full of packaged and processed foods I'll still be in excellent health and will still fit into my size 4 jeans

apullum

Dilvish wrote: »

The problem is most Doctors know surprisingly very little about proper nutrition. Of the years they spend in training and academics, they spend roughly 6 weeks on nutrition. It is not considered "vital". Veterinarians too can opt out of nutrition courses as they are "electives" that most completely ignore. So the medical industry (and subsequently the weight loss industry) isn't looking at nutrition per se.

Having said that, it's clear that today's food industry caters to taste rather than to health and ignores health in favor of profit.

Packaged and processed foods contain a lot of unhealthy ingredients regardless of their calorie content.

The best advice is simply stay away from packaged/processed/fast foods. Learn to create your own meals from raw ingredients and choose Organic where possible to reduce unwanted chemicals.

Refined sugars (know the many names they go by) and excess sodium should also be avoided. Over time these two staple ingredients can wreak havoc on your system and more science based evidence suggests a major reduction in both for overall health and weight loss.

I eat Greek yogurt every day. It comes in a package, and yogurt is quite "processed," as it takes considerable effort to turn milk into yogurt.

Some of my fresh vegetables come in bags. I buy fresh green beans that are already bagged. I buy broccoli florets in a bag because we won't eat the broccoli stems. Being in a package doesn't change their nutritional value. The produce that you see sitting on the shelf, in fact, arrived at your grocery store in...a package. The boxes that your bananas or lettuce came in are in a storeroom in the back of your grocery store.

I'm not going to cook fresh peas every time I want peas, since there is absolutely no reason not to eat frozen ones.

There is nothing inherently better for you about "raw" or "organic" foods. In fact, some foods have nutrients that are more readily available to the body when they are cooked. Lycopene in tomatoes is an excellent example.

There is nothing whatsoever wrong with eating canned, frozen, or otherwise "processed" foods. These preservation methods are important for people who simply prefer those options, or do not have the time, money, or ability to buy fresh.

Weight loss happens when you eat fewer calories than your body burns. It doesn't matter what kind of packaging the food was in. It doesn't matter whether the food came from a farmer's market or Taco Bell. It doesn't matter how many of the calories came from one type of sugar or another. Literally all that matters for weight loss is taking in fewer calories than your body burns.

estherdragonbat

If it weren't for dry cereal, Fiber One bars, veggie dogs, tofu, and Gardein (all processed/packaged), I'd struggle with protein and iron and find it harder to hit my fiber. Not saying I couldn't do it—after all, many do—but it wouldn't be nearly as easy. I've dropped over 108lbs this way and my health markers have never been better.

Just had Greek yogurt with a granola bar and fresh blueberries for breakfast.
Having a homemade salad with packaged couscous and tofu. The seasonings? All purchased dried. The hummus? Homemade, but I used canned chickpeas and purchased tehina. And the lemon juice was ReaLemon, not fresh-squeezed, so I don't know if that counts as processed or unprocessed. Probably the latter; I made it with a food processor, after all.
Supper will be a seitan-potato torta. I made the seitan myself, but I used processed vital wheat gluten to do it.

Ingredients aren't really healthy or unhealthy. Those terms are meaningless unless one considers context and dosage. Water is hydrating. But if it gets on your crackers, it can turn them moldy. Salt is a natural preservative, but someone struggling with their blood pressure may find they need to reduce it. Too much sugar rots your teeth, but your brain runs on glucose and your body will convert other sugars to glucose for fuel.

BattyKnitter

There are some things that I don't bring into the house but they aren't "forbidden" they are just foods that I can't control myself around if they are in my pantry. These are the foods I have when I go out somewhere, like a friends house or family party and it's available there, since I am more able to control myself in public LOL.

kbmnurse1

I eat whatever I want but, I eat the correct portion. If I deny myself I set myself up for failure.