Calories/Carbs/Fat/Sugar

24

Replies

  • Ha. I like naughty and nice lists.... unfortunately when it comes to food I have no such list to share. I eat anything and everything that I WANT!
  • MsLilly200
    MsLilly200 Posts: 192 Member
    To me it's really simple. Vegetables are good carbs and sugar is bad carbs. The rest fall into that middle zone that differs between inividuals. Some people are fine with grains and starchy foods, others are sensitive or plain allergic.

    Find out what's good or bad for You, does it make you bloat, does it make you binge, does it fill you up without leaving you hungry an hour or two later? Experiment, everyone is diffrent. What works for one person might be the opposite for what works for you.
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
    which are good carbs/calories and which are bad carbs/calories? Aside from the obvious- veggies are good, chocolate pudding is bad.

    I have been feeling GREAT with my reduced caloric intake... now i'm just wondering... how can i improve on this?

    Generally, whole minimally-processed food cooked at home is ideal, but it's not always practical to prep entirely from scratch all the time. I do find that I feel 10x better when I get enough fruit and veggies every day and when I keep my sodium intake at a reasonable level.

    I'm not a fan of demonizing food, except for foods with trans fats. Finding balance is the key. Oddly enough, by no longer making the junk "bad" and "off limits," I actually want it less.
  • Cranktastic
    Cranktastic Posts: 1,517 Member
    I believe that HFCS and MSG are both fine provided that the individual is aware of dosage and context. I also believe that artificial trans fats should be avoided.

    I also believe that anyone clinging to Lustig's ideas should listen to Aragon's rebuttals and take them into consideration before neglecting to apply dose and context.

    This could make an interesting blog post. It won't change the way I eat, because I'm happy and healthy. But it may change the advice I give to others. Thanks for the tip.

    He likes giving tips.

    How YOU doin!?

    Better now that you gave your tip.
    Do you have any more?
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Here's my take on things.
    (in a rather Christmas theme now we're in december)...

    On the "nice" list:
    - Fatty Meat (well... preferably fatty, but lean is good too)
    - Grass fed beef
    - Oily Fish
    - Leaf Green Veg
    - Nuts
    - Seeds
    - Eggs
    - Avocados
    - Olive, Coconut, and Avocado Oil (virgin, cold pressed) and Butter / Ghee
    - Occasional bit of red wine
    - Occasional high-coca chocolate (we're talking 85%+ here)

    On the "naughty" list:
    - Factory farmed produce and factory raised meat (battery chickens, CAFO raised beef, etc) - Not that we have CAFOs in the UK!
    - Starchy vegetables
    - Fruit
    - All dairy, except butter
    - All grains
    - Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup
    - Any hydrogenated oil

    This fits my nutritional goals and general well being. Many would disagree, especially with my stance on grains and dairy.

    I agree wholeheartedly with Firefox7275 in that omega 3:6 balance is very important, because the omega-3s are anti-inflammatory and the omega-6s are inflammatory. The Western world eats fat too much Omega-6 and this can contribute to the whole spectrum of inflammatory diseases - diabetes, heart disease, etc.

    Just my two cents. I'm sure someone'll find reason to flame this post as they usually do.

    Well you might as well add me to your ignore list too because unless you have a medical condition that would cause you to avoid your so called naughty list there is absolutely no reason to avoid grains and dairy... Maybe you have a personal problem with them but telling someone they should be avoided is in itself alittle reckless. OP.... Like Sidesteal stated concentrate on your daily caloric intake and fitting your foods into your macro's. Unless you have a medical reason to avoid them by all means do but if not you can very well work them into your day... I am a type 2 diabetic (now with normal A1c's of 5.3) and never once did my nutritionist tell me I need to do low carb. or give me a check list of things to avoid. Even at 560 lbs. When we set up my meal plan my carbs were set at 240 grams of carbs a day.. Now granted before that I was eating over 8000 calories a day back then and would not want to speculate the amount of carbs I was consuming, so the change in calorie consumption alone promoted weight loss. (in the beginning we set my target calories 2400 a day). I still enjoy Dairy (chocolate milk, ice cream, chocolate pudding, etc), eat pizza every weekend, drink 2 or 3 Diet pepsi a day, and pretty much do not exclude anything from my daily meals as long as it fits my perimeters for my caloric intake and macro's. And have managed to lose a few pounds over the last 41 months... Best of Luck to you on your Journey......
  • I didn't say your diet was extreme, I said extreme examples of what foods are good and bad, which you did in spades. Obviously if someones physiology has resistance to some foods, that those foods should be avoided, but that wasn't the question. Your bringing your personal prejudices into the mix based on poor logic. For you fruit is avoided and all dairy, well with the exception of butter.....I guess you like butter, right, hurray for that. Again it wasn't a question based on biases it was a question about what might be consider good or bad generally with chocolate pudding as a bad example, and my response makes a lot more sense or should I say common sense.........at least you like butter.

    We're splitting hairs here - Whether you call my view or my diet extreme is not important. My view is my diet, so calling either of them extreme is an insult.

    My view is in no way extreme at all. The OP asked a very simple question, and I gave a very simple answer, without personal prejudice, rather than hiding behind some ridiculous and smarmy phrase that there are "no bad foods, just bad diets". Firstly, who does that help? Secondly, of course there are bad foods!

    Are you honestly telling me that you believe that man-made hydrogenated fats have any place in the human diet? Are you honestly telling me that the likes of MSG and HFCS have a place in healthy diets? If so, then I believe that it is your idea of nutrition that is extreme - extremely reckless that you should be advising anyone about anything to do with nutrition.

    It's not common sense to tell people "no bad foods, just bad diets" . It's common sense to answer the question with a list of good or bad foods, which is precisely what was asked.

    You said yourself that "what is good or bad is not standardized", so why don't you let people have their say without judging the way other people eat?

    Congratulations. You're my first ignore on here. I'm sure there's many more to come because since joining this place I have found nothing but vitriol for simply offering my, clearly *highly* unpopular, side of the argument.

    I actually think that it is common sense to say no bad foods just bad diets. So, please elaborate on these foods that are "bad" (what you seem to feel are obvious) as I don't know of any.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,144 Member
    I didn't say your diet was extreme, I said extreme examples of what foods are good and bad, which you did in spades. Obviously if someones physiology has resistance to some foods, that those foods should be avoided, but that wasn't the question. Your bringing your personal prejudices into the mix based on poor logic. For you fruit is avoided and all dairy, well with the exception of butter.....I guess you like butter, right, hurray for that. Again it wasn't a question based on biases it was a question about what might be consider good or bad generally with chocolate pudding as a bad example, and my response makes a lot more sense or should I say common sense.........at least you like butter.

    We're splitting hairs here - Whether you call my view or my diet extreme is not important. My view is my diet, so calling either of them extreme is an insult.

    My view is in no way extreme at all. The OP asked a very simple question, and I gave a very simple answer, without personal prejudice, rather than hiding behind some ridiculous and smarmy phrase that there are "no bad foods, just bad diets". Firstly, who does that help? Secondly, of course there are bad foods!

    Are you honestly telling me that you believe that man-made hydrogenated fats have any place in the human diet? Are you honestly telling me that the likes of MSG and HFCS have a place in healthy diets? If so, then I believe that it is your idea of nutrition that is extreme - extremely reckless that you should be advising anyone about anything to do with nutrition.

    It's not common sense to tell people "no bad foods, just bad diets" . It's common sense to answer the question with a list of good or bad foods, which is precisely what was asked.

    You said yourself that "what is good or bad is not standardized", so why don't you let people have their say without judging the way other people eat?

    Congratulations. You're my first ignore on here. I'm sure there's many more to come because since joining this place I have found nothing but vitriol for simply offering my, clearly *highly* unpopular, side of the argument.
    LOL at me telling you that man-made hydrogenated fats have a place in the human diet......are you seriously that upset that you need to deflect what I said ? It's partially hydrogenated not hydrogenated for future reference, hydrogenated oil doesn't contain trans fats. Obviously you have an agenda that is very fragile, so I won't bring up starchy vegetables k.
  • I'm pretty sure no one got fat from eating too many carrot--just sayin. I'm not saying it's impossible but you could just as easily gain weight eating your butter, avocados, seeds,a nd fatty meat. I don't see how you can call fruit "naughty." With every food it's a matter of quantity consumed--I think it's a bit shortsighted to use the terms "naughty" and "nice" in this context.
  • craigineson
    craigineson Posts: 88 Member
    I'm pretty sure no one got fat from eating too many carrot--just sayin. I'm not saying it's impossible but you could just as easily gain weight eating your butter, avocados, seeds,a nd fatty meat. I don't see how you can call fruit "naughty." With every food it's a matter of quantity consumed--I think it's a bit shortsighted to use the terms "naughty" and "nice" in this context.

    I don't present my opinion as scientific fact. I present my opinion as formed by my experience.

    Yes, you can gain weight eating butter, avocados, seeds, and fatty meat with surplus calories. Fact is, I'm not advocating ad libitum eating and that's not what this thread is about (actually, I'm a fan of fasting and calorie cycling). This thread asked what foods are good calories and bad calories. It has already been established that this isn't standardised and thus any post will be opinion. Yours is opinion, mine is opinion, everyone's here is opinion.

    I call fruit naughty because the nutrients gained from fruit generally doesn't warrant the sugar for me. I could get more specific - I occasionally eat berries (high in anti-oxidants, low in sugar), but not oranges for instance (I can get vitamin C from other sources). But as a general rule, I don't eat fruit.

    I don't think it's short-sighted considering I've been eating like this for nearly four years. It's neither unsustainable or unhealthy. I feel great, I've lost fat, and I've gained muscle. For me, those are my nice and naughty foods. That is my opinion. I don't understand what the problem is with that.
  • I'm pretty sure no one got fat from eating too many carrot--just sayin. I'm not saying it's impossible but you could just as easily gain weight eating your butter, avocados, seeds,a nd fatty meat. I don't see how you can call fruit "naughty." With every food it's a matter of quantity consumed--I think it's a bit shortsighted to use the terms "naughty" and "nice" in this context.

    I don't present my opinion as scientific fact. I present my opinion as formed by my experience.

    Yes, you can gain weight eating butter, avocados, seeds, and fatty meat with surplus calories. Fact is, I'm not advocating ad libitum eating and that's not what this thread is about (actually, I'm a fan of fasting and calorie cycling). This thread asked what foods are good calories and bad calories. It has already been established that this isn't standardised and thus any post will be opinion. Yours is opinion, mine is opinion, everyone's here is opinion.

    I call fruit naughty because the nutrients gained from fruit generally doesn't warrant the sugar for me. I could get more specific - I occasionally eat berries (high in anti-oxidants, low in sugar), but not oranges for instance (I can get vitamin C from other sources). But as a general rule, I don't eat fruit.

    I don't think it's short-sighted considering I've been eating like this for nearly four years. It's neither unsustainable or unhealthy. I feel great, I've lost fat, and I've gained muscle. For me, those are my nice and naughty foods. That is my opinion. I don't understand what the problem is with that.

    Well, I am glad that it suits you well to be overly restrictive. No harm, no foul. I don't think it works for the vast majority of people though. You are a special snowflake.
  • iselena08
    iselena08 Posts: 3 Member
    Why do you avoid fruits?
  • Crayvn
    Crayvn Posts: 390 Member
    It's actually very simple:

    The "good" calories and carbs are the ones that keep you within your calorie and macro goals.

    The "bad" calories and carbs are the ones in excess of that.

    ^ Agreed.

    For the OP: The only things I would add to the above, to use a general set of criteria would be as follows:

    1) Does it cause me discomfort or do I have a medical reason to avoid this food? Does it cause me to binge eat?

    If so, avoid it.

    Beyond that, I would focus instead on fitting foods into your daily targets for calories and macronutrients. I would urge you to also use some common sense regarding nutrient densities. What this means is, eat lots of vegetables, fruits, fresh and whole food sources on a regular basis. If you want some foods that you deem naughty but they fall outside of the above condition (lets say you want a bowl of ice cream), and you can fit it into your intake, and you're not eating so much damn ice cream that you're avoiding fruits and vegetables and nutrient dense foods, then have some ice cream and don't feel guilty about it.

    A donut will not make you fat. Neither will cheese (lol cwutididthere?). Hypercaloric diets make you fat, period. It's just that a donut may cost you 400 calories and give you "not much" in the grand scheme of nutrients. A plate of fish and some fruit and a big bowl of green vegetables will give you a lot in terms of nutrients. But this does not make fish good and a donut bad, and this does not mean that you can't have donuts as a part of what is otherwise a nutrient dense and intelligent diet.

    Apply this common sense, hit your macros, get off the couch, and I promise you, you will win at this game and you will probably have great long term adherence.

    This doesn't have to be miserable.


    ^^Agreed.....
  • craigineson
    craigineson Posts: 88 Member
    Well, I am glad that it suits you well to be overly restrictive. No harm, no foul. I don't think it works for the vast majority of people though. You are a special snowflake.

    Never once in the past four years have I felt restricted. In fact, I've never felt more free.
    After getting off the insulin roller-coaster, food and hunger no longer control me; I control them.

    I also don't believe the diet will work for everyone (such a diet does not exist) - In fact, the diet that I think would be most accessible to many would be a diet I read about that's far less restrictive (in a book called "Life Without Bread" by Wulfgang Lutz, he emphasises fat and protein, but decreases carbohydrates to 72g net per day, a perfectly reasonable number).

    Mine suits my personal circumstances and is modified for me personally based on my training goals.
  • Phaedra2014
    Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
    Here's my take on things.
    (in a rather Christmas theme now we're in december)...

    On the "nice" list:
    - Fatty Meat (well... preferably fatty, but lean is good too)
    - Grass fed beef
    - Oily Fish
    - Leaf Green Veg
    - Nuts
    - Seeds
    - Eggs
    - Avocados
    - Olive, Coconut, and Avocado Oil (virgin, cold pressed) and Butter / Ghee
    - Occasional bit of red wine
    - Occasional high-coca chocolate (we're talking 85%+ here)

    On the "naughty" list:
    - Factory farmed produce and factory raised meat (battery chickens, CAFO raised beef, etc) - Not that we have CAFOs in the UK!
    - Starchy vegetables
    - Fruit
    - All dairy, except butter
    - All grains
    - Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup
    - Any hydrogenated oil

    This fits my nutritional goals and general well being. Many would disagree, especially with my stance on grains and dairy.

    I agree wholeheartedly with Firefox7275 in that omega 3:6 balance is very important, because the omega-3s are anti-inflammatory and the omega-6s are inflammatory. The Western world eats fat too much Omega-6 and this can contribute to the whole spectrum of inflammatory diseases - diabetes, heart disease, etc.

    Just my two cents. I'm sure someone'll find reason to flame this post as they usually do.

    Do you eat fish?
  • craigineson
    craigineson Posts: 88 Member
    Why do you avoid fruits?

    The nutrients to sugar ratio doesn't suit me. I can get far more benefit from leafy green vegetables, salad leaves, and other non-starchy vegetables without the sugar or starch.
  • craigineson
    craigineson Posts: 88 Member
    Do you eat fish?

    When I do, it's generally oily fish, which is the second item on my list. I do have concerns about dioxins and heavy metals, but I take chlorella to handle those.
  • Well, I am glad that it suits you well to be overly restrictive. No harm, no foul. I don't think it works for the vast majority of people though. You are a special snowflake.

    Never once in the past four years have I felt restricted. In fact, I've never felt more free.
    After getting off the insulin roller-coaster, food and hunger no longer control me; I control them.

    I also don't believe the diet will work for everyone (such a diet does not exist) - In fact, the diet that I think would be most accessible to many would be a diet I read about that's far less restrictive (in a book called "Life Without Bread" by Wulfgang Lutz, he emphasises fat and protein, but decreases carbohydrates to 72g net per day, a perfectly reasonable number).

    Mine suits my personal circumstances and is modified for me personally based on my training goals.

    72g. Interesting number. What is the basic premise of the book? Does it go into insulin sensitivity? Bloat? Allergies? What is the overall stance of the author as to why it's necessary to be restrictive at all (in terms of what we eat)?
  • Phaedra2014
    Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
    When I do, it's generally oily fish, which is the second item on my list. I do have concerns about dioxins and heavy metals, but I take chlorella to handle those.

    I don't disagree with your list of foods you consume. I am not a fan of processed foods either and I think the closer we stick to "whole" foods, the better it is for us in the long haul. I recently cut out gluten, grains (kept brown basmati rice) and dairy. I feel like *kitten* so far but my hope is that I will feel better soon.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    What's considered good or bad is not standardized and opinions about what is bad are generally looked at from an extreme point of view. The post above is a good example of that.....basi8cally there are no bad foods, just bad diets.

    So you're saying my diet is extreme?
    What's so extreme about not eating things that make me feel ill, or deteriorate my health?
    What's so extreme about eating whole, natural foods which are (as far as I can) ethically sourced?
    What's so extreme about me sharing some of the things that I do that's change my life in the hope that I help just one other person?

    What would be extreme (extreme idiocy, that is) is identifying that grains mess up my stomach, that dairy gives me acne, that hydrogenated fats are plain and simple bad, and then carry on eating them anyway (because they're "healthy", didn't you know?)

    I've made a lifestyle choice through years of careful planning, personal experience and experimentation as to what works for me and what makes sense from the scientific literature. Don't judge me as "extreme" simply because you don't agree with what I do, because I wouldn't judge someone based on what works for them.

    I made some recommendations from my view-point, which is more than you have done on this thread.

    Any person who says fruit is on the "naughty list" is someone I will never listen to for dietary advice.

    As for the grains and dairy, I'm sorry you've had a rough time with them. Not everyone has whatever conditions you have that make that happen. I eat whole grains and dairy to my heart's content with no problems. I'm healthy, feel great and am losing weight.
  • Phaedra2014
    Phaedra2014 Posts: 1,254 Member
    Any person who says fruit is on the "naughty list" is someone I will never listen to for dietary advice.

    The poster was saying what worked for him. It's not dietary advice for anyone.