I Made It and Here's Ten Practical Ways How

8. Eliminated non-essential foods. For instance, I used to have oil and vinegar on salads and one day I dropped the oil and didn't miss it. Dressings can kill the dietary benefits of a salad so choose carefully--lemon juice is great too.

Sounds great, except for #8 - you absorb more nutrients from your salad with the addition of a little bit of healthy fat.

http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2012/120619FerruzziSalad.html

Good point. I always have other fats in my salads from sources such as nuts, avocados, and/or cheese to promote absorbtion and the study concludes that amount rather than source of lipids appears most important. In any case, thanks for pointing this out to those whose salads don't have other fats in them. I very rarely eat engineered low-fat or no-fat foods because reasonable amounts of fats, especially from vegetable sources, are a necessary part of a healthy diet.

Two tips I forgot: 11. I used a food scale and it really helped with portion control and 12. I was very careful with restaurant, fast, and processed foods and almost always had better results from home-cooked meals.