Do's and Dont's?

There aren't really any inherently bad ingredients.. Just combinations of lots of ingredients to make processed foods. Cakes/ice cream/crisps/puddings/calorie laden sauces with cream in


Eat in moderation- go light on unhealthy fats.

Good luck

Start with small changes depending on what you eat currently. Like if you drink regular soda, switch to diet or sparkling water. If you eat white rice/pasta, switch to brown rice / wheat pasta (or do half and half for a transition). If you eat a lot of processed snack, replace a snack a week with something healthier. Good luck!

I've tried weight loss before (but in the way that no one should ever..) and now I'm trying to do it in a healthy fashion (clean eating/daily exercise with occasional cheat/rest days). I was wondering, what are foods you should DEFINITELY avoid when beginning this process? I've tried looking and searching online, however, you never really know what to believe and not believe on the Internet. So I've come here, seeking advice from people with experience. Thank you!!

Unless you have a medical condition, you do not have to avoid anything. If you are approaching weight loss in a healthy way, a calorie deficit is all that is needed, along with realistic goals. There is no reason to label foods as "good", "bad", "clean", and "dirty", nor is there any reason to eliminate items that you enjoy. Calorie deficit for weight loss and exercise for fitness.

My problem seems to be portion control on any foods I eat.
I just cannot seem to be satisfied once I have eaten the correct portion size of something and so caution gets thrown to the wind and I start to munch on anything I can.
This is something I have to really watch out on.

If you're wanting to eat clean you should avoid highly processed/refined foods/ingredients at all times. Avoiding things like artificial sweeteners is important since many are actually toxic chemicals. Man made chemical preservatives aren't generally good either, and there is some new evidence that artificial coloring in food can cause health problems. In general, keep the foods you consume as natural as possible.

My biggest "Don't" would be: Don't divide foods up into groups of good/bad, clean/dirty, healthy/unhealthy, safe/unsafe etc. Don't get pulled into extreme black & white thinking about food. Look at the nutritional content of your overall daily (and even weekly) diet. There is no food you have to avoid in order to lose weight or be healthy (with obvious exceptions where allergies, intolerances and specific medical disorders are involved.) For example, I am maintaining an 85 lb loss, and (as far as I and my doctor know) am healthy and fit. I regularly eat foods that aren't "diet" foods, including bread, real butter, full fat cheese, chocolate, bacon, white pasta, white rice, ice cream etc - even processed foods. However, I also eat a lot of foods like lean meats, eggs, fish, nuts, berries, vegetables and Greek yoghurt.

Do: eat the foods you like in portion sizes that allow you to meet your calorie goal. Make any adjustment you need so that you're getting enough protein, fats, fibre and micronutrients. Keep it simple.

Easiest for me is when I grocery shop just stay to the outside ring of the store. All the aisles are where the boxed goods are that are the most processed. Once you fill your cart with the good fruits veggies and meat then you'll need less "filler" Also I'm a big chip eater, I like the crunch so I snack on Special K chips and that satisfies my need for the crunch and you can actually have quite a bit for a 110 calorie serving. Good luck and just remember moderation in foods.

It's quite individual.

Some of us find that we react to certain things in ways that make us overeat. For example, I am very susceptible to feeling ravenously hungry after I have something sweet -- be it sugar sweetened or artificial sweeteners -- so I've cut out sugar in my coffee and diet Coke because they were causing me to want to eat more. You may not be affected in this way by artificial sweeteners so it may not be a problem for you.

Some of us can't control our portions of some items. For example, if cookies or potato chips are in my cupboards, I have to eat them until they are gone. I can't stand knowing they are in the house and not eating them. So I avoid having them in the house.

You may not have such problems so what to cut out in general? As they say, really nothing. But some foods are healthier than others and since you will be restricting calories you don't want to waste them on lousy foods. I try to model my eating on the "healthy eating plate" at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/.

And what rmblackmt123 said. Do most of your grocery shopping in the outer aisles -- specifically in the produce section. Lots of veggies! Fewer processed foods loaded with hidden sugars and salt.

you should never feel guilt or shame about eating any food. you should never feel guilt or shame about messing up and having a day where you exceed your calories. people who tell you that you need to subscribe to a philosophy that encourages thoughts of guilt and shame for not eating perfectly every day, are buttholes.

eat the foods you like. focus on meeting your macros and calorie goals. everything else will fall into place in the process.

^^^^ THIS. COMPLETELY.

Guess what? We are ALL going to screw up sometimes. It happens. Sometimes it's planned, sometimes not. A treat day, a treat meal is not only not a bad thing, for a lot of people it's a really good thing. In moderation. All things in moderation. And when you do screw up, when you go over your calorie target (and you will because we ALL do), shrug it off, learn from it and get back in the game the next day. You only fail if you quit. If you don't quit, you haven't failed.

Focus on foods you like. Sure there are some foods better than others. Don't plan on a diet of a half gallon of Haagen Dazs. But foods that fall within your macros, pretty much everything goes. The one thing I would recommend, especially when starting is planning ahead, and especially pre-logging your food. Knowing what you are going to eat ahead of time helps keep you on task and makes things go better. Just MHO.

My biggest "Don't" would be: Don't divide foods up into groups of good/bad, clean/dirty, healthy/unhealthy, safe/unsafe etc. Don't get pulled into extreme black & white thinking about food. Look at the nutritional content of your overall daily (and even weekly) diet. There is no food you have to avoid in order to lose weight or be healthy (with obvious exceptions where allergies, intolerances and specific medical disorders are involved.) For example, I am maintaining an 85 lb loss, and (as far as I and my doctor know) am healthy and fit. I regularly eat foods that aren't "diet" foods, including bread, real butter, full fat cheese, chocolate, bacon, white pasta, white rice, ice cream etc - even processed foods. However, I also eat a lot of foods like lean meats, eggs, fish, nuts, berries, vegetables and Greek yoghurt.

Do: eat the foods you like in portion sizes that allow you to meet your calorie goal. Make any adjustment you need so that you're getting enough protein, fats, fibre and micronutrients. Keep it simple.

Very well said!

I avoid dairy because I am lactose intolerant, soy because I am soy intolerant, caffeine because I am caffeine sensitive, and go easy on the sugar because I am sugar sensitive.

Intolerance, allergies, and sensitivities are the reasons to avoid foods. Otherwise, nothing is off limits. Everything in moderation.

In response to all those recommending not dividing food into healthy and unhealthy: yes, for weight loss purposes it might not matter as long as you stay within the calorie range, but for health it, certainly, does. Depends on what the goal is. I would say health comes first, then weight.

People that advocate not putting foods into categories or labeling foods in a certain way are encouraging a healthy approach to reaching goals. Unless there is a medical condition, there is no reason to eliminate certain foods. People that advocate this healthy approach are not saying just eat cookies and cake all day (although if the calorie deficit is there, a person would lose weight), they are encouraging meeting nutritional needs without the heavy ( and unneccesary) restriction.

If by balanced diet you mean not overdoing it on the foods that don't benefit you, then a balanced diet is a start. A healthy diet is an end goal. For me at least, this is my perspective.

There are foods that just don't benefit you but can do harm: refined sugar, soft drinks, poor quality packaged foods. Yes, it is OK to eat them in small quanititied here and there, but why? Wouldn't the end goal to be to put only (or mostly) clean nourishing food in your body? Certainly is for me (and yes, I eat refined sweets occasionally but aspire not to).

In response to all those recommending not dividing food into healthy and unhealthy: yes, for weight loss purposes it might not matter as long as you stay within the calorie range, but for health it, certainly, does. Depends on what the goal is. I would say health comes first, then weight.

People that advocate not putting foods into categories or labeling foods in a certain way are encouraging a healthy approach to reaching goals. Unless there is a medical condition, there is no reason to eliminate certain foods. People that advocate this healthy approach are not saying just eat cookies and cake all day (although if the calorie deficit is there, a person would lose weight), they are encouraging meeting nutritional needs without the heavy ( and unneccesary) restriction.

^Agreed. I don't see anyone here saying that nutrition doesn't matter. No one is saying the OP shouldn't care about what she eats. However, the overall balance of your diet is far more important than individual foods. No one food makes you fat and no one food (again, barring specific medical conditions, allergies, intolerances etc) is going to make you unhealthy. It depends how much of it you eat, and what else you are eating, and how it fits into the rest of your lifestyle.

Health includes mental health as well as physical health. The OP specifically states on her profile that she hates her relationship with food, and that she is "on the road to recovery" which seems to indicate a history of some kind of issue there. On this thread she has stated that she has lost weight "in the way that no one should ever". I don't think that demonising certain foods is going to help her develop a healthier relationship with food.