17 Aug 08 The Daily Plate
If you use the daily plate correctly you can set yourself goals to work towards, and also get a good profile on your food intake, and exercise too.
I’ve been doing this now since about the third week in June, and I’ve lost 17lbs so far. My goal is to lose 65lbs. I was tipping the scales at 235, and now I’m 218, and I want to get down to 170.
As for extra foods, I strongly believe that if we eat ‘proper’ food, and less of it too, that’s the way to go. I don’t go for any of these diet plans at all, and none of the food supplement things (such as Slimfast etc). I think the way to go is to eat more fruit and vegetables, smaller meat portions, and cut out as much of the crap as possible – fast food, soda, cakes, donuts and that kind of thing.
Cut back on dressings and sauces too. Reduce salt intake. Eat little or no processed foods. No TV Dinners. That’s my take on it all anyway. There are so many food products on the shelves that are full of empty calories – watch out for that High Fructose Corn Syrup – it’s in everything.
I’ve also cut back on carbs, and particularly the refined ones. So out goes white rice, in comes wholegrain; out goes white bread in exchange for wholemeal; and I try to eat more backed potatoes, but cut back on the fillings!
We also steam a lot of our vegetables, as it helps retain more of the nutrients, and it’s not any more difficult to do that any other method.
More fish, less red meat.
That’s about what I’ve been doing, and encouraging Kathy (who can be very stubborn – I’ve only had that twice this week!), to do the same.
Oh one last thing – drink plenty of water – from the faucet is fine – it’s good for you!
Tags: dressings, empty calories, extra foods, faucet, fillings, food intake, food supplement, fructose corn syrup, fruit and vegetables, high fructose corn, high fructose corn syrup, processed foods, proper food, red meat, salt intake, tipping the scales, tv dinners, white bread, white rice, wholemeal
19 Jun 08 Water
It’s one of the best things you can have. Not coffee, tea, soda, lemonade, but good old plain tap water.
Bottled water is mostly a fashion fad, and it’s a crazy waste of energy and materials. In the US alone there are tons of plastics bottles going into landfill sites each year. Most people in the US, and most of the rest of the western world have perfectly safe drinkable water from the faucet. I personally drink cupfuls of it every day. In fact bottled water has been shown to have up to one thousand times more bacteria in it than water from the tap, and of course, it’s thousands of times more expensive too!
I always drink a glassful of water when I get up in the morning. It helps to re-hydrate you after sleeping, and not drinking all night.
I spend a lot of time at my desk during the day, and I always have a glass of water on it. I’ve got a pint mug of water there right now.
Drink water during your meals and it will help you digest your food, and keep you hydrated at the same time.
After exercise, and also particularly during hot weather when you sweat more, it’s a good idea to drink extra water too.
If you do drink coffee or soda, or other caffeinated drinks, you should drink an extra glass of water for every cup of coffee you drink, as caffeine is a diuretic, and stimulates your kidneys to excrete more water. That’s why drinking lots of coffee makes you run to the bathroom. The same goes for alcohol too.
Tags: bacteria, bottled water, coffee tea, desk, drinkable water, exercise, fad, fashion, faucet, glass of water, hot weather, landfill sites, lemonade, pint, plastics bottles, soda, tap water, waste of energy
