Image via WikipediaThe question of weight is always important. Every year headlines proclaim we are weighing more and getting fatter, but all the diets and weight loss products and exercise programs don't do much to change that. Maybe what we need is a good famine, well, maybe just a temporary fast.The real key to living a lighter life is a matter of what you can do and stay with it. Buy less oil, butter, and products that contain fat. Fat has more than twice as many calories as protein and carbohydrates per gram. Calories from fat add up fast. Use fat products judiciously. I don't say not to use them at all. Some parts of your system need fat. Skin, the digestive tract, and several other systems need some fat, but its the excess that adds the pounds.
Vegetables are the category that lots of people neglect, but they carry lots of nutrients and without many calories. If you are trying to lose weight without feeling hungry, use vegetables as a base to build your menu on. You can eat them raw in salads or steamed, sauteed, or baked. You can even add a small amount of fat because some nutrients like Vitamin A in things like carrots need the fat to process. As much as I admire Julia Child and Paula Deen, you can have too much butter.
Ordinarily carbohydrates provide most of the calories. Cereal based foods are the easy ones to get your calories from. In addition to calories, the cereal products, including, of course, bread, give you the B-complex vitamins and other nutrients you need daily. Diets that limit or restrict them have to be carefully designed to make sure you get the nutrients you need.
If you want to get on a diet, make your own. Get a good book with a chart of the nutrients and calories. Choose a wide variety of foods and make sure you buy the best and most economical products. This is time consuming, but remember, it is for your health. I guess I think it is foolish to entrust it to some guru who is skinny and athletic when you don't fit his or her profile.
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