It's a good start, you're thinking of what to do to lose fat. Eating healthy is the first step to getting healthy, the weight/fat loss is only what follows. Your goal should honesty be to get healthy first, lose weight second. Its impossible to tell you how quickly you will meet your goal, as everyone is different. But if you do eat correctly and you do put in a fair amount of exercise, its likely you could meet your goal within a reasonable amount of time. (I only made a complete change to my diet/food intake, no exercise changes, and I still am losing a fair amount of weight each week because I need to)
You are severely limiting yourself, something like the foods you have limited yourself to are not going to give you enough 'umph' to get through the day without feeling wiped out (especially if you're going to do an hour of exercise a day). I tried to do what you are doing and I know I'm not you, but still.. Bodies need a bit more than veggies, fruits, meat and dairy. Your new diet seems like you'll be cutting out a lot of sodium and butters, which is great.. high sodium is very taxing on the body, you might find out a lot of weight you're holding is 'water' weight due to sodium intake.
It really generally is about portion control (not counting calories, not limiting yourself to a few foods, etc), I do count portions.. and I know what I need to eat and how much. Following the 'food pyramid' is actually a really good idea, it shows exactly how we should partition our daily food (but it can be subjective. I tend to eat way more fruit than I should... I like fruit..)
I wouldn't remove grains (whole, 100%) and cereals (bran, low sugar, high fiber) from your diet, you should switch to whole grains like 100% whole wheat, oats, brown rice (NOT parboiled), and other whole grains. There are a lot of them out there, people just don't talk about them anymore (or use them much, which is a shame). Whole grains have everything intact, so while refined grains would spike your blood sugar and such.. whole grains take longer to digest and have way more bran/fiber to prolong the digestion and absorption.
- 100% whole wheat pasta
- 100% whole wheat bread
- Brown Rice, Red rice, etc
- Brown rice pasta (in gluten free section usually)
- Olde Fashioned Whole Rolled Oats, not the 1-minute. The on the stove ones.. plain, no flavoring.. (I use to mix yogurt in with my plain oats for flavor)
Instead of giving up potatoes, switch to sweet potatoes for the nutritional sake. They have huge benefits in a small package and can be your 'fiber' serving for a meal.
Remember that a body still needs saturated fats, I usually vote to get my saturated fats from some fish and cheeses.. So reduced fat dairy is a good thing, you can still get your saturated fat in and your high protein and calcium. But you should also get your unsaturated fats too, which I usually eat nuts and cook with olive oil for those. But the nuts should be unsalted and preferably whole natural. Almonds are actually the cheapest nut in comparison to bulk you can buy. (remember peanuts are not nuts.. but they are a great source of unsaturated fats too!)
For more than just getting your proteins from low-fat meats, I recommend beans. Like the ones you soak overnight. Navy beans, pinto beans, lima, etc. I like lentils, split peas and barley too. Beans are often very affordable and there is a lot per serving. Might want to consider tofus as well.
I recommend spinach over most leafy greens, if you can stand kale and collard greens.. I also recommend those, very high nutritional benefits but very.. peppery/bitter. Broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, squashes, etc. Buy in season stuff. Always eat the stem unless told not to/it looks bad. Most veggies sold on shelves, the entire veggie is usable.
There is a bit of preparing when it comes to unprocessed foods. But I've found a system with my 8-cup "rice" cooker/steamer and my indoor electric grill. Make in bulk for the week usually.. almost a "grab to go" thing sometimes, because I like cooking a lot of rice or pasta or beans and then preparing the actual meal on the day I want it.
13 Sep 2015, 11:22 am
