Tell Me What to Eat!!
Unfortunately, I can’t really do that. For one, it is beyond the scope of my expertise as I am not a Nutritionist. (Be sure to check the credentials of anyone giving you dietary advice.) But there are a few pieces of advice I am more than comfortable offering. For most of us, small changes can bring big improvement in our quality of life and that is my main focus in all this. I am not trying to achieve 0% body fat or bench press a small vehicle. I simply want to be healthy, strong and fit. I want to be fit enough to eat a piece of cheesecake and not worry about it. I wan to be able to accept and invitation to play basketball for a couple of hours and then be able to get out of bed the next morning without the assistance of ropes or pulleys. As I age, I fight the effects of time with smart work and smart choices rather than constant work and severe dietary denial.
Advice: Cut out or drastically cut down on sodas (this includes other super sugary beverages) as well as fried foods. Trust me, you will survive without them and you should see some benefit fairly quickly once they are removed from your daily routine. Although I just finished telling you that total denial of enjoyment is not suggested for success, I don’t think sodas are all that enjoyable for most of us. If you feel you can’t live without them and that a soda now and then will provide you the quality of life you seek, then cut back on them and treat them with reverence. A reward everyday isn’t really a reward; it’s a habit. Understand that rewards like a piece of cake or a soda now and then are steps in the wrong direction in terms of weight loss goals. That is why they must be mitigated with work. And yes, the more you reward the more you must work.
There is a wealth of dietary advice out there and much of it is good. Common sense should guide you to something that will work for you. Through careful consideration and introspective thought, you should be able to determine your level of comfort with “feel good food.” Each individual is different and this should be understood above all. Some folks may not be able to indulge to any degree. We must be brutally honest with ourselves and we must be willing to work hard to keep those foods from taking over our lives. We must maintain control over our intake and our desires. After all, even the Buddha knew total asceticism wasn’t the way.
I strongly suggest everyone visits www.myfoodpyramid.gov for some great information regarding nutrition.
