Help me lose weight
- Thread starter Zander
- Start date
two
First Post
Reganing taste
One great thing about changing your diet away from the standard American fast-food processed-food high-sugar corn-syrup-in-everything heavy-preservative etc. standard fare is that it gives your taste buds a chance to recover.
Somebody mentioned cake being too sweet after a month of going without heavy sweets. That's a very good thing. Most cakes ARE too sweet. And you can't taste much else but sweet when you eat them. However, once your palate gets a little more refined (yes, I will use the word refined, in that you can now taste things you could not before) and you are satisfied with lower levels of "sweet" in desserts, it opens the door for other flavors -- nuts, yeast, the grains in the flour itself, fruits, etc.
It's really a wonderful and fun side effect of taking control of your diet and ridding yourself of junk.
Honestly, you will get to the point (about 5-6 months I suspect) when you will take a bite of Domino's pizza and think "what the hell is this cardboard sweet overcheesed crap?" And you won't want to eat it, not because it's "processed junk food and bad for you" rather because it honestly tastes like what it is: cheap. You will reject it on grounds other than "calories" or what have you. Your taste and awareness have advanced too much for that stuff. It's great.
Downside: you can't be satisfied with a bag of oreos anymore.
Upside: the pleasure you get from high quality foods will be incredibly greater than the paltry pleasure of something really low-grade like oreos.
The goal of a diet is weight loss, after all, but a life-style change even better.
Doing away with high-fructose corn syrup is in itself a huge step. If you can do this -- (and it's not tough, just a pain at first learning what has it because so much has it) -- you will automatically, and by default, stop eating 99% of the junk that's most bad for you. Because high-fructose corn syrup is in everything that's made cheaply and shoddily. Low-grade breads; low-grade desserts; low-grade pasta sauces; low-grade X, Y, Z. (includes pizza dough, of course, pizza sauce too, often, from chain restaurants)
No quality food includes high fructose corn syrup, period. It's one of the great "easy to remember" rules. Before you buy something, check for HFCS. If it's there, put it back on the shelf and buy another brand that doesn't have it. Very easy, very rewarding. If no brand doesn't have it, go to a better grocery store.
Plus, you are rewarding companies for not producing schlock. That's always nice.
*good luck everyone!*
One great thing about changing your diet away from the standard American fast-food processed-food high-sugar corn-syrup-in-everything heavy-preservative etc. standard fare is that it gives your taste buds a chance to recover.
Somebody mentioned cake being too sweet after a month of going without heavy sweets. That's a very good thing. Most cakes ARE too sweet. And you can't taste much else but sweet when you eat them. However, once your palate gets a little more refined (yes, I will use the word refined, in that you can now taste things you could not before) and you are satisfied with lower levels of "sweet" in desserts, it opens the door for other flavors -- nuts, yeast, the grains in the flour itself, fruits, etc.
It's really a wonderful and fun side effect of taking control of your diet and ridding yourself of junk.
Honestly, you will get to the point (about 5-6 months I suspect) when you will take a bite of Domino's pizza and think "what the hell is this cardboard sweet overcheesed crap?" And you won't want to eat it, not because it's "processed junk food and bad for you" rather because it honestly tastes like what it is: cheap. You will reject it on grounds other than "calories" or what have you. Your taste and awareness have advanced too much for that stuff. It's great.
Downside: you can't be satisfied with a bag of oreos anymore.
Upside: the pleasure you get from high quality foods will be incredibly greater than the paltry pleasure of something really low-grade like oreos.
The goal of a diet is weight loss, after all, but a life-style change even better.
Doing away with high-fructose corn syrup is in itself a huge step. If you can do this -- (and it's not tough, just a pain at first learning what has it because so much has it) -- you will automatically, and by default, stop eating 99% of the junk that's most bad for you. Because high-fructose corn syrup is in everything that's made cheaply and shoddily. Low-grade breads; low-grade desserts; low-grade pasta sauces; low-grade X, Y, Z. (includes pizza dough, of course, pizza sauce too, often, from chain restaurants)
No quality food includes high fructose corn syrup, period. It's one of the great "easy to remember" rules. Before you buy something, check for HFCS. If it's there, put it back on the shelf and buy another brand that doesn't have it. Very easy, very rewarding. If no brand doesn't have it, go to a better grocery store.
Plus, you are rewarding companies for not producing schlock. That's always nice.
*good luck everyone!*
Last edited:
Two, you rock. That's great advice.
One of the many things that has happened me over the now-nearly five months is that coke disapeared from my diet. I suspect this has had a bigger impact on my health and wellbeing than I really give it credit for.
A few weeks ago, I tryed to drink coke -- there was some late-night gaming. I coudn't stand it. It was awful. This stuff I used to swear by now did little more than make me cringe. My taste buds were on fire with the sweetness, I hated it.
So i cut a lemon in half, and cleansed it right off my pallete. Wonderful stuff, lemons.
One of the many things that has happened me over the now-nearly five months is that coke disapeared from my diet. I suspect this has had a bigger impact on my health and wellbeing than I really give it credit for.
A few weeks ago, I tryed to drink coke -- there was some late-night gaming. I coudn't stand it. It was awful. This stuff I used to swear by now did little more than make me cringe. My taste buds were on fire with the sweetness, I hated it.
So i cut a lemon in half, and cleansed it right off my pallete. Wonderful stuff, lemons.
Darth K'Trava
First Post
Too much Coke-drinking will mess up your kidneys sure enough! I used to drink the stuff all the time at work before we switched to Pepsi. And many a time, my side would hurt and I'd then have to switch to water to flush that crap out.
)
two
First Post
Yes, soda is quite hideous for you. There are a LOT of scientific studies showing that the human body has a very hard time dealing with high-fructose corn syrup in small, medium, and large quantities. It is not only linked to weight gain but the really phenominal increase in diabetes, particularly early-onset (age 12-30).
Scary stuff.
Definately cut back or give up soda if you can possibly manage it. Nothing but good will result. Substitite ANY other caffinated beverage for a net gain.
One curiosity of the American culinary scene is the "cheaper is better" mentality. For example, let's say a restaurant started advertising a "burger for 25 cents."
That's right, 25 cents, or even a dime.
Ye olde typical american things "durn, that sure is cheap, I'll get 4 for a buck!" and rushes over.
Other cultures would think "uh, what does it mean that they can sell a hamburger for 25 cents?" and take the extra step of asking, "do I WANT to eat something that is that cheap and thus is using absolutely the lowest grade meat/bread/condiments/cheese possible?" The reasonable answer is: "no."
There is a real disadvantage to cheap food. In America, it's pretty clear. The lower classes, the poor, and the un- or under-educated are heavier on average than the middle class, which is heavier on average than the upper middle class, which is etc. compared to the wealthy.
Cheap food is readily available in America. It's quite unhealthy, but available (even been to Sam's Club? *shudders*).
The trick is not to eat (or desire) the cheapest possible food. Or even the 2nd cheapest. Rather, the goal is high quality food (which doesn't have to be expensive; produce, after all, is very cheap per pound).
But that's obvious. The trick is getting it done in practice.
It's worth it folks!
Go team!
Good luck!
Throw away that soda!
Scary stuff.
Definately cut back or give up soda if you can possibly manage it. Nothing but good will result. Substitite ANY other caffinated beverage for a net gain.
One curiosity of the American culinary scene is the "cheaper is better" mentality. For example, let's say a restaurant started advertising a "burger for 25 cents."
That's right, 25 cents, or even a dime.
Ye olde typical american things "durn, that sure is cheap, I'll get 4 for a buck!" and rushes over.
Other cultures would think "uh, what does it mean that they can sell a hamburger for 25 cents?" and take the extra step of asking, "do I WANT to eat something that is that cheap and thus is using absolutely the lowest grade meat/bread/condiments/cheese possible?" The reasonable answer is: "no."
There is a real disadvantage to cheap food. In America, it's pretty clear. The lower classes, the poor, and the un- or under-educated are heavier on average than the middle class, which is heavier on average than the upper middle class, which is etc. compared to the wealthy.
Cheap food is readily available in America. It's quite unhealthy, but available (even been to Sam's Club? *shudders*).
The trick is not to eat (or desire) the cheapest possible food. Or even the 2nd cheapest. Rather, the goal is high quality food (which doesn't have to be expensive; produce, after all, is very cheap per pound).
But that's obvious. The trick is getting it done in practice.
It's worth it folks!
Go team!
Good luck!
Throw away that soda!
