what can i eat?

[Beetsme10]

What is the best food to eat to help you lose weight quickly?

 

[Bear]

Sorry... but there is no magical food to make you lose weight quickly.

A sensible diet avoiding sugars and junk food and daily exercise will gradually do the trick

Quick fat loss programs too often don't last and most gain the weight and then some back just as quick.

Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[lands21]

I wish there was a one food answer....

 

[chaelsworld0o]

Maybe just replacing the junk food with a healthy alternative. Diets aren't promising especially without exercise because you may loose the weight but sooner or later it'll travel back into you somehow and possibly even worse then before, you know? I have to watch my carbs after 4... especially entering pagents and stuff such as that. I constantly have to make sure that everything is going to still fit right. So at least change a few of your eating habits into a healthy salad with a lite dressing, veggies, fruits... they always make me feel better and of course at least 30 minutes of cardio 3-5 times a week would be grand

 

[brokenbananas]

Why did you gain the weight in the first place? Unless you identify why this happened, even with eliminating junk food, etc., you'll struggle to keep it off. Now's probably a good opportunity to learn about your body, food, and a host of other things. I've been on this journey for the past few years. Recently, I've been learning a lot.

There's no such thing as a quick fix here.

 

[Beastt]

If all you're concerned about is quick weight loss then the Atkins diet is probably the thing for you. I'm very pleased to see that no one here is recommending that since it's not only a short-term plan, it's fairly dangerous. But it will produce quick weight loss in the short term through forcing your body into an unnatural and unhealthy state known as ketosis. Much of the immediate weight loss is due to metabolism of muscle tissue and the accompanying water loss.

I've also seen several recommendations to start an exercise routine and I'll strongly echo that recommendation. Anything you eat, regardless of what it is, can be turned to fat if you eat more calories than you burn. Sugar has long been the villain of those wishing to lose weight but this is almost a myth. Sugar does tend to stimulate the appetite but it's also the first thing your body will burn if you're burning the calories you consume. Anything you digest but don't burn can be turned to fat by the body. Processed sugar does have some other nasty effects that you will want to avoid such as providing spikes in insulin levels which will quickly deplete the sugar in your blood. You will experience this as a sharp rise in energy levels followed quickly by a sharp decline to a point of feeling sluggish.

When it comes to losing weight, it really does come down to calories in verses calories burned. When it comes to maintaining good health, it gets a little more complicated. To start with, it's good to know where your calories come from. The basic nutrients fall into three catagories; carbohydrates, protein and fat. Carbohydrates are usually broken down into simple and complex carbohydrates. The simple carbs are processed sugars, corn syrup, etc. Complex carbohydrates are those which the body has to process a bit more before it can metabolize them. This prevents the insulin spikes and the sharp fluctuation of energy levels common with simple carbohydrates. Fats are easy to blame for weight gain but you do need some fat in your diet. The problem is, you need far less than most of us eat. Proteins are all the rage today but it's just as important to regulate your intake of protein as your intake of carbohydrates and fat. Contrary to popular belief, you can eat too much protein and since it's actually difficult to eat too little, you're probably eating way more than necessary since most people in developed countries do. Protein does not provide energy. It's a nutrient designed for building and rebuilding body tissues but the body has an extremely limited ability to burn protein for energy. It can, however, convert it to fat. That fat can then be broken down into ketone bodies and those can be converted to energy. This is what you'll want to have happen as you exercise. So how much protein do you need? Estimates vary but most people would be shocked to see how little is actually necessary to maintain optimum health;

Human Protein Requirements, according to...

...reports in the American Journal of Nutrition: 2½% of total calories

...The World Health Organization: 4½% of total calories

...The Food and Nutrition Board: 4½% of total calories

...The National Research Council: 8% of total calories​

How much protein do most people eat? Well, if you live in the United States or a country with a similar diet, you're probably eating over 30% of your calories as protein. Think about how many cases of protein deficiency you've heard of in developed countries. In fact, think about how many cases of any kind of deficiency diseases you hear of in developed countries. Chances are you don't know of a single case of scurvy, beriberi, pellegra or kwashiokor. Now consider diseases of excess such as heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes or certain types of kidney disfunction. People take vitamins like their life depends on supplimental sources of nutrients but this is expensive and completely unnecessary if your diet is even close to balanced. It makes a lot of money for the vitamin companies and it makes people think they're healthier but many of those people are in line for a stroke or heart attack. If you look at the top ten causes of death in the U.S. for 2001 (and most any other year in recent decades), you'll see that heart disease, cancer and stroke account for over 74% of all deaths. Deaths due to some kind of deficiency aren't even on the list.

Some people will be quick to point out to you that osteoporosis is a deficiency disease. Even some doctors will tell you this but doctors are not trained in nutrition. Nutritionists will explain that osteoporosis does manifest itself as a deficiency of calcium in the bones but that's not what causes it. People in America eat far more calcium than people in less developed nations yet we lead the world in incidents of osteoporosis. The number of cases of osteoporosis qualifies it as a true epidemic in the U.S. So what causes it? It's caused by an excess of protein. Whenever you eat anything, certain amounts of the nutrients in the food will enter the blood stream. The blood has a natural pH level that the body will try to maintain. This is between 7.36 and 7.44 on the pH scale. Different nutrients will change that pH level from more alkaline to more acidic. Protein just happens to cause the pH level of the blood to become acidic. So the body does what it's designed to do. It draws calcium, (a base), from the skeletal system into the blood to return the blood to the proper pH level. Most of that calcium is then excreted in the urine which causes extra work for the kidneys and increases the chance of developing kidney stones. If you eat a lot of protein, it's easy to excrete more calcium per day than your body can assimilate.

Acid Forming Foods (Acidity: m-equiv. per 100g)
Larger numbers means more acidic

Fried Calves Liver - 46.9
Roasted Chicken - 25.4
Grilled Beefsteak - 23.5
Boiled, Lean Ham - 22.3
Poached Eggs - 19.7
Fried Haddock - 14.0
Cheddar Cheese - 5.4​

Base Forming Foods (Base Capacity: m-equiv. per 100g)
Larger numbers means more alkaline

Boiled Spinach - 39.6
Dried Raisins - 27.0
Almonds - 18.3
Potatoes (baked in skin) - 10.0
Raw Carrots - 9.0
Raw Tomatos - 5.6
Raw Apples - 3.0
Fresh raw peas - 1.2​

Source: McCance, R.A., and Widdowson, E.M., "The Composition of Foods", pgs 22 and 124

To lose weight you will need to burn more calories than you consume. Once you've reached a healthy weight you need to burn as many calories as you consume. Where do your calories come from? Well, the simple answer is that a gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories and a gram of protein also contains 4 calories but a gram of fat contains 9 calories. That's all well and good but we rarely consume any of those nutrients in pure form. They almost always come as a mixture. So it helps to look at some common foods and check their caloric density.

Which Foods Are Most Fattening? (calories per gram)

Bacon - 6.0
T-Bone Steak - 4.7
Salami - 4.5
Hamburger - 2.9
Browm Rice - 1.2
Spaghetti - 1.1
Sweet Potatoes - 1.0
White Potatoes - 0.6
Carrots - 0.4
Pumpkin - 0.3​

Source: "Nutrition Value of American Foods in Common Units" U.S.D.A. Handbook No. 456

Generally speaking, animal based foods such as meat, fish, poultry and dairy are rich in fat and therefore, rich in calories. Animal based foods are also the only source of cholesterol in your diet. Don't be fooled by the LDL verses HDL argument. Dietary cholesterol is simply undesirable. The foods that many people will warn you away from such as pasta and potatoes are really quite light in calories while providing plenty of carbohydrates to quickly burn off as you exercise.

When choosing an exercise routine, try to find something that elevates your heart rate but make sure it's something that you enjoy. If it's not fun, you won't stay with it. Cycling works for me, running for others. Dancing, swimming, hiking, skating, ballet and weight lifting are also good options though lifting heavy weights will tend to add bulky muscle to your frame which is probably not what you're looking for. Lean muscle mass produces less power but provides endurance. Sustained, intense exercise will burn calories while you exercise and continue to burn calories at an elevated rate for several minutes after you stop exercising.

So the simple answer is:exercise, reduce your intake of the more fattening foods such as meats, poultry and dairy. This reduces overall caloric intake and reduces the acidic effect on your blood which lowers your risk of kidney disfunction and osteoporosis. Focus on grains, legumes and starchy natural foods. Potatoes are a great food but if you pile them with sour cream and butter, you'll turn them into a fattening dish. The same goes for pasta, if you add lots of oily, meaty sauces, you'll add a lot of fat and some cholesterol which turns good food into unhealthy food and will add fat to your body. Use some sauces and seasoning but do so in moderation. Make sure to include some fruits and vegetables daily and reduce your intake of processed sugars.

Hope this helps.

 

[Cright]

I used fitday.com (a free tool) to track the amout of carbs, protien, fat calories...ect that I was taking in each day.

Do this first w/ your regular eating habits so you can see where mistakes come in.. then try to modify by lowering carbs, finding the amout of calories for you to lose slowly, but stay healthy and eat right.

hope it'll be a nice tool to start you off with.

Carina

 

[Krystina661]

What is the best food to eat to help you lose weight quickly?

Hardly none.. with lots of water and a multi-vitamin every day.

 

[Beau]

You shouldn't eat anything...Mwahahaha...Seriously, you have to burn more calories, than you intake each and every day, so eat your proteins, like meat, cheese, peanuts, milk, fish and seafood...and eat less carbs, like breads, cereals,(eat peanuts butter instead!) spaghetti...and make sure you eat your greens...But proteins are a big part of your body. Your Muscles, Brain, even blood are made of proteins, even your skin and bones need protein. People think that carbohydrates should be the biggest part of your diet, but that is false. trade in that cake for pie(with peanut butter!), when you go the Taco Bell, or McDonald's, Burger King, try taking the food off the bun, or if you buy from Taco Bell, try fresco styling it, and instead of that soft taco, go with the crunchy taco, which at least has some nutrition in it. Try not to snack as well, eat three meals a day, and make sure you eat less calories than, you are burning.

 

[Beastt]

You shouldn't eat anything...Mwahahaha...Seriously, you have to burn more calories, than you intake each and every day, so eat your proteins, like meat, cheese, peanuts, milk, fish and seafood...and eat less carbs, like breads, cereals,(eat peanuts butter instead!) spaghetti...and make sure you eat your greens...But proteins are a big part of your body. Your Muscles, Brain, even blood are made of proteins, even your skin and bones need protein. People think that carbohydrates should be the biggest part of your diet, but that is false. trade in that cake for pie(with peanut butter!), when you go the Taco Bell, or McDonald's, Burger King, try taking the food off the bun, or if you buy from Taco Bell, try fresco styling it, and instead of that soft taco, go with the crunchy taco, which at least has some nutrition in it. Try not to snack as well, eat three meals a day, and make sure you eat less calories than, you are burning.

As you can see, there are different opinions. The advice Beau gives is similar to the Atkins program developed by the late Dr. Robert Atkins. It's a quick ticket to temporary weight loss, increased protein and fat intake and the problems associated with such dietary endeavors. I would suggest that before you try such a diet you make yourself familiar with the dangers of ketosis. You may even want to do some comparisons between the condition Atkins forces your body into and many of the metabolic disorders associated with diabetes.

As something to ponder, Dr. Atkins died after 8-days in a coma following a fall which produced a blow to the head. He was obese at the time of his death though family members have suggested this was due to fluid retention caused by the IVs utilized during the coma. A medical report also leaked to the public showed that the late Dr. Atkins also suffered from heart disease but family members stated that this was due to cardiomyopathy rather than atherosclerosis. The medical report also showed he suffered from hypertension and at least one heart attack. The discrepancies concerning his health were never confirmed because the family refused to allow an autopsy of the body. Speculation might cause one to suspect that since they were heir to the Atkins fortune and the continued financial support from his diet books and plans, they preferred not to have his medical condition revealed.

 

[Krystina661]

I've thought about trying the Atkins diet a few times, but can't do it. For one, something seems a little immoral about eating nothing but mostly meat all the time, and two, small amounts of meat can be healthy once in a while, but constantly? Sounds like nothing but clogged arteries..

Don't think we were made to be nothing but meat eaters, and even though you may temporality lose weight at first, I don't see the Atkins diet being good for your long term health.

In my opinion fresh fruits, vegetables, lots of water and exercise are the way to go..

 

[janna_long_fan]

I lost a bunch of weight by eating basically nothing. However, this wasn't the best way to do that. I did cut out drinking sodas altogether and eating fattening things late at night, which helped some. I lost about 50 pounds in four months. But this is coming from a 21 year old male with great metabolism!

 

[BenjaminK]

Here are some tips to share

1. No food between meals
2. Have a balanced diet
3. No food after dinner
4. Exercise
5. Go for medical check ups or blood test (if necessary)

Well, even though I'm a little overweight (consoling myself), my aim is to be healthy!

 

[Beastt]

Here are some tips to share

1. No food between meals
2. Have a balanced diet
3. No food after dinner
4. Exercise
5. Go for medical check ups or blood test (if necessary)

Well, even though I'm a little overweight (consoling myself), my aim is to be healthy!

This would seem to be the "common knowledge" of losing or controlling weight but I'm not so sure that the common knowledge is the best.

Why shouldn't we eat between meals? The idea is that we divide all of the calories we need for a 24-hour period into those three meals. Nutritionists are beginning to lean toward 5 or more meals per day. Why would they do that? Perhaps it's because humans don't fit the physiology of an animal that gorges once every few weeks or even of those that gorge once, twice or three times per day. The three meals per day idea seems to have come more from the convenience of eating around an 8-hour work day than out of basic human needs. We fit into a classification of animals who are more content grazing and nibbling throughout the day. But, if we consume all of the calories we need in 3 main meals and then consume more calories between those meals, we're simply eating more calories than we need and our body stores much of the excess as fat.

So it's okay to eat between meals as long as the meals contain smaller portions and this works for many people where the shear will power needed to get from one meal to the next may fail. No one likes to spend the majority of their day feeling hungry. The key is to consume the proper number of calories, not to split them properly into a certain number of meals per day. The other thing to keep in mind is to eat those foods which are less dense in calories. As the chart shows on the first page of this thread, that's not the sugars or carbohydrates that usually get the blame. The calorically dense foods are almost always those from the animal-based sources. That's not to say that there aren't some plant-based foods that are packed with calories, but it's significantly less prevalent so eat those food sparingly.

The idea of the "balanced diet" is also something which is coming under scrutiny. Certainly it's best to see that you get all of the nutrients you need through your food, but people have been instructed that each meal must contain a proper level of each nutrient and this simply isn't true. If you look at the way animals eat, you find that they eat whatever is available when it's availble. It's usually seasonal or just dumb luck but they'll often eat mostly one kind of food for weeks, then find an alternate food source as the first one diminishes and switch to another kind of food. Certainly when foods are plentiful, animals choose to eat a variety but clearly, a variety isn't necessary at each and every meal.

Exercise is a big factor and a difficult thing for people to stick with. Our lives are so busy that when we have a few minutes, we often feel more like resting or napping rather than working our bodies. But the body is designed to work. It gets healthier and more attractive as it is worked. Exercise even helps to keep the immune system strong. Much of this goes contrary to the ideas of society. We seem to have this notion that taking it easy on our bodies will promote health. People with "bad backs" are told to avoid straining their back. In some cases this is good advice because there has been an injury to the back that the body has been unable to repair. In most cases, the so called, "bad back" is really just a weak back. The muscles designed to hold the bones in alignment are so weak that they can no longer do their job. The proper treatment is a careful, progress exercise program. There are even companies out there who have people convinced that their "too soft" or "too firm" mattress is the cause of their problems. How lame can we be to believe such a thing? If your body is in good shape, you should be able to sleep on a rock or a virtual cloud and still get a good night's rest. But people do injure themselves while sleeping because their muscle tissue has turned to mush. If you don't exercise, it doesn't matter what you weigh, you're not healthy. You don't need to look like a body builder or a marathon runner but you should have a degree of reasonable muscle tone.

Cleanliness is another area where we've lost sight of our original goals. We use germicidal soap and laundry detergent, disinfectant sprays, antibacterial wipes and a miriad of other products designed to do what our immune systems are there to do. The immune system is a wonderful thing. But it, like our muscles, only gets better doing its job if it's allowed to do so. If you live in a nearly sterile environment, your immune system will weaken to match the lower threat level. Those living in environments more likely to introduce the immune system to occassional invaders, will have stronger immune systems. Now I'm not suggesting that anyone live in conditions of filth or attempt to promote infections. I'm just saying there is such a thing as being too clean. The small quanities of bacterial on food pulled from the soil and not throughly scrubbed actually provide us with Vitamin B. When we scour our vegetables till the skins are gone, we are forced to rely on other unclean foods for our source of Vitamin B -- namley meat. The meat that passes so called, inspections today is riddled with cancers, fecal contamination and seething with salmonella; something the body's immune system isn't capable of coping with.