Nutrition Bullet Points

Something I wrote down when asked for advice, only two of these are mine...

• There is no bad or evil Macro nutrient. Fat is not the only thing that gives you a heart attack, Carbs are not the only reason you get a gut. The problems arise from eating too much of one or not enough of another. So it’s not bad to have a pasta dinner, but it might be a problem if you do it very often and don’t serve vegetables.

• The old food pyramid was wrong. Vegetables should be on the bottom. I think that Meat and Eggs should be the next step up and Grains, Starches and Sugars closer to the top. 

• Think like Craig Weller, if you could walk outside and find it, grow it or hunt it, then it’s probably good for you. If you can’t, it’s not health food no matter what the box says.

• Dan John likes to say don’t eat “cardboard carbs”, which are things that come in cardboard boxes or plastic bags.

• I like to sum it up this way; Buy ingredients, not food. Make food out of ingredients.

• All diets work, if you stick to them. My wife and I proved this together with both Weight Watchers and Keto (Adkins). Find something you can stick to for a while.

• Of all the things that people say are bad for you in excess, Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup are the only things everyone seems to agree on.

• The old Calories in vs. Calories out model of weight loss works. You will lose some fat short term with the Redneck Adkins or Just Don't Eat Any Fats or Eat All The Grapefruit You Want diet, but in my experience you’ll eventually have to cut back on calories.

• It’s easiest to plan your meals by what’s on sale. I go to the store and if pork chops are on sale, I have pork chops for lunch for two weeks. It lacks variety, and that sucks, but it de-clutters everything else. 

• Sheldon* from Big Bang Theory has another good approach, Monday night is Thai Food Night, Tuesday Night at the Cheesecake Factory, etc. etc. Plan your breakfast and lunch this way, get your variety at dinner.

• It’s not what you eat at Sunday dinner that makes the difference; it’s what you ate Monday through Saturday.

• Protein and Fiber are good diet foods because it’s a lot harder to pack in 1000 calories of steak or broccoli in one sitting than it is candy. Steak and broccoli are more filling and not as “nutrient dense”.

*I looked up the schedule from BBT online, Sheldon would approve.