My Dieting Philosophy
My dieting regime and philosophy is pretty simple: I don't have much of one. What I have done is to carefully watch what's in what I eat.
Sugar and Carbohydrates
These are probably two of the worst things according to the Atkins diet but I eat them. I just watch what I eat and how much.
Sugar
For me, this is the big no-no. My wife followed an Atkins Diet quite a while ago and it worked well for her. The trouble is staying on it. I think the underlying philosophy is still sound and it forms the basis of many diets. After reading various health articles, I've come to the belief that sugar consumption is bad, and addictive. I've managed to minimize sugar intake by learning to drink teas and coffees without sugar as a teen and staying with that. However, I am partial to sugared sodas and pops and have drunk more than my share of large fountain drinks in my younger days. I still indulge and prefer the sugared variety whenever I do, but I can genuinely count the number of times I do this annually with the fingers I have on two hands.
I also limit my consumption of desserts, and ice cream is perhaps a 2-3x yearly treat (we buy a tub and finish it).
I eat pastries very seldomly. I find North American recipes call for way too much sugar and overly sweet desserts. Whenever I bake anything, I usually look at cutting down sugar by 50-70%. I prefer European, perhaps namely French, pastries where there is a lot more flavour and less sweetness. On a recent trip to Quebec, I became reacquainted with this type of baking and loved it. Having much more than I normally eat but not excessively so. Perhaps easy when normal is next to none.
Starches
I generally don't stay away from carbs and eat my share as a filler. Potatoes, pasta, rice. and quite a lot of it. A couple of years ago, we got a Philips Air Fryer. We use this to make and consume a lot of quasi-fried potatoes. One can't fill up on protein and fibre only. Perhaps my lifestyle and exercise routine permits me to do so (see my "big muscle"post when it appears).
Candies, Snacks and other Process Foods
What I do stay away from is refined carbs and processed foods. Sure, I do (very infrequently) indulge as I love them as anyone else does, but my consumption is limited. Unrelated to diet is that I'm cheap and I don't like to pay too much, and processed foods offer very little value.
Alcohol
I do like my drinks but what I drink is limited. I never drank too much into my 30s and only started having a taste for wine. I've never had a fondness for beers and spirits are only sometime I indulge in when I get my hand on duty free which has been non-existent lately. My ethnicity indicates that I digest alcohol differently than other people and I don't enjoy it effects but just the flavour so I'd actually prefer to drink less than I already do - less than half a bottle of wine for dinner and the evening is more than sufficient.
As is the case of processed foods, I like value and prefer to drink a good wine and prefer no drinking to bad drinks. Perhaps living in a land of high alcohol taxes has its benefits.
Snacking
I do admit to liking cereal as a breakfast item, and also as a bed time snack. What I have looked for are the cereals with no sugar, or salt, added, just pure grain. They taste just fine. Three cereals come to mind.
Post/Nabisco Shredded Wheat
Quaker Oats Muffets
Kelloggs Mini Wheats
The latter however has just one variety that is sugar and salt free, all the others have lots, and Kellogg's has chosen not to sell it in Canada and I don't buy any of their other cereals
I do admit I grew up with and loved and still sugared cereals such as Cap'n Crunch, Froot Loops, Sugar Pops (before they were renamed Corn Pops) among others, and do consume them on occasion generally while travelling but they have no place in my home these days.
Fats
I like fat. It is flavour. I eat the fat from meat and I like full fat yoghurts. I'd drink full fat milk if it was the same price as lower fat milks but it isn't where I buy milk. Fat is needed as a lubricant and the body only uses what it needs and discards the rest. Of course I do have cholesterol concerns but my levels are within range.
Sodium
Due to a family history of blood pressure issues, I try to minimise sodium intake though I still have trouble with it, and having a blood pressure that can vary dramatically from one minute to the next.
Sugar and Carbohydrates
These are probably two of the worst things according to the Atkins diet but I eat them. I just watch what I eat and how much.
Sugar
For me, this is the big no-no. My wife followed an Atkins Diet quite a while ago and it worked well for her. The trouble is staying on it. I think the underlying philosophy is still sound and it forms the basis of many diets. After reading various health articles, I've come to the belief that sugar consumption is bad, and addictive. I've managed to minimize sugar intake by learning to drink teas and coffees without sugar as a teen and staying with that. However, I am partial to sugared sodas and pops and have drunk more than my share of large fountain drinks in my younger days. I still indulge and prefer the sugared variety whenever I do, but I can genuinely count the number of times I do this annually with the fingers I have on two hands.
I also limit my consumption of desserts, and ice cream is perhaps a 2-3x yearly treat (we buy a tub and finish it).
I eat pastries very seldomly. I find North American recipes call for way too much sugar and overly sweet desserts. Whenever I bake anything, I usually look at cutting down sugar by 50-70%. I prefer European, perhaps namely French, pastries where there is a lot more flavour and less sweetness. On a recent trip to Quebec, I became reacquainted with this type of baking and loved it. Having much more than I normally eat but not excessively so. Perhaps easy when normal is next to none.
Starches
I generally don't stay away from carbs and eat my share as a filler. Potatoes, pasta, rice. and quite a lot of it. A couple of years ago, we got a Philips Air Fryer. We use this to make and consume a lot of quasi-fried potatoes. One can't fill up on protein and fibre only. Perhaps my lifestyle and exercise routine permits me to do so (see my "big muscle"post when it appears).
Candies, Snacks and other Process Foods
What I do stay away from is refined carbs and processed foods. Sure, I do (very infrequently) indulge as I love them as anyone else does, but my consumption is limited. Unrelated to diet is that I'm cheap and I don't like to pay too much, and processed foods offer very little value.
Alcohol
I do like my drinks but what I drink is limited. I never drank too much into my 30s and only started having a taste for wine. I've never had a fondness for beers and spirits are only sometime I indulge in when I get my hand on duty free which has been non-existent lately. My ethnicity indicates that I digest alcohol differently than other people and I don't enjoy it effects but just the flavour so I'd actually prefer to drink less than I already do - less than half a bottle of wine for dinner and the evening is more than sufficient.
As is the case of processed foods, I like value and prefer to drink a good wine and prefer no drinking to bad drinks. Perhaps living in a land of high alcohol taxes has its benefits.
Snacking
I do admit to liking cereal as a breakfast item, and also as a bed time snack. What I have looked for are the cereals with no sugar, or salt, added, just pure grain. They taste just fine. Three cereals come to mind.
Post/Nabisco Shredded Wheat
Quaker Oats Muffets
Kelloggs Mini Wheats
The latter however has just one variety that is sugar and salt free, all the others have lots, and Kellogg's has chosen not to sell it in Canada and I don't buy any of their other cereals
I do admit I grew up with and loved and still sugared cereals such as Cap'n Crunch, Froot Loops, Sugar Pops (before they were renamed Corn Pops) among others, and do consume them on occasion generally while travelling but they have no place in my home these days.
Fats
I like fat. It is flavour. I eat the fat from meat and I like full fat yoghurts. I'd drink full fat milk if it was the same price as lower fat milks but it isn't where I buy milk. Fat is needed as a lubricant and the body only uses what it needs and discards the rest. Of course I do have cholesterol concerns but my levels are within range.
Sodium
Due to a family history of blood pressure issues, I try to minimise sodium intake though I still have trouble with it, and having a blood pressure that can vary dramatically from one minute to the next.
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