These ingredients have been staples of dieters for decades because they don’t have calories. But saccharine and other sugar substitutes have controversial reputations. Some studies report that artificial sweeteners are damaging to health, causing cancer and other maladies. Other studies suggest that there is no risk to using these sweeteners. The cautionary word here is “artificial.” Do we really want to be putting artificial anything into our bodies? That’s my position—with the studies that point to potential harm. Recently, there have been reports that even daily multivitamins may also be harmful over time. Mega-doses of specific supplements may also to have deleterious long-term effects. Again, individual responsibility comes into play here. No one can or should decide for you. If you are unsure, do some research.
Alcohol
I’m putting alcoholic beverages after artificial sugar because there’s an artificial food aspect to these pleasure foods, too. Wine, beer and cocktails offer little in the way of nutrients but they do offer significant calories. Just think of this group as you would regular pop—empty calories. I suggest that anyone who does drink and wants to lose weight by learning to eat well on time should either not drink at all or keep their alcohol intake down to one or two drinks a week. And, as always, make sure you have eaten well on the day you choose to drink. Alcoholic beverages can be great make-up foods when people haven’t eaten enough, so if you find yourself drinking more than you should, you need to get back to the basics of taking care of your food needs.
Tips For Fast Weight Loss On Slimming World Artificial Sugar and Artificial Nutrients Photo Gallery
The Fat We Eat
Fat is such a vilified word in diet land that it sometimes evokes anxiety in dieters. But, dietary fat is important! Bodies need it and even overweight bodies need it. (You probably don’t believe this.) We have, along with our theories on weight loss, decided that people who have too much body fat must stop eating fat if they are ever going to lose their fat. This is why we have fat-free muffins, low-fat cheese, low-fat milk, no-fat yogurt, fat-burning energy drinks and, if we could manage it, we’d make some product with negative fat! The fat we take out of these foods is supposed to make them healthier and us thinner, but they don’t.
The main trouble with taking most or all of the fat out of your diet is that you miss it. Your body misses it, too. It’s one of the reasons people go off their diets—they’re fat-starved. The only way to prevent this is to keep enough fat in your diet to keep you and your body fat-satisfied. One of the important roles that fat plays in the diet is satiation—a feeling of fullness or satisfaction. Another is the flavor enhancing quality of fat. Although these sound like pleasure issues, they really are biochemical, too. Why do our bodies miss fat?
Although fat is concentrated energy—9 calories per gram—it still has a legitimate place in the diet of overweight people. Carbohydrate foods contain 4 calories per gram and protein foods 4 calories per gram, so it would seem logical to eat more from these food categories. And, we generally do. But when fat overpowers the diet, representing the bulk of ingested energy, it’s not healthy. Nutrient-rich foods get squeezed out, sometimes even to the point of malnutrition. This happens for overweight people when they get to the feasting part of the feast or famine cycle.
Where does dietary fat fit into this recovery process? The Real Foods list offers some higher-fat foods that are typically forbidden on traditional diets. You are probably thinking, what are the guidelines here? Can you just drink a bottle offull-fat salad dressing?
That’s precisely the question I wanted you to ask because, of course, you wouldn’t drink an entire bottle of salad dressing. So, salad dressings are Real Foods. Now, it is your job to put the salad dressing on the salad, at home and when you eat out. If you want regular dressing, because it generally tastes better than low- or no-fat, put it on as a condiment, not as soup. It’s important that you be able to taste the salad. Also, try to get a quality salad dressing made with canola, flaxseed or olive oil.
Making your own is probably the best but there are some decent ones at the grocery store, too.
Then, we come to the popular dairy case where almost everything is reduced fat. I was shopping with my tiny, older friend the other day and she reached up for a big carton of half and half. I just had to tell her as a joke, “Nancy, you know, you can get fat-free half and half!” She burst out laughing and said, “That’s the best oxymoron I’ve heard in a long time! Kind of defeats the purpose, don’t you think?”
But that’s where we are when it comes to fat. Well, you might protest, dairy fat is saturated! Yes it is, and that’s why we have to use our judgment and common sense. If you are new at food quality and good fats vs. bad fats, research this topic. The Internet is packed with helpful information on beneficial fats and nutrition in general. There are also some good books that offer guides to quality foods but beware of the ones that recommend counting calories and fat and all that—it’s easy to slip back to diet thinking.
How about butter? Have you eaten a stick recently? Butter is a condiment and can be used with discretion. It is saturated fat so there are a couple of reasons to avoid eating a stick. But, you don’t have to eat dry toast with your eggs, even though you know eggs have fat in them, too. Do avoid margarine! It’s usually made with trans-fats. And, have whole eggs instead of eggbeaters—the real ones are better. Choose real food, not food that’s been altered or processed in any way. Cheese is an interesting food. It is almost always mostly fat and that’s why they make low fat or even no fat cheese, which tastes like rubber, probably because it is rubber. But real cheese is a perfectly good real food as an appetizer or condiment, not a main course. Cheese often shows up on the appetizer menu for a reason. It’s something rich to settle down an overdue appetite. Of course, this won’t be the case with you—I mean an overdue appetite. If you like cheese, eat it in small chunks because it has high taste satisfaction and you’ll never be so hungry you’ll need a brick-sized piece.
