A few tips

I know. Changing your eating habits is hard. Don't worry if you have difficulty finding the right things to eat. Just keep trying to explore the food choices that you have and work to avoid the worst offenders. I will continue to add tips as time goes on so that we can all do better and beat that fat.

Let's start with bread. How in the world, no, how in America can you avoid bread? It is everywhere; and in the fast-food nation, bread makes everything portable, quick and easy to eat! That is the genius of the sandwich. It takes one hand to eat a sandwich - so you can eat it while you drive, while you walk, at a football game or at your desk. And, let's not even mention pizza, the perfect food, except that it is built on a piece of bread.

I am sure that there will be times when it seems like the only thing to have is a sandwich. When you plan to eat while driving, for instance. Understood. I find it most difficult to eat right while traveling, but it can be done.

The rest of the time, the contents of the sandwich can be eaten without the bread. Unfortunately, a tortilla, or a wrap, carries essential the same amount of carbs and salt as bread. I wish it weren't so. People have told me that they can wrap a sandwich in lettuce and eat it that way. Sounds creative. Restaurants are happy to serve you a burger these days without the bun, and when they offer to bring bread to the table, just say, “No.” If others at the table want the bread, I know it is difficult to sit there and not eat it, but like that famous philosopher, Yoda, once said, “There is no try, only do.” Do not eat it.

When it comes to chips and crackers, the only answer, especially if you have any concern about diabetes, weight gain or elevated blood pressure, is, “No, I can’t eat that.” Period. No chips, no crackers. I have discovered that I can eat slices of cheese with slices of apple. You can have peanut butter or cream cheese with any sort of veggie. The same goes for that guacamole and hummus. Have a handful of nuts. No more chips, no more crackers. 

Notice that it is OK to eat cream cheese and other cheeses. Do not bring your misconceptions about fat with you into this program. Fat is OK. You will eat a lot of fat. Carbohydrate is the enemy.

I eat full fat yogurt and I drink full fat milk. I cook with butter when needed, though most other non-trans oils are good, also. I put half and half in my coffee, but no sugar. I am agnostic on stevia or other artificial sweeteners, but the more natural the better. Non-dairy creamer is one of the craziest and probably most harmful products on the planet. What the heck is non-dairy half and half? Who knows what they put in it? Do not use it. 

If you know that you have a problem with cholesterol, by all means, take a statin to lower the cholesterol. Eating fat will not raise your cholesterol, but eating carbs and being fat will increase your chance of developing heart disease and will lower your HDL and raise the triglycerides. I will follow up in the future with a more detailed blog about cholesterol. 

That's all for now.