Top foods to give up

Houseswap1

Hi all,

Quick question: what would be the top foods to change if i wanted to loose some weight?

Im not that unfit and am about 2 stone over weight, do plenty of running of 6 miles length and play soccer and all that.

Due to work and family circumstances i cant be as dedicated to being totally healthy as most people on here and i know ill get shot down for that comment, however thats does not mean im un healthy or i eat junk all the time.

Suppose im really looking for the top things that would make the biggest change in my weight loss.

Thanks all !!

Dotcomdolly

Off the top of my head
Fried foods, esp deep fat fried
White processed carbs - white sliced pan, bakery stuff.
Sugary stuff - sweets, chocs, sugar laden breakfast cereal

ApeXaviour

The above poster has covered it fairly well. I'll try tackle the lesser known, more insidious things you might find in your kitchen.

-Vegetable oil and margarines. (replace with butter, olive oil, lard, coconut oil etc.)
-Processed sugary cereals, including Special K. (Replace with porridge/muesli with yogurt mmmm)
-Baking mixes (usually have trans-fat in them, if you must bake start from basic ingredients: butter sugar cocoa powder etc, tastes better too)
-Sugary drinks, including carton fruit juices, mi-wadi, vitamin drinks, 7up etc. Get a blender and make yourself a smoothie instead. Frozen berries are great!
-Nutella, peanut butter, jam, marmalade etc.

El_Dangeroso

Good advice here.

If there was one thing to avoid like the plague it's vegetable oil. Flora/Low low/Helmans mayonaisse/commercial salad dressings. It's even hidden in those sachets of cooked rice.

Seriously, it does absolutely nothing good in your body. It's implicated in everything from cancer, to obesity to heart disease. That AND it doesn't even taste good!!

It's such a painless change to make too, butter, olive, avocado and coconut oil tastes so much better.

rubadub

Most people are shocked at the calorie content of pizzas. They often quote half or 1/4 size kcal on packs and at a glance you might think the half values are the full pizza as they are so high. Bread also packs loads of calories, there's about the same calories in a 1/4lber pattie as the bun.

Noodles, pasta, rice & cream crackers are others people get surprised at, since they are bland people think they are "ok".

I would strongly recommend you get a digital scales and start weighing out your regular foods to see how much you really are eating -i.e. read the calorie info per 100g, you will get pleasant and unpleasant surprises. Argos do them, I would recommend any salter branded ones.

-though it is not all about calories but portion control is a huge problem for most.

OwenM

Watch your portion sizes equally as well as what you eat, just because skinned chicken breast is low fat doesn't mean you can eat two of them - 'Healthy eating' and eating to 'lose weight' are not neccessarily the same thing.

Lantus

anything fried
refined carbohydraes
ice cream
pastries and cakes, pies etc.
chocolate and sugar
sugared drinks including fruit juice.
white breads and pasta's.
fast food. (treat yourself for one meal a week at most.)
sugared breakfast cereals. (which is amost all of them.)

just eliminating those will make a large difference.

figrolls

When Im being very disciplined with my diet (which is not at the moment!) my general rule of thumb is - if you cant spell it or its ingredients or if you dont know how its cooked/made then dont eat it.

The main one would be bread though, by cutting out bread you automatically cut down on butter/ spreads, cheese and other high calorie fillings

Ruu_Old

Sugary cereals already mentioned but needs to be drilled into some people since breakfast is the starter of the day.
General Mills cereal ads are playing non stop these days in the U.S.A, how great they are to start off your kids day before school. Covering over the amount of sugar things like Lucky Charms have with the x amount of whole grain per serving! :mad: No wonder there are so many chunky and hyper children around.

ApeXaviour

Lantus wrote: »

anything fried

I'd disagree with this. A fried steak is very healthy. Stir-frys can be great. It depends on the oil you use and the temperature you cook at. Fried eggs, lightly fried vegetables etc. etc. nothing wrong with them. Omellette, lamb chops. Most of my food is in fact fried.

Deep fried with vegetable oil or anything in batter and is to be avoided though.

eimearcmh

Foods high in saturated fats and sugar.

Some food that say they are low fat are high in sugar so just be carefull with this.

lou91

ApeXaviour wrote: »

The above poster has covered it fairly well. I'll try tackle the lesser known, more insidious things you might find in your kitchen.

-Vegetable oil and margarines. (replace with butter, olive oil, lard, coconut oil etc.)
-Processed sugary cereals, including Special K. (Replace with porridge/muesli with yogurt mmmm)
-Baking mixes (usually have trans-fat in them, if you must bake start from basic ingredients: butter sugar cocoa powder etc, tastes better too)
-Sugary drinks, including carton fruit juices, mi-wadi, vitamin drinks, 7up etc. Get a blender and make yourself a smoothie instead. Frozen berries are great!
-Nutella, peanut butter, jam, marmalade etc.

Really? I thought that was ok

El_Dangeroso

eimearcmh wrote: »

Foods high in saturated fats and sugar.

Just so you know saturated fat isn't the nutritional bogeyman that everyone used to think it was. Newer studies are showing that it's transfats that are the big problem. I know it seems like new information but it takes ages for the latest science to filter down to public health policy recommendations.

A lot of the traditional junkfood isn't even that high in sat fat. Most is deep fried in plant oils, like doughnuts, kfc or mcdonalds.

ApeXaviour

Pavlove wrote: »

Really? I thought that was ok

Peanut butter is basically peanuts, sugar and vegetable oil. None of those are even half decent for you.

The argument against peanuts is that well.. they're not nuts! They're legumes. Thus their fat profile is just as crap vegetable oil (too much omega-6). To a lesser extent they contain phytates which can inhibit mineral absorption. There's a few places I think you can get cashew butter. It's mostly mono-unsaturated fat.

El_Dangeroso

ApeXaviour wrote: »

Peanut butter is basically peanuts, sugar and vegetable oil. None of those are even half decent for you.

The argument against peanuts is that well.. they're not nuts! They're legumes. Thus their fat profile is just as crap vegetable oil (too much omega-6). To a lesser extent they contain phytates which can inhibit mineral absorption. There's a few places I think you can get cashew butter. It's mostly mono-unsaturated fat.

Thanks I did not know that about cashew butter! Brilliant, I can make satay sauce again.

rubadub

Cashew butter is usually very expensive, you can get cashews and just liquidise them to make a butter, you could add in other oil to make it more spreadable.

Predator_

Im on a diet, trying to lose 2 stone aswell. Lost nearly 3 lb in the past week. Im having Fruit & Fiber or Risen Wheats for breakfast, they ok?

RobAMerc

I'm shocked about peanut butter, I make my own so there is no sugar in it but I eat loads of it!

Now for the first time in quite a while I am wondering again is there anything that isn't bad for you by somebody's reckoning ?

RobAMerc

Predator_ wrote: »

Im on a diet, trying to lose 2 stone aswell. Lost nearly 3 lb in the past week. Im having Fruit & Fiber or Risen Wheats for breakfast, they ok?

Go with porridge - way better, spice it up with some cinnamon and a banana - much nicer than either of those options.

Houseswap1

Thanks for all the replys,

So far im getting apart from the usual sugar laden stuff like choclate and fizzy drinks, lay off the white bread and white pasta, spuds and watch portion size and i should be on the right road

Susie_Q

Houseswap1 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replys,

So far im getting apart from the usual sugar laden stuff like choclate and fizzy drinks, lay off the white bread and white pasta, spuds and watch portion size and i should be on the right road

Definitely on the right road. I think the best advice I've gotten on here is to stick to whole foods that are unprocessed. Your diet should consist of vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, wholgrains. Don't buy things that come in boxes with unpronounceable ingredients and cook from scratch as often as you can. It's not difficult once you get used to it, you just need to be organised.

Sapsorrow

RobAMerc wrote: »

I'm shocked about peanut butter, I make my own so there is no sugar in it but I eat loads of it!

Now for the first time in quite a while I am wondering again is there anything that isn't bad for you by somebody's reckoning ?

I know it is confusing, I have a post about lectins here: http://foodfloraandfelines.blogspot.com/search/label/lectins which are found in peanuts among other foods, and are my main beef with them. It should help you to figure out if they'd be something you should consider cutting out.

I'm on a big nut butter buzz, eating hazelnut butter with cocoa powder and stevia mixed in and spread on slices of apple as I type! Great PB alternative! Nutella?? pfft...

RobAMerc

Sapsorrow wrote: »

I know it is confusing, I have a post about lectins here: http://foodfloraandfelines.blogspot.com/search/label/lectins which are found in peanuts among other foods, and are my main beef with them. It should help you to figure out if they'd be something you should consider cutting out.

I'm on a big nut butter buzz, eating hazelnut butter with cocoa powder and stevia mixed in and spread on slices of apple as I type! Great PB alternative! Nutella?? pfft...

Thanks for the info.

I was reading this while I thought about going out for a cigarrette. Coupled with the hangover I have from a beer or two too may last night, it dawned on me - lectins are the least of my worries !

ApeXaviour

RobAMerc wrote: »

Thanks for the info.

I was reading this while I thought about going out for a cigarrette. Coupled with the hangover I have from a beer or two too may last night, it dawned on me - lectins are the least of my worries !

Yeah like a lot of things it's fairly easy to get carried away. I still eat peanuts now and then if I'm at a party or in the pub. I just eat them a lot less than I used to (when I thought they were a grand snack and I'd get a half kilo every week in tesco). A little now and then does me no harm, they're not nearly as bad as sugar like. Some crappy foods are easy to give up (I had zero problem with the coke, crisps, potatoes, chips etc. don't miss them at all). Others psychologically fight you tooth and nail (for me that's beer, pasta, cereals). For those I just cut down and/or placate myself with better variations (wine, gluten-free pasta and porridge). Unless it's causing you a lot of problems or you're an addict then giving up certain foods utterly and completely just isn't worth the mental anguish. Your diet should be fun, easy, flexible and rewarding.

El_Dangeroso

ApeXaviour wrote: »

Yeah like a lot of things it's fairly easy to get carried away. I still eat peanuts now and then if I'm at a party or in the pub. I just eat them a lot less than I used to (when I thought they were a grand snack and I'd get a half kilo every week in tesco). A little now and then does me no harm, they're not nearly as bad as sugar like. Some crappy foods are easy to give up (I had zero problem with the coke, crisps, potatoes, chips etc. don't miss them at all). Others psychologically fight you tooth and nail (for me that's beer, pasta, cereals). For those I just cut down and/or placate myself with better variations (wine, gluten-free pasta and porridge). Unless it's causing you a lot of problems or you're an addict then giving up certain foods utterly and completely just isn't worth the mental anguish. Your diet should be fun, easy, flexible and rewarding.

My worst thing to give up for me was beer. Delicious, delicious ale. They do this thing in Galway, don't know if it's elsewhere but I've only seen it here where they put a Guinness head on a pint of Swithwick's. It's almost worth the gluten-induced stomach pain..almost.

hcass

Potatoes are not BAD for you. You just have to cook them the right way, kep their skins on and don't add butter, sauces etc. They can be quite high in calories but a couple of potatoes a week is a good thing. Like a previous poster said, everything can be proven to be bad for you in some way or form...

metamorphosis

hcass wrote: »

Potatoes are not BAD for you. You just have to cook them the right way, kep their skins on and don't add butter, sauces etc. They can be quite high in calories but a couple of potatoes a week is a good thing. Like a previous poster said, everything can be proven to be bad for you in some way or form...

Potatoes are of course grand in moderation but just don't go piling them on the plate on a daily basis as they turn too sugar rather quickly in the body.

El_Dangeroso

hcass wrote: »

Potatoes are not BAD for you. You just have to cook them the right way, kep their skins on and don't add butter, sauces etc. They can be quite high in calories but a couple of potatoes a week is a good thing. Like a previous poster said, everything can be proven to be bad for you in some way or form...

I'm a big potato fan (probably not great to go mad on them if you want to lose weight like ULstudent said). But best actually to not eat the skin, that's where most of the toxins are. Potatoes don't really want to be eaten and since they don't have teeth or claws, the toxins are how they defend themselves. Wouldn't add to the toxin load for a little bit of vitamin C.

Baked potato loaded with sour cream, bacon, chives and cheese is the best dinner ever (and it keeps me full for about 6 hours)

hcass

The amount of false and misleading info on this website is crazy! only potatoes with green skins are toxic! And you need to be eating alot of them for it to take effect. You should be careful before posting stuff like that and scaring people off poor potatoes!

http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/potato.asp

Jarren

what part of the world you dug up this website from????:D

http://www.snopes.com/snopes.asp

well..

that's mine btw

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=48

Much more reputable imho

brianthebard

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

My worst thing to give up for me was beer. Delicious, delicious ale. They do this thing in Galway, don't know if it's elsewhere but I've only seen it here where they put a Guinness head on a pint of Swithwick's. It's almost worth the gluten-induced stomach pain..almost.

Is that referred to as a pint of special or does it have other names as well? Where do you get that in Galway?

El_Dangeroso

hcass wrote: »

The amount of false and misleading info on this website is crazy! only potatoes with green skins are toxic! And you need to be eating alot of them for it to take effect. You should be careful before posting stuff like that and scaring people off poor potatoes!

http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/potato.asp

I didn't say that potato skins are poisonous, I said that's where most of the toxins reside, glycoalkaloids to be specific. I reckon toxins are things you want to be minimising no?

You should be careful to read someone's post before you make accusations of posting false information.

El_Dangeroso

brianthebard wrote: »

Is that referred to as a pint of special or does it have other names as well? Where do you get that in Galway?

Yep, that's it, pint o' special. Anywhere in town serves it..it's bloody lovely. Anytime I do indulge I comfort myself with the fact that beer was man's very first use of grains

rantyface

I'd say it's portion sizes that are the problem, if you say yourself that you're not eating a lot of junk. Some foods are far more filling for the amount of calories they provide than others, and they're what you need to eat more of. Read the food diary section on this site and see what worked for other people.

hcass

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

I didn't say that potato skins are poisonous, I said that's where most of the toxins reside, glycoalkaloids to be specific. I reckon toxins are things you want to be minimising no?

You should be careful to read someone's post before you make accusations of posting false information.

Where exactly did I say that you said potatoes were poisonous? Cos I missed that...

danjo-xx

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Yep, that's it, pint o' special. Anywhere in town serves it..it's bloody lovely. Anytime I do indulge I comfort myself with the fact that beer was man's very first use of grains

So is that the same as a black and tan that we have in Dubland:)

El_Dangeroso

danjo-xx wrote: »

So is that the same as a black and tan that we have in Dubland:)

Ah, here's me thinking it was a just a Galway thing..:)

Doolee

brianthebard wrote: »

Is that referred to as a pint of special or does it have other names as well? Where do you get that in Galway?

Its a "pint-a-special" alright! Used to work in a bar in a village outside Kilkenny and it was a common enough order with a few of the regulars.

I'm struggling with raisins at the moment! Sounds pathetic I know. There is a kit-kat, Moro, Drifter and twix sitting in my press that are there for the taking (my sisters stash) and all I want is a handful of raisins with a few almonds every time I have a cuppa tea which is quite often. I dont eat other refined carbs at all and dont crave the chocolatey stuff at all but have a sweet tooth and find the sugary goodness of raisins feckin yum as a substitute. But deep deep deep down I know full well that they have probably just as big a sugar hit as the other goodies! Dag nammit!

El_Dangeroso

Doolee wrote: »

Its a "pint-a-special" alright! Used to work in a bar in a village outside Kilkenny and it was a common enough order with a few of the regulars.

I'm struggling with raisins at the moment! Sounds pathetic I know. There is a kit-kat, Moro, Drifter and twix sitting in my press that are there for the taking (my sisters stash) and all I want is a handful of raisins with a few almonds every time I have a cuppa tea which is quite often. I dont eat other refined carbs at all and dont crave the chocolatey stuff at all but have a sweet tooth and find the sugary goodness of raisins feckin yum as a substitute. But deep deep deep down I know full well that they have probably just as big a sugar hit as the other goodies! Dag nammit!

Ah jaysus, you could do so much worse than a few raisins! Raisins are not refined carbs. I say go with it for the time being, just watch the portions. It's probably a phase.

danlen

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

They do this thing in Galway, don't know if it's elsewhere but I've only seen it here where they put a Guinness head on a pint of Swithwick's.

Yep, called a pint of derry where I'm from anyway!

ltdslipdiff

Very interesting post, even the beer talk too !! Just to add my tuppence, copious amounts of water are great for ridding the body of toxins and keeping the metabolism goin!!

Doolee

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Ah jaysus, you could do so much worse than a few raisins! Raisins are not refined carbs. I say go with it for the time being, just watch the portions. It's probably a phase.

Hahaha! I told you it sounded stupid, but thats the thing, theres soooo much worse I could be addicted to! Thanks though, I feel better now!

jam_mac_jam

Doolee wrote: »

Hahaha! I told you it sounded stupid, but thats the thing, theres soooo much worse I could be addicted to! Thanks though, I feel better now!

You can get those tiny little boxes and you know how much you are eating, I eat them as well the odd time when I want something sweet much much better then chocolate crap.