This will be the last in three-part series about starting on a lifestyle modification plan by selecting three no-brainer places to start. We have already identified two no-brainers as great places to start reducing calories in your diet; reducing or eliminating sugary drinks and reducing or eliminating cheese. First, we determined that sugary drinks accounted for 46 percent of added sugar in the average American diet. Remember that drinks like vitamin water, energy drinks, bottled tea and even fruit juices are no better than a full sugar pop. They all represent “empty calories” that supply refined sugar and offer little, no other nutritional value. The other no-brainer we looked at was cheese. Cheese is a highly concentrated form of milk that adds a tremendous amount of fat to your diet.
Along with sugary drinks, savory and sweet snacks represent 77 percent of added refined sugar in the American diet; 46 percent and 31 percent, respectively. Savory and sweet snacks also represent 18 percent of the saturated fat in the American diet, even more than dairy, which represents 13 percent of saturated fat. Only mixed dishes, including pizza, burgers and sandwiches and meat dishes, are a more significant contributor of saturated fat to the American diet than savory or sweet snacks.
All fat has nine calories per gram. Saturated fat is the fat that is solid at room temperature and contributes to heart disease by raising cholesterol levels in your blood, leading to the formation of plaque in your blood vessels. Although non-saturated forms of fat are not associated with heart disease, they still provide nine calories per gram and add to what makes you overweight. Carbohydrates and protein have just four calories per gram.
As far as no-brainer thinking goes, that makes fat a better place to start reducing calories in your diet than carbohydrates. The main issue with reducing fat is that, as we chefs say, “fat is where the flavor is!” Our bodies are hard-wired to love fat! You may not enjoy eating potato chips, but if you are overweight, it won’t take you more than 10 seconds to identify three or four things that you love to eat that are high in fat! One of those things will be a savory or sweet snack. I am not the only person on the planet that loves to eat both a savory and a sweet snack at the same time!
Getting started on a few things that will show some weight loss pretty much immediately isn’t as hard as you think. If you drink soda, eat cheese and eat snacks regularly, it is actually very easy. All you have to do is reduce or eliminate those three things and you will show weight loss in less than a week!
Knowing about what to do or even being willing won’t do anything to help you, though. You have to DO something!
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.”
– Bruce Lee
For the past three weeks, I have been using a document written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture entitled Dietary Guidelines for Americans. I found it to be a valuable source of both details about the Standard American Diet (SAD) and some accurate dietary suggestions. I’d say it was worth having a look at. There is a link that will take you to this document in the references below.
Have a great week!
Eat Well – Be Well!
Here are the references for today’s healthy eating tip.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Health.gov. Our Work. Food & Nutrition. Previous Dietary Guidelines. 2015. https://health.gov/our-work/food-nutrition/previous-dietary-guidelines/2015. (Accessed 05/07-14/2021.)