If you’ve been trying to diet, but the scale just doesn’t seem to be showing you the magic number you want to see, it may be time to shed all your illusions about what kinds of foods are really diet friendly and learn which choices can support rather than sabotage your weight loss goals.
Hold the Cheese Please: Bring on the pickles and lettuce – but hold the cheese! When dieting, cheese isn’t your friend – unless you have a small portion of cottage cheese, a low-fat slice/stick or a little bit of sprinkle-on parmesan.
Complimentary Condiments: Mustard, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, horseradish, fat-free dressings with minimal grams of sugar, sugar-free jam and jellies and cinnamon are diet friendly. But beware! Calories and sugar grams from regular salad dressings, croutons, mayo and ketchup are a catch- 22 for dieters!
Don’t Go Bananas! “Fruit is good for you!” But you can have too much of a good thing. If you’re really serious about losing weight, the best diet friendly and lower-glycemic level fresh fruits include strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, green apples and pears.
Are You Nuts? Maybe, if you think all nuts are taboo for dieters. A well-balanced nutrition plan should include “good for you” monounsaturated fats in moderation from optimal sources such as almonds and walnuts or raw nut butters, avocados, wild salmon, egg yolks; flaxseed or olive oil
Sugar’s Not So Sweet: Virtually everywhere you look on nutrition labels, you can find “unexpected” grams of sugar – so unfriendly, they could even be classified as a “dieter’s worst enemy!” Beware of fruit flavored yogurts, yogurt-covered raisins, certain energy and protein bars, granola, many cereals, flavored oatmeal… there’s even sugar in skim milk – and Vitamin Water has as much as eight grams of sugar per serving.
White Out of Sight: Eliminating anything “white” will help you diet right! Instead of white rice, choose brown rice or quinoa; instead of white breads, choose low-carb Ezekiel breads (available at Whole Foods Market); and instead of white potatoes, choose lowglycemic sweet potatoes.
Eat Your Veggies: While dieting, avoid starchy or high-glycemic level vegetables like corn, carrots and butternut squash. Stick to green choices instead like spinach, broccoli, cucumbers, bok choy and asparagus.
Be Egg-ceptionally Creative: Eggwhites, especially the kind that come in convenient, pourable cartons, are “eggs-traordinarily” diet friendly and “eggs-tremely” versatile! You can find many recipes for making healthy eggwhite meals and snacks on-line…A favorite is Protein Pancakes prepared with eggwhites, oatmeal and a scoop of protein powder.
Indulge Without the Bulge: To survive snack attacks, diet friendly, sweet treats to keep on hand include sugar-free MHP Power Pak Pudding with 30 g protein (available at GNC); sugar-free Jello; Swiss Miss Sensible Sweets Diet Hot Chocolate; Hershey’s sugar-free chocolate syrup (great for strawberry dipping); Skinny Cow ice creams; and Balance Nimble peanut butter bars made with Truvia (available by the box on-line).
Knowledge is Diet Power: To ensure the choices you’re making are really diet friendly, stay informed by reading fitness and nutrition oriented publications like Women’s Health, Men’s Health, FitnessRx, Oxygen, Shape and Muscle & Fitness. The more you know, the more weight you can lose – even more quickly!
