There are some foods that are just pure, unadulterated diet sabotage. These are foods that I think you should never eat, or if you can’t give them up entirely, have very very rarely (this is not once per day – that means once per month!). I think these are foods that you’ve seen as “no-no’s” on other diets, so I guarantee you can recognize them as bad actors and avoid them – if you want to.
High fat foods- this includes bacon, sausage, more than 1/4 cup of cheese at a time, fried anything (chicken, onion rings, ocra), chips including potato chips, avocado, oil in salad dressing, oil in anything, ice-cream. High fat foods are foods that you can put on a paper towel and watch an oil slick start to spread through the material.
fact: did you know that the Bloomin’ Onion from Outback has 3148 calories? That is almost 3 days worth of calories!!!!
High sugar foods: cookies, cake, chocolate, fast-food slushes, lots of breakfast cereals, SWEET TEA, iced coffee from McDonald’s, most flavored coffee drinks from Starbucks (unless you specifically ask for the “skinny” version), lots of “healthy” bars like nutrigrain or special K, juice, donuts, most granola bars, muffins (these are both high fat and high sugar). Remember, JUST BECAUSE IT SOUNDS HEALTHY DOESN’T MEAN IT IS!!!! YOU’VE GOT TO READ THE LABELS AND BE AN EDUCATED CONSUMER!!!!
fact: did you know that an average size muffin from the grocery store (even the “healthy” bran muffins) have about 500+ calories? And it’s all fat and sugar.
We’ll discuss more about reading food labels in future posts, but for now remember: avoid high fat and high sugar foods. They simply don’t add anything from a nutritional perspective and will only hurt your weight loss.
29. May 2009 at 5:29 pm
I have found that I enjoy going into a restaurant and ordering a cup of coffee, then I’ll tell the waitress that I need to relax a while before I order. I’ll drink the coffee then wait a few minutes and then order. (a) A cup of soup, (b) two eggs and grits with wheat toast, (c) a grilled chicken salad, something that fits what I can eat and how I can eat. Of course the waitress will keep pouring coffee, but I will let it sit. Then, I will sit and read a magazine that I brought in and later ask for a fresh cup of coffee. I have generally been in the restaurant for about two hours by the time that I have finished so I tip generously. Rarely has anyone asked if anything was wrong, and few will question if you look like you are busy or if you appear to be enjoying yourself (I love people watching). I haven’t had any problems, but I still enjoy showing my wrist band, talking about the surgery, and of course showing my belt. It is surprising how many people are really interested in the lap band surgery. There are many people out in this world who have weight problems, and they don’t know how easy the lap band surgery is to deal with.
9. June 2009 at 11:36 am
FYI- there is almost nothing on the Outback menu a dieter of any kind except low carbers can eat. The entire menu is extremely high fat.
9. June 2009 at 2:27 pm
One of the few things you can have there (other than the steaks) is the seared Ahi Tuna appetizer.
Calories 260 Calories from Fat 54
Total Fat 6g
Total Carbohydrate 21g
Protein 31g
Watch out for the dipping sauce! As always there are what I call “hidden” calories in dipping sauces. We don’t think about it and there are a lot of calories often in sauces or dressings.
24. June 2009 at 7:52 pm
Why in the world would avocado be bad for you? I was under the impression medium-chain fatty acids are actually advantageous to eat, especially when avoiding sugar and high-carb foods.
25. June 2009 at 6:10 pm
that comes under the, “yes, but…..” heading. If avocado or any other medium-chain fatty acid were the only fats you were eating, then it would be more healthy than the usual combination of saturated and unsaturated fats that make up the usual diet. But the reality is, avocado is never the only fat you eat, and when eaten with mexican food, it is usually eaten with a lot of cheese and chips. While it is a “good” fat, it still needs to be eaten in small quantities because ALL fats (“good” or “bad”) eaten in anything other than fairly small quantities will boost your calorie intake and help make you fat. The small health benefit you gain by eating certain fats is far outweighed by the health problems you gain by being overweight. And avocado is about 97% fat – just like butter.