Eating Simply: Eating Well
I found some excellent advice at this site.
It compliments a related blog post that can be found here Fuel for Fitness.
The Basics
1. Eliminate junk food, processed food, fast food, red meats, fried food.
2. Choose basic whole food ingredients that can be easily and quickly prepared.
3. Choose nutritious foods containing the fiber, vitamins and minerals, protein, good fats, etc.
4. Choose foods that are low in calories, saturated fat, sugar and cholesterol.
What would a simplified diet look like?
It would have a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, beans, nuts, whole grains. Here are some simple meals from the website linked to above :
Breakfast: Whole-grain cereals (no processed or sugary cereals), fresh homemade bran muffins (use whole-grain flour), homemade granola, fresh fruits, whole-grain toast with almond butter, scrambled tofu (with onions and spices).
Lunch: Sandwiches such as turkey or avocado with tomatoes and sprouts on whole wheat bread; pita filled with hummus and tomatoes and sprouts and lettuce; leftover soup or chili.
Dinner: Hearty soup ; homemade vegetarian chili ; hearty salad with nuts and spinach and avocados and lettuce and carrots and a light dressing; steamed veggies with seasoned brown rice (use sesame seeds and tamari and pepper); stir-fry tofu and veggies; veggie burgers with homemade baked fries (slice up potato, drizzle a little olive oil, salt and pepper); butternut squash with couscous and chutney.
Snacks: Fruits, cut-up veggies, nuts.
Treats: Every now and then you need to treat yourself. If you’ve been good, splurge on some crazy fattening dessert. Or treat yourself with little things like a little bit of dark chocolate or berries.
from what i’ve seen, controlled cheating seems to be the key to the success of any diet. as long as you only allow yourself to cheat like once a week or so, it makes it easier to keep up the diet. eventually cheating becomes less important.
I agree. It’s important to enjoy becoming healthy by making gradual changes to your diet. Treating yourself is a great motivator. At first we need to monitor but, like you say, eventually the inclination to eat anything but good food fades.