20 ways to successfully follow a diet

5 of 7

by Michael Skinner

Created on: May 03, 2009 Last Updated: August 14, 2010

What can you eat? You can eat as many vegetables as you want. When you have finished with the veggies you may have fruit for desert.
What ever kind of fruit you want. No pies though. In other words, no cooked fruit.

There is no minimum daily requirement for refined sugar. If you really want to loose weight you need to give up refined sugar for life. No cookies, cakes, candy or ice cream.

You also need to give up empty starches such as potato chips and crackers.

Meat is still on the menu. As for my self I love lasagna and cheese burgers. I just don't take sugar, not even in my coffee and tea.

If you give up refined sugar and empty starches, you may eat almost anything else you want but you must eat things like bread in moderation. Even then, the bread should be whole grain bread. None of that denatured crap that they have to add fake vitamins back into. Eat real bread, but not a lot of it.

Speaking of vitamins, I have never heard a recognized medical authority state that normal, healthy people need to be popping all kinds of vitamin pills every day. We need to get vitamins from food. If you have a medically recognized deficiency that requires vitamin supplements then by all means, do as your doctor has prescribed.

Fish oil has recognized benefits and adding more garlic to your food probably wouldn't hurt either. Olive oil is generally better than other oils when it comes to eating healthy.

The trick to being healthy and loosing weight is to base your food intake on vegetables. Any kind of vegetable you want is just fine. Most people like to experiment with different color schemes and that kind variety is good to get the vitamins and fiber that you need.

At work, throw away almost anything that came out of a vending machine. You may have water when you get hungry the first time. The next time you may have an apple. After that, water again. Next time, some kind of nuts. I don't really care what kind of nuts, almonds
would be good. When some schmuck tries to hand you a donut, stick an apple in your mouth and politely refuse the donut. Donuts bad.

Find some way to get moving every day. A little more exercise is good for muscle tone and alertness. However, it is still food that will affect your weight. Exercise is mostly about maintaining a good quality of life.

You should consult a physician before making any large scale changes in your lifestyle. Make sure the doctor is on board with your new eating habits. If your doctor Okays it, never diet again. Just change your lifestyle Drink lots of water, eat healthy, and stay away from refined sugar.

1. See your doctor

2. No refined sugar

3. 8 glasses of water every day

4. Eat the rainbow: eat veggies of all colors

5. More fruit

6. No soda and no pop

7. No desserts

8. No empty starches

9. More exercise

10. No donuts

11. Whole grain bread

12. Lasagna good