Nutrition and Dieting

I have a funny set of diet rules that seem to serve me well. (My weight doesn't vary at all, and, while for cosmetic purposes I wish I'd lose a few pounds, every doctor I've had a physical with has said that my weight is completely appropriate to my body and is completely healthy. All my blood measurements are excellent, and no doctor has suggested I change my diet or lose some weight. I even went to a dietician 5 years ago who suggested I add some more fruit, which I did, but had no other advice.)

My unusual diet rules are secondary to exercise. I'm convinced that strenuous exercise 3-4x a week is the leading term for good health. By strenuous, I mean STRENUOUS.

Here are my principles in a nutshell:

1. Eat the full recommended quantity and spectrum of good food, don't diet here.
2. Avoid harmful food.
3. Eat as much of any good food as you want, as long as your weight isn't going up. Use this rule for any necessary weight control.

Here are my principles in more detail:

1. Eat the full day's quantity of the good foods recommended by the USDA, or some other good mix of lots of fruits and vegetables, fish oil, etc. etc. as well as starches, proteins, a glass of wine, a small quantity of real chocolate, some nuts. Don't ever "diet" by cutting down on this stuff.

2. Don't eat harmful foods. This means saturated fats, additives, fake sweeteners, etc.

Now, no one can or will follow rules 1 & 2 strictly. They are guidelines. They're something I try to do every day, and I largely succeed, though for various reasons I have to tinker all the time. Do I sometimes fail to get my day's quantity of fruit? Sure, but rarely. Do I sometimes enjoy a steak? Sure, but infrequently. The key thing is that I try to follow #1, I never use "dieting" as an excuse to not eat my daily amount. And I try to follow #2 by avoiding bad food. I eat a lot of roots and leaves.

Here's my favorite rule:

3. As long as you have followed rule #1, eat as much as you want of anything not in #2. Gobble down half a loaf of healthily-prepared bread? Why not, unless you are gaining weight? If you are gaining weight or want to lose some, then limit here, but don't miss getting your full quantity of category 1 food because you're trying to control weight.

I try to follow these rules all the time.

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Here's something that people do that I would never do:

*** follow some diet that isn't the way they will eat for the rest of their lives ***

That's what's meant by "dieting". I don't think it works. It mostly causes weight fluctuations, which I believe are bad for you, and doesn't cause any permanent weight loss anyway. Don't "diet"; change the way you eat instead.

REMEMBER: (a) This advice is probably worth what you paid for it, and (b) my medical degree is from an unaccredited institution.