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Originally Posted by Saidin  Reading the above I get the feeling I radically need to change my eating habits, however, starting slowly will probably make it easier to make those changes permanent. |
Definitly! Health food nuts often give other people the impression that if you don't eat an exclusively vegan diet of locally-grown or locally-made natural foods, you're a hideous slob in danger of immenant heart attack. I don't think we
mean to, it's just the level of health food we're thinking at, which may or may not be appropriate to the level of health food
you're at.
I would start with the small changes. Drink more water. Don't try to change
anything you're eating, just make sure you get 64 oz of water each day. You'll eat less automatically.
Or replace one soda/day with an 8oz glass of juice.
Or replace potato chips and ranch dip with tortilla chips and salsa. You'll drastically reduce total fat and saturated fat, improve the sodium level, gain antioxidants and get a serving of vegetables! Easily a 50% improvement.
By contrast, changing that to homemade tortilla chips and farmer's market salsa, while it does reduce sodium further and eliminate chemical preservatives, is more like a 5% improvement. Definitly worth doing, but not nearly as important as the first step.
After you're comfortable making some changes in your diet, try to adjust your intake to create a balanced diet. Try to get no more than 30% of your calories from fat. Determine how much protein you really need. Start with the USDA food pyramid. It's far from perfect, but it's almost certainly an improvement on what you're currently eating.
Then do your own experiments and see what you want to do. Cut dairy for a month and see whether you feel better or worse. Cut red meat for a month; cut all meat for a month; eat only raw foods. The possibilities are almost endless.
Also, I refer you to the previous thread,
The Cumulative Guide to Nutrition.