Food Advice

[SunDancer]

Being a college student in a dorm, I load myself up on pepsi, chocolate and junk food. I decided that I'm starting to put on a couple of pounds (and that I don't want to become diabates-I eat alot of sugar/caffenine), that I need to change my habits. Being a college student, I plan on going to the store sometime this weekend, and lacking a kitchen and that (and have a small refigrator with a small fridge in it). I was wondering if know any ways of altering my diet to a healthier, diabetic-better diet. I plan on finishing off my current 12-pack of pepsi (will drop it to one can a day) then not drink anymore. Is apple juice heathly and fit this plan? I will limit my college days of drinking to the weekends. Any advice on what to get, what to eat and stay away from. I'm also doing this to limit my caffenine input, as I drink alot and I believe it keeps me up alot later then I want to be.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Being a college student in a dorm, I load myself up on pepsi, chocolate and junk food. I decided that I'm starting to put on a couple of pounds (and that I don't want to become diabates-I eat alot of sugar/caffenine), that I need to change my habits. Being a college student, I plan on going to the store sometime this weekend, and lacking a kitchen and that (and have a small refigrator with a small fridge in it). I was wondering if know any ways of altering my diet to a healthier, diabetic-better diet. I plan on finishing off my current 12-pack of pepsi (will drop it to one can a day) then not drink anymore. Is apple juice heathly and fit this plan? I will limit my college days of drinking to the weekends. Any advice on what to get, what to eat and stay away from. I'm also doing this to limit my caffenine input, as I drink alot and I believe it keeps me up alot later then I want to be.

First, refigrator??

Anyway, no, fruit juices are not a great idea as they contain sugars. First google site I found

http://www.juicingbook.com/fruits/

states the following.

If you suffer from a sugar related health problem such as diabetes, hypoglycemia, candida (yeast problems), gout and so on, you should consult your health care professional before juicing fruits.

Fruits, especially fruit juice, contain concentrated fruit sugars.

Drinking? Sure. Here's some hints.

http://diabetes.about.com/cs/alcohol...hol_basics.htm

In general if you want to be safe, look for a good diet for diabetics. It's not going to be unhealthy for you and you'll be playing it safe. Good luck.

Since you don't have diabetes and if it doesn't run in your family, you just need to be sensible not overly stringent but again it can't hurt.

Oh yeah, and do as I say, not as I do.

[Glengoyne]

Apple juice is full of sugar, it might be better than soda though. How about Diet Soda? I don't care much for it, but I am stopping the regular soda habit. Perhaps Iced Tea? I see the Caffeine worry there so perhaps Some of those Natural sodas or something like that. Some of those, even the sugar free ones, are pretty good.

I dropped 30 pounds on the Atkins diet over the course of about 6 months last year. I was having trouble moving further, most likely because I was cheating too much. Since then I have been pretty much calorie counting and walking. I have been eating a big breakfast like oatmeal and a bagel with Cream Cheese. Then a small lunch including some fruit like an apple or orange. For dinner I just try to not over eat, and avoid any late night snacks. If I do eat after 8PM I try to make it fruit. That breakfast lasts a long time, and I am not hungry very often. It has been pretty effective too. I am back down to where I was when I stopped Atkins in just three weeks.

[Axxon]

May I suggest Good Earth Original tea. I was turned on to this stuff when I used to live in LA and ate at the restaurant.

Only 3 calories per serving, no artificial sweeteners and no caffeine ( my only gripe with it. ). It tastes fantastic and needs absolutely no sweetener. It's perfect as is. Of course, it is expensive but I drink it all the time. It's worth the price to me.

[Fritz]

your in college. drink a lot of everything and pay for it later.

[Ekoostik Head]

to cut sugar calories consider a sportsdrink, they have about half as many calories as soda. i also like crystal light its sugarfree. as for losing weight, i've never seen a fat crack head.

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by Fritz

your in college. drink a lot of everything and pay for it later.

ding ding ding, we have a winner!

Seriously though, just drinking water instead of soda or juice will cause you to drop some weight. The other thing to remember about juices is that, while they do have lots of sugars, there is also a lot of good stuff for you in them. Soda is about the worst thing (non-alcohol) for you to drink.

[corbes]

Water water water water water water water.

[SunDancer]

Originally Posted by Axxon

First, refigrator??

Since you don't have diabetes and if it doesn't run in your family, you just need to be sensible not overly stringent but again it can't hurt.

Oh yeah, and do as I say, not as I do.

Sorry, not an english major. Diabetes does run in the family.

[hukarez]

I'd suggest orange juice or, if you have parental units willing to dish out the cash - tons of Naked juice. I have a tendency to drink a ton of Coke, especially before I hit the sack, and end up having lower back pain throughout the remainder of the day. (Carbonation and the kidneys don't help as well at night).


Snack-wise, well. Cold sandwiches, maybe?

[SunDancer]

I'm looking at a diabetes-type diet. Anyone know good sites on one?

Also, is it a good diet for healthy, weight-control lifestyle?

[Cringer]

Well, i have a little experience here. Try water!! Buy gallons of cheap ass wal-mart water or something close to that. Get some limes/lemons and squeeze one off into a big glass of water for some flavor. Soy milk is pretty good. You don't have to refrigerate until after you open (and don't really have to for half a day or so even after that)....and you can get chocolate soy milk. Depending on your area, some stores even have the soy milk "singles." When you go to a store, depending on the store, they will have soy milk in a cooler like normal milk, but usually also have a bunch out on a normal shelf. They also have fruit flavored soy drinks, some pretty good stuff.

[Cringer]

Dola-

Or just switch from pepsi to caffiene free diet pepsi/coke....

...personally i would go for the JOLT! cola

[SunDancer]

The drink part is not too much of a worry. It's more of the food part.

[SunDancer]

Just was curious. I know Gatorade is pretty healthy, but is it a good drink? I'm looking at fruits, sandwhiches (cheese and turkey or ham), and maybe some meat (chicken breast?-I have a george forman grill as well), eggs (scramble eggs) and oatmeal. Are these healthy things?

[ice4277]

The Foreman grill is great. Whenever I cooked chicken in college it was on that. Burgers/steak are ok, nothing to write home about, but if you stick with chicken it will work good for you. Gatorade does have carbs/sugar in it but relatively speaking, comparing it to pop-sorry, soda-its nowhere near as bad for you. But water still is the best way to go.

[SunDancer]

Wanted to bump this.

[rkmsuf]

This sounds like a good business idea...

[SunDancer]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

This sounds like a good business idea...

Whats that suppose to mean?

[SunDancer]

Anways, I was wondering what exactly the Atkins diet is in what terms of eat?

What are some good options for each meal of the day?

[QuikSand]

I've heard that the internet is pretty good for this sort of thing, too. That is to say internet sites in addition to this one.

[Ekoostik Head]

I to have heard about this "internet", some people say its way too slow, but i found if you upgrade you'll lose weight up to 75X faster.

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Wanted to bump this.

I used this on a girl at a club last weekend, did not have the desired effect.

[rkmsuf]

**Bobs head like the Roxbury Guys**

[ZXTT]

I've lost over 40 lbs following what I'd call the "common sense diet". I eat normal amounts of reasonably good food and I exercise. Forget diet plans - they're mostly a marketing trick that involves getting you to consume fewer calories than you burn each day.

If you do want somewhere to get started, I'd recommend "The Business Plan for the Body" by Jim Karas. Ignore the schtick ("Business Plan") and pay attention to the details. He does have a newer book - I haven't seen it.

Really, eating healthy and maintaining or losing weight comes down to knowledge and execution. Get the knowledge first. Then execute.

So what did I do. First I figured out how many calories my body should use in a day, based on the exercise level I was going to do. Then I figured I could eat about 2400 calories a day and lose at least a pound a week. That's 800 calories for each of the three periods in the day, breakfast, lunch and supper. I could eat 500 cals for breakfast, 100 for a snack at 10, 600 for lunch, 100 for a treat, 100 for a snack at 4, 700 for supper and 100 for desert. Actually, that ended up being 2200 calories. Maybe one day a week I'll eat a "bad" meal and get a large blizzard from Dairy Queen.

I can't emphasize this too much: LEARN WHERE THE CALORIES ARE. Don't drink you calories - like people said above, fruit juice = soda = alcohol for calories and nutrition. I've all but given up drinking soda and juice. I'll have one a week. If you have to eat out, check their website and figure what you can eat. For example, a footlong veggie with cheese on wheat with vinegar/non-fat dressing from subway is about 600 calories. About what a 5-9/5-10 150-160lb (normal weight) male should be eating for lunch. Add meat and fatty dressings and you're over. Add a soda and you're over, unless you want to skip the gummi bears (10 cals per, 10 = 100 calories) and afternoon snack.

You also should exercise. Lift weights and walk/stationary bike/play soccer, whatever. I have my own little gym, with a stationary bike, dumbells, an aerobic step bench for a bench and one of those large exercise balls.

OK, I've said enough. Go read that book and you'll learn a lot.

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by ZXTT

I've lost over 40 lbs following what I'd call the "common sense diet". I eat normal amounts of reasonably good food and I exercise. Forget diet plans - they're mostly a marketing trick that involves getting you to consume fewer calories than you burn each day.

If you do want somewhere to get started, I'd recommend "The Business Plan for the Body" by Jim Karas. Ignore the schtick ("Business Plan") and pay attention to the details. He does have a newer book - I haven't seen it.

Really, eating healthy and maintaining or losing weight comes down to knowledge and execution. Get the knowledge first. Then execute.

So what did I do. First I figured out how many calories my body should use in a day, based on the exercise level I was going to do. Then I figured I could eat about 2400 calories a day and lose at least a pound a week. That's 800 calories for each of the three periods in the day, breakfast, lunch and supper. I could eat 500 cals for breakfast, 100 for a snack at 10, 600 for lunch, 100 for a treat, 100 for a snack at 4, 700 for supper and 100 for desert. Actually, that ended up being 2200 calories. Maybe one day a week I'll eat a "bad" meal and get a large blizzard from Dairy Queen.

I can't emphasize this too much: LEARN WHERE THE CALORIES ARE. Don't drink you calories - like people said above, fruit juice = soda = alcohol for calories and nutrition. I've all but given up drinking soda and juice. I'll have one a week. If you have to eat out, check their website and figure what you can eat. For example, a footlong veggie with cheese on wheat with vinegar/non-fat dressing from subway is about 600 calories. About what a 5-9/5-10 150-160lb (normal weight) male should be eating for lunch. Add meat and fatty dressings and you're over. Add a soda and you're over, unless you want to skip the gummi bears (10 cals per, 10 = 100 calories) and afternoon snack.

You also should exercise. Lift weights and walk/stationary bike/play soccer, whatever. I have my own little gym, with a stationary bike, dumbells, an aerobic step bench for a bench and one of those large exercise balls.

OK, I've said enough. Go read that book and you'll learn a lot.

This is essentially what I have done. I have cut out ALL snacking after dinner, and have cut out candy, chips, and pop altogether. For breakfast I usually have a NutraGrain bar or granola bar and some fruit. Lunch is usually a Boca burger (they taste VERY good if you prepare them right) on a whole wheat bun, plus a vegetable of some sort. Dinner I eat a regular meal but cut down on the portions. Overall I would say about 1200-1500 calories a day. I do this every day during the week, then on the weekend relax it just a bit, going out to dinner and getting a nice steak or burger for example. I also have been working out every day, spending about 40 minutes on the elliptical machine, trying to work off about 550 calories as a goal, then every other day do some strength training. Its hard to stick with it but I can see the difference, I have lost 35 pounds since November.

As an aside, about the Atkins diet, the more I find out about it, the less I like it. I have a couple friends who are nutritionists and they basically think it is the worst diet you can be on. Wired did a report on diets a couple months ago and they also said Atkins is not good for you. You lose weight quickly but you likely will put much of it back on after you quit the diet. Also, losing 5-6 pounds a week like a lot of people do on Atkins is not good for your body either. Not to mention the whole 'eat a lot of red meat and fatty products' side of it.

Overall, I am very happy with the way I am going about my weight loss, I have given up so many of the bad habits I used to have. Rarely if ever do I have a craving for chips or candy anymore, and I can't stand the taste of regular soda. Not only am I losing weight but feel more healthy and in control of my body.

[AgPete]

Originally Posted by Fritz

your in college. drink a lot of everything and pay for it later.

HAHA What he said.

If you're worried about diabetes from your weight, I don't think many people get diabetes type 2 until their late 30's, 40's and after. I have two people in my family who got it. One was at the aforementioned age, and one got in in his early 20's. But..... the person who got it in his early 20's drank about 1/100th the booze, caffeine and other unhealthy stuff that I did while I was in college so it just goes to show ya that genetics will probably play a larger part than you'd like. If you want to lose some weight, do what I did in my college dorm years, live off of ramen noodle. (I had a coffee maker I never bothered to use so it became a permanent ramen noodle cooker. hehe)

[Qwikshot]

For drinking, try this: honest tea

hxxp:www.honesttea.com

Great stuff

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Qwikshot

For drinking, try this: honest tea

hxxp:www.honesttea.com

Great stuff

"As a result, a drink of Honest Tea becomes a cultural experience"

Now that's powerful tea...