I don’t eat much of any refined foods anymore, few if any carbs (bread, pasta, cake, bagels, etc), and lots of good quality meat, seafood, and vegetables.
This is the what I did as well, dropped 25 pounds from 200 to 175 over a few months. And gained 5 back when I started eating more breads again.
I'm not sure what new topics are going to be covered as the evils of refined foods and bad carbohydrates have been rehashed since The Zone almost 20 years ago, but I'm glad to see Jeremy reiterating the success he had for others to follow. I'd be curious if there will be a section on stamina - I still crave my evil carbos at the holidays.
One possible topic, which I may be reading in since it's on my mind, is the well-known "problem" with sticking with lower carb diets. I've been ruminating a post on the topic myself, but the core is that it comes down to two basic problems: One, willpower, since we're surrounded by terrible, yet yummy food, all the time, and two, flavor. It is occasionally mumbled, instead of yelled loudly as it should be, that if you want to eat healthy on the long term it isn't just a matter of cutting out something, you need to be happy with the food. And in particular, "The Standard American Diet - carbohydrates" isn't a very pleasing diet. It's very easy for it to become monotonous and feel restrictive.
But I'd submit that's an indictment against the standard diet, not the "- carbs". It's taken me a while to work out how to deal with the correct diet longterm, but it has involved using a lot more oils (sesame, olive, etc), more butter, more oriental ingredients, and learning a lot more about French cooking. And you have to erase the last vestiges of the false idea that fat is bad, and realize that low-fat is bad and is the fad diet, and it should be entirely stomped out of your dietary plans. Now I don't have problems eating properly for years without backsliding; as tempting as the carbs can be, they just aren't as good as what I'm making myself. They're a hollow pleasure.
It makes me sad to read all of these posts because, without any exaggeration, I find bread to be one of the best pleasures in life, and living off sandwiches means it constitutes a fair amount of my diet.
If only living healthily didn't involve so much work, like actually learning how to take care of yourself, i.e. cooking, exercising regularly, etc.
If only, if only! Well good news for you, 99% of the work has been done by others, by decades of validating or falsifying theories and suspicions, measuring anything from calories to hormonal changes, all the combinations of various exercise levels and diet etc. and so on and so forth.
Now all you have to do is decide whether the quality-of-life for your next few decades is worth the trouble of doing a bit of reading, such as half an hour a day for a few weeks or so... and trying the game challenge of seeing if and how much you can affect change in your home-grown lifestyle habits, you know, just for kicks.
I found this talk by Dr Lustig very interesting. It's about the biochemistry of why refined foods and sugars make us so unhealthy and overweight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
I've never had a weight problem, though in 2002 I started eating more healthfully (inspired by "whole foods", paleo, etc to try to get more energy and be healthier) and I actually dropped 30+ pounds. I was not even trying to lose weight and basically ate whatever I wanted that fit into a "whole foods" diet. I've remained a thundering, intimidating 150 lbs for years. :)
I completely adore breads, (more than any other food) so for me giving them up isn't an acceptable option. The question becomes, what breads are best? (Or least bad, depending on your outlook)
Somewhat tempering my approach is the fact that I don't really believe they can be 100% evil. Like alcohol, we've been consuming bread for thousands of years. Like alcohol, I bet you can consume a certain amount of the right types without a significant penalty.
This is the what I did as well, dropped 25 pounds from 200 to 175 over a few months. And gained 5 back when I started eating more breads again.
I'm not sure what new topics are going to be covered as the evils of refined foods and bad carbohydrates have been rehashed since The Zone almost 20 years ago, but I'm glad to see Jeremy reiterating the success he had for others to follow. I'd be curious if there will be a section on stamina - I still crave my evil carbos at the holidays.