What Is The Best Diet Food?

How do you choose the best diet food?

First, it would have to be available. If you have to search too hard for the best diet food you are not going to bother.

Third, it should taste good. No use in recommending something that you won't eat.

Fourth, it should have good nutrient density. In other words you should get more nutrition and fewer calories.

Fifth, it should be fairly easy to prepare. You don't have all day and night to cook.

So what would make the list?

Here are some of the best diet foods that I think should be staples in your diet:

• eggs
• whole grains
• low fat dairy
• lean pork and beef
• chicken breast
• turkey breast
• fresh fruit
• veggies of all kinds
• fish
• brown rice
• oatmeal
• potatoes (including sweet potatoes)

Healthy meals

These are the foods that you can count on. Simple. Nutritious. And healthy.

Have eggs and wheat toast for breakfast. Fish and fruit for lunch. Chicken and veggies for dinner.

That's a complete, nutritious diet.

Why the emphasis on protein?

There are two reasons to have more protein in your diet. One, it's the building block of lean tissue. So when you're exercising and losing weight you want to supply the building blocks your body needs.

But there's another reason. You need your calories from somewhere. If you don't get them from protein sources, like lean meats or vegetable sources of protein, what will you be eating?

The only other two choices are fat and carbohydrate. And you're probably getting enough of those already.

Note to vegetarians

If you don't eat any meat, you have to get creative to get the best diet food. If you eat eggs and dairy, these can be a big part of your diet.

But if you're vegan it becomes much harder to get the best diet food. You're not a rabbit -- you have to get substantial food somewhere. You can't live well on carrots and green beans.

Soy protein

The best pure vegetable source of protein is soy. For vegetarians soy is a best diet food.

You can get good quality protein from soy, including tofu. Fried tofu is delicious and you can add tofu to soups.

You can get soy protein in most supermarkets and health food stores. Sometimes it is sold under the unappetizing name "reconstituted vegetable protein." It can be added to soups or cooked in casseroles.

The soy controversy

Soy is somewhat controversial. Some people say it has negative hormonal effects. Well, they try to scare you with alar in apples, deadly fungus in peanuts, salmonella in eggs and the list goes on. You have to eat something.

(Note from Dr. Dan -- I don't personally eat meat and I eat a fair amount of soy. I rarely eat out, but if I do I have tofu at Thai restaurants. I have tofu hot dogs and veggie burgers.

Has soy affected my health? No. I've been working since I was 12 years old, I'm now 56, and I've never missed a day of work from illness.)

How many eggs?

Aren't eggs dangerous? Shouldn't you limit your eggs to 2/week? After all, they're just full of cholesterol, right?

Well, think about it. What is cholesterol? Is it a poison? No, it is an essential part of your body's chemistry. It is used for hormone production and all sorts of things in your body, and you can't live without it.

(Note from Dr. Dan -- I personally eat 3-4 eggs per day, I'm in my 50s and my cholesterol is on the low end of normal. So I know first-hand that this is true.)

Your body's need for cholesterol

Whether you eat eggs or not, your body produces cholesterol. It produces cholesterol. How much does it make? The amount varies, but it is about 1000 milligrams per day.

A large egg has 211 mg cholesterol. So even if you eat eggs every day, it still isn't as much cholesterol as your body makes naturally.

Elevated blood cholesterol and heart trouble don't come from eating eggs. Sometimes they're genetic -- a problem that runs in the family. But often they're related to too much refined carbohydrates.

So watch your sugar and eat your eggs.

Spice it up

Make sure you have seasonings. And use them.

Onions. Tabasco sauce. You'll want some variety.

Of course for adding flavor there's nothing like garlic.

Strong flavors can make food more satisfying. And then you don't feel you need to eat as much.

Salt -- a deadly sin?

You hear a lot about salt in the diet. Nutritional labels advertise "low sodium."

Doctors warn about too much salt. It's like salt has become a deadly poison. Why?

People tend to overreact and to generalize. And that includes doctors. It's true, salt is trouble for some people.

Overreaction

If you have congestive heart failure or salt-sensitive high blood pressure you should limit your salt.

But for everyone else, there's no reason to avoid salt. It's an essential mineral. It's so valuable that throughout history wars have been fought over it.

Salt certainly doesn't affect your weight or ability to lose. So if you like salt, go ahead and use it.

Stock up on good food

Make a list of staple foods, the best diet foods, and keep them on hand. These are the things that you can always turn to when you are wondering what to eat.

Having good healthy staple food available -- making dishes in advance for the week and refrigerating or freezing them -- will help keep you from eating the foods that you know will lead to failure.

So eat right and win.

When weight loss matters

Are you ready to lose weight? Then you should get your copy of Dr. Dan's Super Weight Loss Plan.

You can look better, feel better, improve your health and lengthen your life. You'll be glad you did!

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