Elimination Diets

For a few months, I subsisted on little more than baked chicken, homemade yogurt, blueberries, bananas, and honey. I've expanded my horizons dramatically since then.

Little tip: cut back on the carbs. You may tend to gravitate towards other starchy foods (potato, corn, etc.), as well as sweets. The starch in bread and the lactose in milk are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Believe it or not, fats- animal fats in particular- have been demonized, apparently in contradiction with an overwhelming body of data to the contrary. I highly suggest "Good Calories, Bad Calories" (the product of over 600 interviews by an award-winning science journalist). It's dense reading, and if you don't want to buy it, just read some of the reviews on Amazon.

The net upshot: animal fats aren't your enemy. If you cut back on one of the macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat, or protein), you must consume more of the other two. In this case, getting away from carbs requires more fat and/or protein- which have been made the official Enemies of the People over the past 20-30 years. This is misleading; the data do not appear to support the strong assertions made by the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association. (Heck, the American Heart Association killed untold hundreds of thousands by telling us trans fats were the way to go, despite evidence as early as 1951 this was not the case. They have never apologized for this misleading information.)

Good luck in finding good foods. Along with Good Calories Bad Calories, I recommend Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food."

Thanks for the websites and advice. Hopefully I won't starve on this diet now! Any other suggestions would be appreciated!