Newsgroups: alt.support.diet

[Long response alert!  :-)]
Your tale sounds somewhat familiar.  A few years ago, I probably lost
more fresh vegies to spoilage than I ate, and even after the fast, I
started off on 'normal' food, with little fruits and vegies.

Two things happened.  First, the diet program came up with an
'imperative' for 35 servies of fruits and vegies per week.  [Other
imperatives, 2000 calories of PA per week, and to maintain a low-fat
environment.  Alas, the latter is hard to quantify.]  As a result of
the edict, I started tracking the numbers.  Once I see a number and a
goal, I'm tempted to push it.  Started around 50 servings per week, then
gradually upped the goal and the eating.  I'm goalless, but normally
hit 130 servings per week.  (Do I need the standard disclaimer here?)

The second thing helps explain some of the former behavior.  My first
behaviorist noted that obese people are frequently 'volume eaters'.  I
decided that this fit me quite well.  I'm not really done eating until
I feel moderately full.  Used to volume eat on pizza, but I was thrashing
a bit when I started maintenance.  I found popcorn to help, but it wasn't
totally satisfactory for other reasons (I had gum surgery, and the kernels
get stuck between my teeth...)

Eventually, I put the volume eating comment in line with the F+V imperative,
and decided that I could apply a little judo on my eating behaviors.  I still
volume eat, but my 'dinner salad' is generally served in a mixing bowl.
I started small; a can of green beans (I preferr canned beans; growing up
in the 50's may have warped me there), a can of tomatoes, some zucchini and
I was set.  Eventually, I wanted more, and started growing my own vegies.
Really fresh vegies are a boon here; a fresh picked tomato tastes
wonderful, as does corn that was growing on the plant not 10 minutes
before it hits the table.  Currently, I'm eating tomates that I put up
in September.

I also substitute things:  My morning cereal doesn't need milk, since I
prefer oatmeal boiled with chopped up dried fruit, or maybe a cut up
apple.  I'll cut up some potatoes and carrots and nuke them together in
the microwave.  Properly cooked, the carrots have some of the texture
of meat.  With the high volume of vegies, I had little room for red
meat in the diet, and it eventually fell out.  My main protein source
(beyond non-fat dairy) is a daily can of water packed tuna that gets
lost with the rest of the salad.  (It's also an ingredient of my 'Sorta
Chili', which takes tomatoes, brown beans and whatever else comes to mind,
and is heated until ready or I'm hungry, which ever comes first.  usually
the latter.)

With respect to killing fat from the diet, the F+V approach is really good,
but you can eliminate a lot of the stray fat.  Note that fat has no
particular taste; it's used for texture and binding for a lot of things.
Salad dressings, such as Kraft Free, or Weight Watchers, can be done with
no fat, and consideribly less than the typical 75 calories/TBS, but with
all the taste.  Mustard instead of mayonaisse.  If you look hard, you can
find non-fat cheeses that hit 40 calories per ounce.  They don't have the
'mouth feel' that some cheeses do, and it takes experimentation to cook
with them, but they have a good taste.  (Don't use them for pizza
unless you can cover the cheese completely.)

The best thing is attitude; If you can convince yourself that vegies taste
good, you will have much more long-term success than if you think of them
as something to shove doen your throat.  Go for variety and find a good
produce store; there are better apples than the Red Delicious, and this
holds true for many varieties of items.  (A *really* good produce store by
me has about 10 different varieties of 'normal' potatoes, ranging from
Yukon Gold, through purple ones, etc, etc.  At any given time, they'll have
5-10 types of pears, and a similar variety of apples, grapes and berries.)
If you get into it, check out gardening.  If you're an apartment dweller,
you can get cherry tomatoes in containers, and they'll help spruce up
a summer salad.  (The cherry peppers can do more, if you get the hot ones...)

This is taking a long time to type; I'm munching on the first crop
from my tangerine tree since the drought started.  

Pete Brooks
Newsgroups: alt.support.diet