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Welcome to my personal nutrition and fitness blog! Find weight loss and exercise tips as well as my helpful articles and product reviews.

I said SIMPLE, but NOT fast.  It takes time to drop weight so hold your horses! I’m here to give you the tools you need, diet wise, to get the ball rolling.

Before I get into what my definition of a good diet (also called a common sense diet) is I just want to say, quickly, that you can definitely earn results by going on any “diet”.  Period.  But the problem with diets is that some people struggle with structured, “systemy”, paid (no one should pay to be on a diet IMO), complex, diet plans and then not all diet programs  are “real” diets anyway.  And what I mean by not all of them being real diets is that not all diets will teach you the proper way to eat to healthy for life and to lose excessive weight.

chicken vegetables dinner

I’m not one for counting points to tell me how much more food I can eat, but I do count calories, for example, as it is very important to the weight loss process.  I am not knocking any one diet or any diet at all because if it works for you in the long-term then that’s great.  For me, something like points will frustrate me and I will give up on it in a very short time, but that’s a personal issue I have with myself.

I am, however, one of those people who forced herself to follow a structured weight loss diet plan to lose weight and with lots of blood (consistency), sweat (patience) and tears (effort & discipline) I was able to make it work for me.  Following any diet plan is NOT easy by far.   And in saying that, I want to thank The  South Beach Diet for teaching me how to eat better, how to portion my meals, how to help me make better food choices and how to have patience with weight loss.  These were the examples as to why I chose to go with the South Beach Diet over other ones, that and I didn’t have to buy a “system” (the book is cheap, but you don’t really need it - Google is your best friend).  If you can lose between 1-2lbs a week, on a consistent basis, then you’re on the right track.  If you are trying to  lose 5lbs a week then you’re on the wrong track if you have a lot of weight to lose.  Thinking that way will have you gaining those 5lbs back as fast as you lost it.

Eating better is good, but eating good is better. Why?  Because following a  “good diet” is all you  need to lose weight and/or to change the way your body works and feels - it’s a no brainer - sort of like using your common sense.  Everybody knows what foods are good for them and which ones are bad for them so why not make better choices and choose the good ones all of the time?  In my case, I didn’t have to go on the South Beach Diet to achieve my 60lb weight loss if I had just gone with eating good food and with following a good diet you don’t need to follow a structure because what you are eating is always good.

OK so blacKandi, what does “good diet” mean? The answer is simple, short, sweet and to the point…ready for it?  Here it is!

THE ANSWER ANSWER:  LEAN animal, nuts, seeds, garden veggies especially greens (lower on the glycemic index), SOME fruits (lower on the glycemic index), a LITTLE starch, GOOD fats, and NO sugar.  If you want to get technical your macro-nutrient percentages should be 30% protein intake, 40% carb intake and 30% fat intake per day as a standard or starting point.  As you start to become advanced with your goals you will start to changes these percentages up and according to.

Here are some examples of some of the foods I’m talking about…

Protein (all lean):  sirloin, skinless poultry, salmon, halibut, cod, shrimp (be careful with seafoods), beans, etc.

Carbs:  kale, collards, spinach, red cabbage, broccoli, green beans, cucumber, sprouts, tomatoes, apples, berries, etc.

Fats:  natural nut butters, nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil, etc.

Foods to Avoid:  white rice, white potatoes, white pasta, white bread (enriched flour), sodas, diet sodas, candy, sugary desserts, processed juices (if you want to lose weight AND body fat) and ALL PROCESSED FOODS if you can help it.

AND THAT’S ALL TO IT.  PERIOD!

Keep a GOOD DIET and all will be well for you.  Start today and re-evaluate yourself in six months and I GUARANTEE you will find dramatic results. When you eat good food it will make you feel better, look better, move better and will increase your energy levels.  You can even lose 1-2lbs a week if you eat normal portions of all good food.   And good portions to consume are the ones where you eat and cure your hunger.  The key is to eat until you are satisfied, not ’til you’re full - HUGE NO NO.  Eat about 5-6 meals like these a day which will prevent you from over eating.

Lastly, if you want to go a little further…look into eating mostly natural and/or organic and wild animals.  You don’t have to go organic if you don’t want to, but the less chemicals in your food the better it is.  As far as supplements, you can take them if you want to.  It is a personal choice for others so I cannot give advice about that.  I, personally, do not take any type of supplement anymore except for Iron because I am an Anemic (my last pregnancy wacked me something undeserving).

Comments are always welcome!

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Comments

11 Responses to “Keep a good diet and lose weight. Simple!”

  1. Love your no nonsense approach! That’s pretty much what a food lifestyle change is all about. Not dieting but eating good! Well said!

  2. Absolutely! People keep asking me “what diet” I’m on, and I tell them I’m just eating better, eating less, and moving more. I eat the things I love, but I make them at home and use better ingredients. It’s not about having a huge list of “things I can never eat again.” You can’t deprive yourself and succeed. It’s slow-going, but I know if I take a year to get to my goal, I can’t go backwards!

  3. wow kandi! you said it, so simple! thanks for sharing!

  4. goaldiggerNo Gravatar says:

    please help me with portion sizes! I have a tendency to eat good foods, but, overeat….I really don’t think I know how or where is proper point to stop eating before I am full….give me an example of your daily portion sizes for 5 -6 meals..thanks!

    • blacKandiNo Gravatar says:

      I use the Eat-Clean Diet method (aka eyeballing) when I portion out my food. Here are the measurements.

      protein = palm of your hand
      complex carbs from whole grains = one cupped hand
      complex carbs from fresh fruit/veggies = two cupped hands together

  5. When losing your weight, how did you keep yourself motivated? I have tried changing my families eating habits but we always return to what we’ve always done…

    • blacKandiNo Gravatar says:

      I got motivation from several places…1. my mentor (the person who lost 20lbs on South Beach Diet), 2. SparkPeople and community support - the friends I made with the same or similar goals, 3. The fact that I started feeling better physically…less headaches and no numbness (symptoms of high blood pressure), 4. my husband was very very supportive and made the eating habit change with me - he has diabetes and got it when he was a teen, 5. I wanted to be a certain size for my upcoming vacation - I didn’t want to be big on vacation, 6. I took a picture of myself every month and noticed the changes - I was getting smaller - and that was ultimately what kept me motivated. 7. I talk to myself - I give myself pep talks - I didn’t know anyone in my real life who was losing weight and I didn’t have a lot of motivators either so I had to be in addition to my husband and my best friend - everybody else were not helpful and had I let that get to me I wouldn’t have succeeded.

      And that’s about it…basically, after years and years of being big I had finally made up my mind to drop the weight. I wanted to look better, feel better and be able to buy small clothes! I wear a small in shirts and I wear a size 8 overall. I used to wear a size 10 shoe…I’m down to a 9. Great, huh?

      If you change the way you eat, you will move mountains. I tell myself, “you can’t eat that.” And I end up backing up. Talk to yourself. It’s normal.

  6. Jenn In OmanNo Gravatar says:

    Hi Kandi, you are so focused, I love that! I really loved this post but was wondering where you stand on dairy (skim milk, skim yogurt, etc.)?

    Many thanks, Jernn In Oman.

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