A few months back, I decided I wanted to cut some of the fat intake from my diet. I was under some misapprehensions about fat and fitness and foolishly decided to go fat free on jusssst about everything. Luckily my dietician girlfriend has steered me in the right direction. The fat-free thing wasn't a complete loss, though. I learned some interesting things. Fat free ice cream is not that bad. It isn't nearly as good as Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell, as R.C. could tell you, but it's actually pretty good all things considered. Skim milk is not actually disgusting. I have come to like it very much, and I used to drink whole milk. Lowfat peanut butter is excellent. It's virtually indistinguishable from regular peanut butter. Turkey, used in place of beef, is actually pretty good. Of course, if you look at the nutrition label, it's pretty high in fat, too, unless you buy lean turkey, which costs about as much as a pound of heroin. It was not all good news, though. Somethings are not meant to be eaten, low-fat. Low-fat ranch dressing should be used to torture information out of al-Qaeda members. Tastes like someone drank a lot of buttermilk and then vomited into a bottle. Low-fat pancake syrup looks like motor oil and tastes like straight Karo syrup. Bleugh!!!! Terrible. Other nominations for good/bad/indifferent fat-free foods? Honorary mention goes to fat-free chicks-- those bony little women, the ones that are built like little boys. Glug.
as a person that was raised to be health conscious, i have never tried anything but fat free food in my entire life... i've only had skim milk, fat free ice cream, lowfat peanut butter, etc. i've never tasted any other version... thus they all taste fantastic to me! i love fat free ranch dressing, i put it in sandwiches everyday... i guess if you've never eaten anything else, fat free food is great!
Dude, Healthy Choice vanilla ice cream is awesome! The one in the green carton. It is seriously good. Turkey bacon rocks. I like it better than regular. Ground turkey gets the job done and then some (only in spaghetti, don't know about burgers).
I agree on the Healthy Choice vanilla. It was surprisingly good. But, it's considerably more expensive unless it's on special, so I've switched back to R.C.'s favorite.
What about stuff like Unsalted Crackers? I can tell you one of the worse tasting Ice Cream's ever is Breyer's Vanilla...
What's with all these "as R.C." remarks? I don't know you. Do I? (BTW, I think I get it. I'm being stupid.) As for Fat Free, I don't know a thing about them. I eat whatever I want, and stay pretty skinny. I guess I work it off. I am pretty energetic. Sorry for not saying anything helpful. Wish I could.
Low fat Italian dressing works pretty well. Ditto on the ground turkey mentioned above. Also, Blue Bonnet low fat butter does the job for cooking. Also, I switched over to skim milk about 5 years ago, and never gone back. I don't drink Diet sodas though. Oh, and stay away from the Kraft Fat Free cheese, and mayo as well. Lowfat mayo is okay, just not the FF.
how old are you? if you're under 21, than you may have a rude awakening ahead of you if you're older, than I HATE you!!!! (j/k!) a lot of my younger friends who would eat anything they wanted (and were twigs their entire lives) are now turning 21-23 and are starting to feel the effects of age and are slowly gaining more and more weight... they all hate me b/c i've been health conscious my entire life, and thus in decent shape... mwah ha ha ha!
well, I am under 21.(15.) But my dad's the same way. He's in his 40's and has always eaten candy, BBQ, and pretty much anything he wants. I think he is starting to eat a little healthier, but only because he is getting older. I did switch from soft drinks to water, so I probably be better off. But I only did this because I want to be a little better in athletics. I am pretty good at working out, though. I like playing basketball and I'm doing cruches, not because of weight but because I want that toned look. Hopefully you won't curse me though. Please don't.
I switched to fat free water not too long ago and have never been happier. Plus, it saves me all that time that it took to pour chicken fat into my Ozarka bottles. Eating healthy is easy!
100% agreed on the salad dressing BK; I compromised by using less on my salads at home (and mainly using a homemade olive oil/vinagrette), and ordering the dressing on the side when eating out (most places use 2-3 times what you really need). Low fat crackers (saltines & Triscuits) just plain suck, but Whole Foods has some awesome baked wheat Triscuit-like things, the only ingredients are whole wheat & salt, no oils at all. I go through about a box a week. My gf doesn't like beef so I've gotten pretty used to ground turkey in pasta sauce, meatballs and such, Whole Foods also has some great turkey sausage in lots of flavors. Turkey burgers, though, are pretty bad (turkey bacon is even worse, imo), so I eat a lot more grilled chicken now. Agree again on the Healthy Choice vanilla; Starbucks makes a low-fat coffee ice cream (seen it at Kroger & WF) that's awesome, and fruity sorbet-type stuff is low fat (but sometimes really high in sugars). There's some soy-based "cheese" slices called "Veggie Slices" that are good - avoid the provalone & stick w/ cheddar & pepper jack. As a butter substitute I've been using Smart Balance, it tastes great (and you can cook with it, unlike some subs) and is supposed to improve your good/bad cholesterol ratio. I've gotten used to skim milk, Horizon makes hormone-free milk that actually stays fresh much longer than regular grocery store stuff. It also doesn't taste as watery to me, and is only about $0.25 more per gallon than the grocery store brand.
Being skinny is just one of the side benefits of eating healthy. Just because your metabolism might keep you thin, doesn't mean your arteries aren't clogged, which is the real issue.
BTW, I don't eat 6lbs of chocolate, and a whole cow a day. I admit that all my meals aren't exactly healthy, I don't stuff myself. Just want to clear that up. edit: hey, I'm a senior now. I feel all old and respectable. Hehe...sweet!
While my overall cholesteral isn't terrible (199) and I am weight proportionate I am changing my diet to try to improve my horrid HDL (low good cholesterol, 37)/triglycerides (well over 300) ratio. I'll let you know how it turns out, but recent nuitrition studies are saying a low-fat, high carb calorie (lots of pasta, rice, breads) diet doesn't do the job for weight loss (if this is your goal) nor for most people like me trying to improve blood lipid profile (yes there are a few lucky people like my wife who could probably eat anything and be OK in their profile). While I am not going to the Atkins philosophy--eat low to no carbs but all the protein and fat of any kind you want, I have started on this other one, Sears' Zone diet, referenced by Fat b*stard in Austin Powers III, but incentidently not my reason for trying it . In actuality the diet is fairly low fat (especially low in saturated fat [from meats] and hydrogenated oils[common processed oils like in most margarines] ), fairly low-moderate carbs (mostly from veges & fruits) and moderate-high protein (fish, skinless poultry, very low fat red meat cuts, soy products). In implementing the diet I have had to do a lot more changes than I thought given my existant low-fat diet wasn't getting results. For example, I have started mixing in protein power (no problem for me, you could mix whey/milk, soy or egg base protein powder to thinken skim milk if you want), saying no thanks to many foods I enjoy and thought were mostly innocent like fresh baked french bread, most breakfast cereals (look mainly for high protein specialties), large quantities of pasta, baked lays and salsa (these all really hurt to give up--especially leaving fresh bread off my dinner plate), and bring high protein snacks to work (e.g., Turkey Jerky, smoked Salmon, any other suggestions would be appreciated???). I guess when I eat out I'll go to more chicken salads and fish/low-fat meat dishes with extra vegies in place of the rice, potatoe, and/or bread. I'll let you know how it works--again in charting my food I really realize how much extra carbos and minimal protein I was getting in my previous strait fat minimization diet, I'll go back for further tests in about 6 weeks.
