How do you maintain a healthy diet?

I try but I still fall off the wagon and I have to admit that sometimes I jump! ;)

Having a meal plan and eating a monotonous repetitive diet with few choices/decisions to make helps me to stay on track.

It sounds grim, but I enjoy things like crack slaw, cauliflower fried rice, oatmeal, fish, homemade soup, etc...

I still sneak in a dish of ice cream, a cheeseburger, a piece of chocolate, or a slice of pizza every now and then.

I miss the days when I could wolf down anything in any amount at any time of day and not give it a second thought.

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Tommy said:
As we get older our metabolism slows down and some of us tend to put on weight. That's where I found myself a year ago, so I made the decision to try a personal experiment. I made a commitment to myself to clean up my food choices and to maintain a well balanced diet. No special exercise regimen, no fad diet, just that.

For the first part, I chose to seriously minimize my consumption of highly processed foods, refined sugars, fried foods, white flour, foods containing significant amounts of saturated fat, and alcohol. I found this to be much easier than it first sounded.

The second part involved keeping detailed records of what I eat. I don't know that many people could/would actually do this, but here I have two distinct advantages. One, I actually enjoy keeping records (an occupational hazard) and, two, my wife is an exceptionally good sport.

My dietary targets were to get less than half of my calories from carbs, less than 30 percent from fats, and at least 30 grams of dietary fiber per day. No limit on the total number of calories. I have to say, the results of my experiment fascinated and truly astounded me.

Initially, my daily calorie intake plummeted to around 1200/day. Eating the right foods in the right proportions, I just wasn't very hungry. After about a week, any cravings for junk food had all but vanished. By the end of eight months, I had lost over a third of my starting body weight and reached what I consider an ideal weight for me. I've maintained that weight for four months now. My caloric intake slowly increased to about 2000 calories per day and I sometimes have to remind myself to eat a bit more to keep from losing any more weight. And I've had to replace all of my size 42 waist pants with 36 waist.

The down side is coming to understand just how difficult it is to maintain those nutrient ratios. Many good fiber sources come with a lot of carbs. Protein is often accompanied by high fat content. I'm wondering if there is a good way to maintain a healthy nutrient balance without having to record every single thing one eats.
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Your experience mirrors my own. I have kept a food log for a couple of decades. But, when the pandemic started, I begin cooking all of our meals and I used what I call my '50s diet; a dinner that might have been prepared in the '50s by my mother when I was a kid. This is meat with two fresh vegetables. The meat is limited to fish and I have fish or seafood three times a week. This diet has provided me with more energy and a higher calorie requirement. I used to struggle to lose weight on 1200 calories a day. Now, I am up to about 2400 daily calories for my basal metabolic rate which is my minimum requirement just to keep my body functioning. I have always exercised. But, the extra energy from this diet has upped my workout effort as well. 6' 1", 178 lbs, and 16.5 % body fat all at 75 years old. I could have never done this before I retired. But, i have the time now.
 
Hard for me to believe now but 25 years ago I weighed more than three hundred pounds. I had high blood pressure, severe gastric reflux and the onset of type 2 diabetes. Over the course of 8-9 years I lost 126 pounds. Simply by not eating junk food, fast food and Coke.
I got sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I had my wife stop bringing home my favorite junk from the grocery store. Began concentrating on eating only the healthy foods that I love. Tomatoes, chicken, beans, corn, oranges, blueberries. Slowly ended my addiction to Coca-Cola over probably 6 months too. When the weight fell off, so did the medical maladies. And oddly enough, my memory and mental clarity improved. I'm at 155 now with a 21.0 BMI.

The tomato is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. Cooked tomatoes with olive oil are one of the healthiest things you can put in your body. Lycopene is a compound found in tomatoes in abundance that seeks out and destroys cancer-causing free radical cells. Lycopene is made more available when tomatoes are cooked and is more easily absorbed in the presence of healthy fat which olive oil is good for. Olive oil helps lubricate many of the body's functions too. From joints to digestion to skin.
The health benefits of blueberries are enormous. Plus drinking lots of water. Green tea has numerous health benefits.

It's amazing how much difference good diet can do for a person's health. The human body is constantly working to heal itself but often is fighting an uphill battle against toxic substances.
I believe it was Hippocrates who said "let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food". :)
 
win231 said:
Actually, our metabolism doesn't slow down as we age. What happens is we start losing muscle mass due to both age and less activity. Muscle is the only tissue that is metabolically active - which means it uses up calories even when we're at rest. The more muscle we have, the more calories will be used. Losing it leads to more calories stored. That's why exercise is important - especially weight-bearing exercise which maintains muscle mass. But exercise has to be age appropriate to prevent injury.
Re: Healthy Diet: I make sure my diet includes 70% fruits & vegetables. No limits on nuts (despite what you may have heard, they don't cause weight gain; the fat in nuts is healthy fat). I limit processed foods - bread, pasta, chips, anything made with flour etc.

That's what works for me - & I've had a terrible weight problem since birth. 405 lbs. 38 years ago; 170 past 11 years.
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I didn't lose an ounce until I went to the weight room. Walking and exercising in a pool made my clothes fit better but not until using the weight room did I lose pounds.

For me, I had to think in terms of a total healthy lifestyle. Just focusing on food would last me about a week. I can fast a week and lose only a few pounds and gain it back in no time. By adding deliberate exercising it keeps my mind more focused on a healthy lifestyle. Keeps me thinking "I can have this" instead of thinking "I can not have this."
 
I maintain my healthy diet by following these simple methods;

1. I avoid sweet drinks and drink more amount of water.
2. I mostly prepare meals at home.
3. To maintain my diet healthy, I make an eating plan each week.
4. I mostly choose recipes that are made with fruits and vegetables.
 


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