<p>worknprogress, thanks, I will get the Dean Ornish book.</p>
<p>Ha ha! Dropped by to catch up on this thread and lo and behold the banner ad at the top is for Stevia Extracts!</p>
<p>^^^You’re right! I’ve got Stevia up there too. </p>
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<p>This may be true for a 25 year old but I swear once you’re 50, there’s nothing you can do short of going on one of those severe calorie restriction diets. It’s actually better for your bones to be a little heavier as you get older. </p>
<p>Just how much sugar is 15 grams anyway? My own personal take on all this is that it’s REFINED white sugar you should stay away from, not fruit. Some fruit has more sugars in it than others but a banana here or there is fine. The sugar in it is not instantly available like white sugar, so your body will not experience that sugar rush. I don’t think anyone has gotten a sugar rush on bananas! I don’t use honey or maple syrup very often either just because it is so concentrated.</p>
<p>I know lots of 50 somethings who don’t have trouble staying lean. But yes, it is about serious calorie restriction. There was a long term study floating around recently that showed that an average woman lived considerably longer by keeping daily calorie intake under 1600 calories. Learning to eat right and keep calories down took a lot of effort and education on my part.</p>
<p>A lot of what I used to think were good, healthy snacks I now consider not so good. Popcorn made with oil at 100 calories a tablespoon takes up too many calories if you’re only eating 1600 IMO. I don’t eat bananas–they do cause blood sugar to rise as they are very high in carbs and make many crave more sweets. My hypoglycemic DD uses them to quickly raise her blood sugar.</p>
<p>Dried fruit and nuts are great, but again high in calories and on a low calorie diet take up a lot of your daily calories unless you just eat a small handful. </p>
<p>So I’ve learned to fill up on high fiber vegetables, lean protein, fruits low on the glycemic index. For a treat I’ll bake muffins with oat bran, carrots, apples, whole wheat flour and sweeten them with apple juice concentrate. I eat several small meals of thing like cabbage leave wraps with a couple of ounces of chicken, big green salads with very low calorie dressings and sweet potatoes.</p>
<p>I started this to help DH lose weight and discovered how much better I felt eating this way. It was hell the first 2 weeks, but then we both felt great.</p>
<p>For bone health, lift light weights.</p>
<p>If we could do this anyone can. We were huge junk food eaters who ate most meals out for years as we constantly traveled on business and worked long hours. No one should give up because of their age. We’re in better shape than we were in our 40s and the way we feel made the hard part more than worth it.</p>
<p>It’s just getting over the humps the first month. Being creative with food and looking at it more like fuel. Then finding exercise you can tolerate and stick with. </p>
<p>You can all do it including saying goodbye to belly fat.</p>
<p>BunsenBurner,
“I even keep a honey bear jar in my desk drawer along with my coffee and tea stash.” - The same here, in my drawer, smaller container that I refill from my half-gallon at home. Along with few bars of Lindt 85% Chocolate!</p>
<p>"My favorite dessert is walnuts " - Try walnuts with dates or prunes, yummm! I have it every day also. Both Honey + Walnuts from Costco. I consume so much, it would be way too expensive otherwise.
Amazing coincidence!</p>
<p>Today I reduced my oatmeal to 1/4 cup (dry) down from 1/2 c. Reduced the apple to 1/2 (will save the other half for this afternoon), reduced the milk to 1/2 c. from 1 c. and added 6 walnuts. I also used a smaller bowl. This should reduce both my carb and calorie count for a normal breakfast. If this turns out to keep me satisfied, it will be an easy new habit.</p>
<p>I’m getting hungry reading this thread. Oh, wait – that’s not supposed to happen, is it. </p>
<p>Off to eat my yogurt.</p>
<p>^ you can have as many apples as your heart desires! The same for walnuts! I do not know anything about oatmeal, not my favorite. But I have tons of apples and walnuts every single day, they do not affect my weight as well as all other fruits that I consume in limitless amounts. What needs to be watched is bread, potatoes (not sweet potatoes, regular ones), pasta, rice. Eliminate them from your diet if you want to loose. The weight will come off automatically w/o any calorie counts, guarantee! I assume that junk food has been eliminated already. I have tried both ways to loose, with bread and w/o bread. The first way is much harder.</p>
<p>Dunkin Donuts has a new bacon egg & cheese breakfast wrap. Very little sugar & carbs & so satisfying!</p>
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<p>Miami, you must have great metabolism. This would not be true for most. Calories are calories and the walnuts are high in them and fat. Apple calories add up too and they break down to sugar just as bread and pasta do, slower, but they are complex carbs. Unlimited fruit wil not help a dieter.</p>
<p>This is a such a great thread! Thanks for the link to the Daily Plate tracker, abasket. Just knowing I have to log everything I eat has already deterred me from grabbing that handful of pita chips. Huge shock to discover that my daily low fat latte has 100 calories. I just assumed that since it was just coffee with skim milk, it had maybe 25 calories. Ha! Back to unadorned coffee for me.</p>
<p>"Dunkin Donuts has a new bacon egg & cheese breakfast wrap. Very little sugar & carbs & so satisfying! " - Yes, after you throw wrap away (about 300 of empty, non-nutritional calories!).</p>
<p>I was surprised at how much sugar I was consuming at breakfast when I ate cereal and milk. About 49% of my daily sugar allowance. Yikes! The Daily Plate is a real eye-opener. </p>
<p>Melsmom, I wouldn’t have the willpower to go to Dunkin Donuts and not get a donut. I just love them. </p>
<p>I like the variety of suggestions that are coming from this thread. People definitely have very different approaches to eating and health.</p>
<p>I have started using The Daily Plate rather than FitDay because it does track sugar. MiamiDAP, nothing about losing weight is automatic for me and I definitely cannot eat unlimited amounts of fruit. I think I have the metabolism of a snail.</p>
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<p>In days gone by, it was a necessity for survival. In the old days, if you were old and couldn’t hunt and/or gather, you starved. As we age, our metabolisms slow down so that we need very little food to survive. But alas, in modern times the type of people who are on this board have no difficulty at all in finding food, so we consume way more calories than our bodies require.</p>
<p>^Weight training improves metabolism, if this is concern. I have tried calorie count based diet, it is very hard and unsustainable. But I agree, everybody is different, including our preferences. I do not miss bread, but for somebody else it seems a disaster when they cannot have it.</p>
<p>Yikes! Just went on the Daily Plate. To lose 1 lb a week, they say I can have 1161 calories a day. Don’t think I can live like that.</p>
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<p>I’m with Miami 100%!! Ever wondered why a certain part of our anatomy is called “buns”? 
It’s because that’s where the bread ends up - LOL!</p>
<p>So glad to hear you all are liking Daily Plate! The nutritional breakdown is very telling…</p>
<p>Missypie, you must not have much weight to lose…my current calorie intake to lose 1 pound per week is closer to 1500. And it’s doable. Maybe you should settle for 1/2 pound a week…</p>
<p>I was really thinking of a pound or two a month, but didn’t see that as an option.</p>