10 Best Most Important Foods to Eat

I am not nutritionist or diet expert or doctor or anything as spectacular as that. As a matter of fact, I have eaten an unhealthy diet for most of my life and carry around an unhealthy amount of extra pounds.

I have single handed, mindlessly, impulsively followed every diet known to me and have always had the same disappointing results: weight gain after a temporary loss.

I tried fasting, fasting with protein powder, fasting with liquids only. I tried low carb diet, low calorie, low fat, low self esteem, and each time ended up in the same place: eating everything in sight and fatter than when I started.

I have tried the all you can eat diet, just do it by eating the right things, cutting out all the super sizes and eating only tuna, or only grapefruit, or only raw foods, or only veggies, or only drinking diet supplements or substituting meals with drinks that always end in FAST.

But dieting has never worked for me for the long term.

I have searched all my life trying to figure out that one thing that will work for me and it has been elusive to say the least. As I said before, I have tried a lot of different things. The bottom line: DIET should not be in my vocabulary. If I say I am going on a diet, then the mind body and soul start to store up calories just in case I might be "for real" this time. Just thinking about a diet is enough to gain 10 pounds. Oh no! No diet for me.

Surprisingly, I did finally figure out a healthy strategy for me. I found that following that strategy has worked quite well to my amazement. Now I want to share this secret with all of you. Remember, this is not a diet. This is a strategy.

Mind you now, this is just experimental.  I am in no way an expert and there is no way I can walk 3 miles to a subway sandwich shop.

You will want to know what happened to bring me to this point.  In September 2009 my wife got some not so good news, her smoking is beginning to have some real negative effects on her lungs, etc.  She decided to quit.  I could not in good conscience let her try while I still smoked.  So I adopted her quit smoking date and quit with her.  Consequently we both bought bags of candy and other goodies which we substituted for smoking and by Christmas, I had gained enough weight to cause edema and soreness and all kinds of other problems with mobility and joint pain.  It was obvious that I needed to do something or I was certainly doomed.  Being a generally happy person, this weighed on my mind and emotional status and turned me into a big fat snowball rolling down hill.  I needed to do something beside let my belt out another notch.

Now remember, I am not emotionally suited to diet.  I cannot, will not, could not, and should not go on a diet.  I cannot even think in terms of portion control, this is the worst thing I could do. 

I began to study healthy foods.  I looked up lists of 10 most important foods, worlds best foods, most  important foods to eat, healthiest foods to eat, and so on.  While conducting this research, I had an epiphany:  I will find the 10 most important foods to eat for good health and I will eat them every day.  In conjunction with that I will define the problem foods for me and try to avoid them.  It took me a few weeks to settle on the most important foods to eat but I did it.  This list is what I started with, I let the list fluctuate a little based on seasonal availability of some things like asparagus.   I decided that I would do nothing else, I would eat as much as I wanted of the healthy foods.  I mean how much broccoli can you eat?

Also, I wrote down the unhealthy items that I love to eat and I try to not have them in the house.  My wife has participated since she too gained some unsightly bulges she didn't want.

Here is a list of the unhealthy stuff I avoid: 

• Mayonnaise, dressing, oil and other fat filled sauces, butter dishes etc.
• Sugar, candy, cake, ice cream, desserts in general.
• Salt, salted things, season salt,  garlic salt, and salty stuff.

I feel like Forrest Gump when he was talking about shrimp when I talk about these items.

From all the lists and important food sites I have visited, I made this list for myself and I try to eat all of these foods every day: I do not limit myself in anyway as to quantities or how often I eat them and how they are prepared except that they must be prepared in a fat free way.

1. Oatmeal with Blueberries (I use aspertame sweetener and cinnamon).
2. Double Fiber Bread No trans fat and 70 calories.
3. Broccoli
4. Brown Rice (Whole Wheat Pasta) (I start with a cup, if I want more I take 1/2 cup more at a time) and Beans
   
5. Onions
6. Chicken Breast
7. Turkey Breast
8. Blueberry Non Fat Yogurt
9. Apples
10. Grapefruits
    

I eat a lot of other stuff too. I just like to eat. Of the other stuff I eat, I try to eat only one portion unless it is an empty calorie item like lettuce. So here are the other things I eat if I want them:

1. Rice Cake Crackers: Limit to one or two portions.
2. Salad: Unlimited, with basalmic vinegar.
   
3. Vegetables: Unlimited (eat any kind of vegetable I want and any amount I want cooked or raw)
   
4. Fresh Fruit: Unlimited (any kind of fruit is fine for me, no dried or candied fruit though)
   
5. Diet Soda: one a day, a little sweet treat.
6. Water: Unlimited
7. Fat Free Milk: unlimited (I just don't want that much so I don't have to limit it)
8. Nuts: 1/4 to 1/2 cup unsalted, unseasoned, PLAIN
9. Low Fat, Low Sodium Popcorn (air popped is best but I threw mine away a few years back)
10. Fat Free Cottage Cheese
11. Fat Free Sour Cream
12. Dill Pickles
13. Tomatoes
14. Avacados
15. Baked Crackers or Chips One portion (usually one portion is 10 or 12 I like to eat them with fat free sour cream or fat free cottage cheese.
16. Peanut Butter (two or three tablespoons)
17. Cherrios
    
18. Cucumbers
19. Pepperoncini 
20. Pretty much anything else I want that is low fat, low sodium. etc.