Most diets agree that we should eat as little crap as possible. This means less junk food, donuts, cookies, baked goods, chocolate bars, candy, french fries, pop, ice cream, etc. (all the things that make a good party). And almost everyone agrees that a certain group of foods are good for us (e.g., fruits and vegetables).
If we take this consensus and merge it with what we’ve learned about elements, we arrive at what I call the core diet.
Foods that should be at the core of your diet are:
- Beans, fish, and white poultry
- Fruits and vegetables
- Water
Just think of it—this makes total sense. Beans, fish, and white poultry are the lowest-fat forms of protein. Beans, fruits, and vegetables are loaded with fibre, vitamins, and minerals. And water gives us something to drink.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t put sugar on your strawberries or noodles in your soup. It simply means that the core foods should be the ones you eat most. Eat only these six items and you’ll be Twiggy in no time. All other foods can now be divided into two categories: Tier II and Tier III.
Tier II foods
These are the foods closest to the core. Since eating only a core diet may be somewhat boring, we’ll borrow from this group for the sake of variety (and besides, we like being bad). They are:
- Dark poultry and lean red meats
- Some eggs, a few nuts, and a little cheese
- Most starches
- Fats for flavour
- Low-fat milk and a little fruit juice
Dark poultry and lean red meats (e.g., most ham, extra-lean beef) are close to the core diet in terms of being low-fat, low-cal sources of protein. They’re not as low, but they’re close.
Eggs are great except they’re high in cholesterol. Nuts are filling but high in calories. And cheese is filling but high in both cholesterol and calories. So, eggs, nuts, and cheese have benefits, but we have to be careful with them.
High-starch foods like bread, cereal, rice, pasta, and potatoes are fun to eat. Even though they carry higher caloric loads and are unnecessary for proper nutrition, they can still be eaten (in moderation) for the sake of fun.
Since a little dietary fat is recommended, let’s use fat to flavour our meal rather than as our meal. We have to include low-fat milk since water on cereal sucks. And a mouthful of fruit juice here and there isn’t going to kill you (but you shouldn’t be drinking it by the glass full).
Tier III foods
Tier III foods are the ones furthest from the core diet. They’re all the crap that doesn’t provide us with any nutrition or fill us up. These are the ones lowest in caloric-fill and caloric-nutritional value. They’re also the ones everyone agrees should be reduced in or eliminated from your diet. They are:
- Fatty red meats, fatty cold cuts, sausages, and hot dogs
- Crackers
- Excessive and unnecessary fats
- Most condiments and sauces
- Junk food and greasy appetizers
- Donuts, cookies, and baked goods
- Desserts
- Chocolate and candy
- French fries
- Ice cream
- Pop, most fruit juice, all other sweetened drinks, and excessive alcohol
Fatty red meats like ribs, sausages, salami, and hot dogs contain way too much fat (and therefore cholesterol and lots of calories) to be eaten on a regular basis. There are so many ways to enjoy beans, fish, poultry, and lean red meats that fatty red meats are completely unnecessary.
Crackers are usually starch made with high concentrations of fat, so they’re bad for us.
Fat for flavour is fine, but too much fat is fattening. Examples of excessive fat include putting too much dressing on your salad and using butter on your bread.
Most condiments and sauces are simply flavoured sugar. High calories—gotta go. But there are exceptions, like mustard and relish.
Junk foods are starches fried in oil. Most appetizers like chicken wings, zucchini sticks, cheese sticks, and nachos are also deep-fried—so they’re bad too.
Donuts are starch fried in oil. Cookies, baked goods, and desserts are typically starch (flour) mixed with sugar and fat. Now I ask you, “Is this what we should be eating more of?”
Most chocolate is high in sugar and fat, and candy is sugar. French fries are another starch fried in oil, and ice cream is sugar mixed with fat again.
Pop, fruit juice, chocolate milk, pink lemonade, etc., etc. are all sugar in water. Sure, fruit juice has vitamins, but you don’t need them when you eat right. So it turns out to be sugar in water as well.