If you are ever going to drop the extra pounds you are carrying, you will have to limit your intake of carbohydrates. They come in many forms. but the one that comes to most peoples' mind is what's in the picture at left and above. Spuds. I love em, now, anyway. Wasn't too crazy about em when I was a kid though, except for potato chips. They are probably the most common form of starch that people eat because they are so plentiful, readily accessible, and so easy to cook, and can be pretty darn tasty too, if you have some cooking skills. That's why it's probably the best place to start limiting your intake of starches. When you are at your favorite fast food restaurant, you could refrain from "super-sizing" it, because all you're doing is opting for that extra large order of fries and an over-sized soft drink. The soft drink is the subject of another Commoin Sense Weight Loss Tip, so we'll just deal with that big order of fries in this tip. Just keeping it at the small order is an easy way to start implementing these tips and start making them work for you. The best thing is not to add the fries to the order at all, but we're taking baby steps here to wean ourselves off of those long-standing destructive habits that we love so much. Now, am I telling you that once weaned you can never go back to having an order of tasty fries with your sandwich? Of course not. Remember I don't believe in permanently denying myself anything! You just don't do it as often. Once in awhile is not going to hurt you. It's when you start making a habit of it that you'll start to see the pounds piling back on again.
There was a diet that was all the rage a few years ago, so much so that it forced an insanely popular donuts chain to close many of it's newly opened outlets and severely curtail it's expansion, almost to the point of having to shut down altogether. If you don't already know the diet I'm referring to, it is the Atkins Diet, and the donut chain is none other than Krispy Cremes. The Atkins Diet was one of those Draconian diets that required you to eliminate all carbohydrates. That to me is drastic. It was a double-edged sword though because it allowed people to go "hog wild", so to speak, on the thing they loved, meat in all its varied and delightful forms, and that all the "mainstream" dietitians were telling them at every turn was very bad for them because of all the fat in it. Finally, we could have or cake and eat it too! We could indulge, nay gorge, ourselves in all those sinful pleasures like bacon and every kind of fatty meat and not have to worry about it. It was found to even be good for the heart! Sacre`Bleu! Heresy! This was diametrically opposed to everything the so called diet experts have been hammering into our heads on a daily basis for years and years, only to be undone in a flash by some heretical doctor Atkins and his highly controversial diet. It was a delicious thing to observe. Why delicious? Because I love seeing these goody two-shoes types who are always preaching to us and telling us what's bad for us and what we can't do getting there bat and ball taken from them and given a swift kick in the rear as they run home crying foul to their mamas. Three cheers for Dr. Atkins! May God rest his soul.
Having said that about the good Dr. Atkins, I am not in agreement with the complete elimination of all carbs from the diet in order to loose weight, or any other reason for that matter. I believe that we need a certain amount of starches in our diets, albeit in moderation. In keeping with the common-sense approach to food consumption, complete elimination of any food stuff is a Draconian measure, and does not square with the C-S method. I believe that you should be able to eat anything you want, but the key is moderation. So if you have a nice sized plate of pasta, then the common-sense thing to do would be to shy away from more consumption of carbs for a while, maybe a few days or so. It really depends on how overweight you are. So if you're quite a bit overweight you should wait longer before you take on some carbs again. That is unless you are training for a Marathon and loading up on them for the sheer energy they provide, but if that were the case, you would not be carrying any excess baggage in the first place and then you could eat carbs to your heart's content. So it all depends on your personal situation as to what moderation means. After you've gotten your body weight in-line, then moderation may mean eating carbs whenever you want but just not too much. Personally, I eat them whenever I want, but I limit how much of them I take in. If I'm at a fast food restaurant, most of the time I'll pass on the fries, or if I'm in a sit-down place I'll usually avoid the carb sides and opt for a non-carb vegetable, something green for example. If you can regiment yourself to do this on a consistent basis you will start to see the pounds disappear. You need to start being aware of how much and what you are about to eat at each and every meal. This self-awareness will give you the control you need to manage your body weight for a lifetime. If you can do that, and it's just a matter of making-up your mind, you will be successful!
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