> And having tried to cut out sugars and processed foods in my own life, it was certainly not easy and required a significant monetary and time investment to cook my own meals, and buy fast-expiring produce.
I've been doing it for two years, and there are solutions to those problems. It's cheaper and faster to eat healthily and restrict calories than to cook a typical US diet -- it just requires a different perspective.
I wish I weren't busy at the moment, so I could build a website about how to manage it.
A few quick ideas from my experiments are below. I'm not a doctor so these aren't recommendations -- just things that I've experimented with.
It requires a change in perspective. A quote I like is, "food is not a recreational drug." Food is fuel for a fermentation tank (digestive system). If you want the machine to run well, figure out what creates ideal fermentation environment. (Watch out for things like sugars and flours.)
I do meal prep by steaming a lot of vegetables in advance[1] and storing them in containers in the refrigerator. Then I can quickly make a variety of meals by combining the vegetables in various ways. Legume (bean, lentil, split pea) and vegetable soups are also good to have on hand at all times. Tahini is a base for a good sauce. I think 2 tbsp will provide about 10% of daily required calcium for most people.
When out of the house, I bring along some chunks of raw red cabbage and raw broccoli.[2] They are cheap, filling, and actually pretty good, especially when you're hungry. I think it's okay to skip meals when healthy food isn't available. Restaurants can also usually provide steamed, plain vegetables on request, if you're eating out with people.
Drink a quart of cold water before starting breakfast and sufficient water throughout the day.
If you need to reduce calories, you can make a cutoff time for eating -- like 4, 5, or 6 pm. That also provides 14-16+ hours of fasting per day to rest the digestive system. Another way to do it is to have reduced calorie days, like on the 5:2 diet.
When reducing calories I focus on high-nutrient foods. My main staple is steamed vegetables. I'd recommend becoming very familiar with different kinds of vegetables and how to cook them (steaming and/or adding to soups). A bookstore would probably have a selection of vegetable encyclopedia-type books.
If it seems hard to maintain a healthy diet, it's still easier than being sick. I went from 215 pounds to 145 pounds, hovering around 150.
Even if you don't reduce calories significantly, a diet focused on vegetables is probably going to have great long-term benefits, including life extension.
If you're in the Bay Area, and want to talk about ideas, you can come to one of our programming meetups.[3] I like to exchange ideas with other people who experiment with food. Or send me an email (josh@codeselfstudy.com), and I'll invite you to a place where I've posted more information about the experiments.
> When out of the house, I bring along some chunks of raw red cabbage and raw broccoli.[2] They are cheap, filling, and actually pretty good
They might taste good (I like nicely cooked and seasoned veg) and be cheap... but "filling"? I absolutely do not find veg filling. More filling that something high in high-GI carbs, sure, since you're not going to have a spike and sharp drop in blood glucose levels signalling hunger, but protein and fat are a lot more filling that veg.
A good example is eggs, which are amazingly filling, cheap, quick to cook, versatile, and only around 150 calories each - and I feel full for at least 5 hours after eating just two of them.
If you do some calorie restriction, raw cabbage will probably be filling. I've been doing it for two years and vegetables are very filling under the right conditions.
I think it's worth eating some cruciferous vegetables raw for additional health benefits.
I've been doing it for two years, and there are solutions to those problems. It's cheaper and faster to eat healthily and restrict calories than to cook a typical US diet -- it just requires a different perspective.
I wish I weren't busy at the moment, so I could build a website about how to manage it.