“Not if you find a way to actually enjoy a low carb diet. Spend your money on good meat and seafood (and cheese!) and eat like a king. Pot roast every Sunday. Porterhouse steaks at least once a week. Shrimp and sausage stir fry last night. Spare ribs tonight. Yum. And really not all that more expensive than eating meals that come out of a box or a fast food window when you add everything up.”
Throw in salmon and tuna grilled at least once a week to your weekly diet, and you basically have my Paleo modified to a Mediterranean eating program not a diet.
I had severe foot problems and injuries and bulked up from 175 to 235 due to lack of exercises and a complicated foot surgery, and the damn carb loaded food pyramid. I was becoming a Type II diabetic during this process.
On a friend’s suggestion, I went on a Paleo diet suggested by also by my new family doctor. The Dr. said to never eat anything that came out of a package or box with polysyllable ingredients, loaded with carbs/sugars and anything that said diet on the package. Eat and snack on fresh veggies, almonds/walnuts and fresh fruit. Find ways to eat Kale in salads, soups or as a wrap for a gyro sandwich. We threw away oleo and use real butter and real eggs and real bacon.
My wife use a lot of Costco’s Extra Virgin olive oil to cook with or in her home made salad dressings.
I lost 45 pounds in about 2 months on a basic Paleo diet. My wife is a terrific cook, and we then started with a modified Paleo and Med diet. Smoked salmon, mixed nuts, cherry tomatoes and fresh fruit for breakfast. We grab some mixed nuts/fruit/veggies for snacks throughout the day. For lunch I make a gyro sandwich with kale instead of bread, sliced turkey or smoked cheese, or beef or ham instead of the turkey. In the winter, I have left over soups or stews that my wife made.
Dinners run from King Salmon to steak, to pork loin roasts, grilled chicken and grilled tuna with good veggie side dishes. In the spring/summer/fall I grill the above, a weekly hamburger, lamb rib chops and whatever veggies are fresh.
My trend to type 2 diabetes is history.
3+ years later my weight is still at 165-17ish. I can look at a french fry tv ad and gain weight. Giving up the great French breads baked locally was tough. Now, I can buy the bread, bring it home, slice it and serve it to guests or my wife or family members and not want any.
Giving up my nightly one or two local micro brews was tough. A neighbor is a brew master in a local brewery/restaurant, and I could have a cold one any time of the day. I was able to say no to that.
We never diet and just use the above program.
My wife is at the same weight she was 4+ years ago, and as noted above, I’m holding the same as 3.5 years ago. We are both pushing 80 years of age. We are relatively new Kaiser patients. Our family practice doc sent my wife a copy of her lab results with these comments, “That 20/30 year old female jocks patienrs didn’t have lab results like she had in spite of their strict diets and hard workouts 5-6 times a week.”