Every month I share a medical tip. This year I’m going to expand on each. Here’s January’s.
Limit Simple Sugars
Your body breaks down simple carbohydrates or simple sugars quickly and absorb them into the bloodstream to provide a quick jolt of energy. The problem is theses simple sugars don’t carry any essential minerals or vitamins and they initiate the sugar cycle crave.
This cycle is downward in trajectory and leads to what people call a sugar crash. Of course, you need to replenish that drop of sugar in your blood with more simple sugars to get that sugar buzz back. This can not only lead to a chronic feeling of depletion but it eventually locks in stored fat so you quickly gain weight.
What is a simple sugar?
- Milk
- Honey
- Yogurt
- Fruit juice
- Sugar
- Maple syrup
- Molasses
Limit these simple carbs to less than 100 calories for women and 150 calories for men. Plus, raise your intake of the following complex carbohydrates:
- Vegatables
- Whole grain breads
- Legumes
- Brown Rice
- Wheat Pasta
Complex carbs are better for you because they are packed with fiber and take longer to digest.
Bump Up Your Protein
Protein is great for your health and for helping you lose weight. But what exactly kind of protein should you eat? Here are ten recommendations:
- Skim or low-fat milk
- Skim or low-fat yogurt
- Fat-free or low-fat cheese
- Skinless, white-meat chicken or turkey
- Beef tenderloin, sirloin, eye of round)
- Fish
- Eggs
- Pork tenderloin
- Beans
- Seafood
Of course any time you choose any kinds of pork or beef you should choose lean portions.
Cut Your Carbs
The best way to cut carbs from your diet is to substitute with better foods. Men’s Health provides 12 tasty ways to do that:
- Instead of hash browns, eat squash.
- Substitute mashed Potatoes for cauliflower
- Substitute lasagne noodles for zucchini slices
- Substitute spaghetti for spaghetti squash
- Substitutes pancake mix for oatmeal and cottage cheese
- Substitute Scalloped Potatoes for tempeh
- Substitute Macaroni noodles for vegetables
- Substitute Pasta salad for black beans or mixed vegetables.
- Substitute cheese-flavoured chips low-fat string cheese
- Substitute pizza crust for portobello mushroom
- Substitute Beef-a-roni for eggplant
- Substitute bread for napa or Chinese cabbage
Dr. Rick Lehman is a distinguished orthopedic surgeon in St. Louis, Missouri and an articular cartilage reconstruction pioneer. He owns U. S. Sports Medicine in Kirkwood, MO, and LehmanHealth. Learn more about Dr. Rick.