I take huge issue with you calling potatoes simple carbohydrates! They are plants. They are nourishing. Potatoes are a powerhouse of nutrition. EAT your potatoes!

This just in re: diet soda: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41479869/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
The study accounts for other risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.

I may accept that you like it for taste…. maybe. ;) But be careful!

Slightly off topic: The thing that really got me thinking is what you wrote about butter. I didn’t actually use butter outside of baking until I moved in with my boyfriend about a year ago, and it was one of the items that he *had* to put on the grocery list as a necessity. The food I grew up with (mostly Asian and Caribbean) seems like a whole different ballgame than what my boyfriend grew up with (Midwestern meat and potatoes). Our biggest challenge now is balancing our food wants/needs. (And about the butter….now that I’ve started using it, it’s kind of hard to not to put it on everything).

Thank you. :-)

I don’t know who you are Gavin Craig, but those are some wise words.

I’m not sure she’s ever eaten sushi, but I’m pretty sure she’d recognize it as food. On the other hand, I have no idea what my great-grandmothers would or wouldn’t recognize. It would be pure speculation. Avoiding food in a box is a great idea. Doing more cooking at home is a great idea. Drinking less soda (diet or otherwise) is a great idea. Knowing where your meat and vegetables come from is a great idea. Rebuilding a dysfunctional American food culture by appealing to imagined cultures of the past is not such a great idea.

Anyway, what I really wanted to tell you is that I love Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi. I try not to have it every day, but after a ridiculously long run I HAVE TO HAVE IT. I don’t know what it is. As for the taste factor: I stopped drinking sugared pop in middle school when I got braces because the orthodontist told me not to, and now regular pop tastes sickeningly sweet to me. Plus, I’m married to Jack, which makes buying sugared pop just kind of mean. :) I do agree that having less of it in general is probably for the best.

The answer to this is to try to eat the majority of your carbs from “complex” sources (things with a low glycemic index) since they take more energy to digest and don’t spike your insulin levels quite so high. Thankfully, a lot of complex carbohydrates are delicious. Leafy vegetables, rices, whole grains, root vegetables, legumes. Good stuff.

The number one thing I tell people when they ask me how to lose weight is to cut out simple carbohydrates from you life as much as possible (Refined flours, sugar, white potatoes, white rice, breakfast cereal).

Next up, cutting back on meat without increasing carbs. I think this will get MUCH easier once the farmer’s market is back and veggies and fruit are in season again. Every time winter comes along and I try to keep up on the fruit and veggies, I always wonder how the Pilgrims did it…