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Taco Bell, how I love thee. Prior to dieting, Taco Bell was one of my favorite lunch spots (which probably explains part of why I was gaining weight). I’m going to pick on them today, but they’re certainly not alone, pretty much all fast food restaurants (and many regular restaurants besides) have menus that seem almost purposefully designed to make you pack on the pounds. To start off, lets remember our cardinal rule:

If an item has sugar, white flour, corn syrup, potatoes, corn, or soy in the first three ingredients, don’t buy it.

Though you’re free to test for yourself, pretty much any item that breaks those rules will be high insulin impact, and unless we’re ordering a cheat meal that’s right out. So immediately we can rule out items of the following types:

Burritos, Tacos, Nachos, Chalupas, Soft Tacos, Gorditas, Enchiritos, Quesadillas, Tostadas, Enchiladas, Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, Carmel Apple Empanada, Crunchwraps, Taco Salad, Taquitos, and Mexican Pizza

What does that leave us? Not much:

Border Bowls - About the only real item on the menu you might be able to get away with, but at six hundred and some calories it’s too big for most meals. Still, if you’re stuck going to Taco Bell and have no choice, this is probably your least bad option.

Taco Salad without the shell - What’s the point of that? The nutrition profile and calorie load are pretty reasonable, but basically it’s just some shredded lettuce with a few toppings, not the best way to keep from getting hungry.

Pintos & Cheese - Tasty, but honestly just a side dish. Worth considering if you just want to eat something to be sociable with your friends, and at only 160 calories, you can probably fit something more filling into the schedule later.

Mexican Rice - I haven’t measured, but I’m willing to bet it’s made with white rice not brown, and probably high insulin impact. Regardless, it’s small and not very filling.

Here’s a link to their nutrition info Nutrition Guide

Ok, so Mexican food was probably a bad choice to start with, let’s take a look at something more American, like Wendy’s. All bread items are made with white flour and extra sugar, so you can leave out any sort of hamburger buns. Fries are obviously made from potatoes so those are out. Regular soda is basically pure sugar, but you already knew that didn’t you?

Most of the salads are ok, but a close examination of the dressings shows they’re all packed with sugar or corn syrup (yes even the italian vinaigrette), so unless you like dry lettuce or bring your own that’s probably not going to help. Watch out for noodles, chips, and croutons, they’re all high impact. Baked potatoes are out of course, and frosty’s (but that’s hardly a revelation). Nuggets, being breaded are definitely not ok.

So what can you have:

Burger, or non-breaded chicken, either without the bun. (Even without the bread though, be careful of those calories!)

Chili - Actually a pretty decent choice, oh they still packed 9g of sugar into a large chili (how? I mean it’s beans and meat right?) but I’d be pretty surprised if this registered as anything over medium impact, and the calories/fullness factor are pretty decent. Here’s the ingredients:

Ground Beef, Chili Base (tomatoes, salt, citric acid, calcium chloride), Chili Seasoning (maltodextrin, tomato powder, salt, modified corn starch, chili pepper, sugar, onion, spices, dextrose, garlic, soybean oil, xanthan gum, citric acid, autolyzed yeast extract, extracts of paprika, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, artificial flavors, silicon dioxide anti-caking agent]), Kidney Beans (kidney beans, water, sugar, corn syrup, salt, natural flavorings, onion powder, calcium chloride, disodium EDTA [flavor protector]), Chili Beans (beans, water, sugar, corn syrup, salt, natural flavorings, onion, calcium chloride), Vegetable Mix (onions, celery, peppers).

Here’s their nutrition info Nutrition Guide

As you can see, not a whole lot of options there either. Employees at fast food chains don’t make very much money, one of their job benefits is to eat the food at a reduced cost. Next time you’re inside, look at the employees, I have yet to visit one where the majority of them weren’t overweight, especially the long term employees, leads and supervisors. (managers make more, aren’t as tied to the menu and don’t exhibit the same trend). When you’re out and about, keep your wits about you, or you could find that drive through is packing meat onto your thighs, not into your stomach.

I’m not much of a sports fan for the most part, but every once in a while I see something so compelling it catches my attention. Yesterday while channel flipping I landed on a showing of all the worlds strongest man contests. There were dozens of top competitors, many of whom were literally giants at over six and half feet tall and 350-400lbs, but one man stood out from the rest, he didn’t just compete, he dominated, Mariusz Pudzianowski. At 5′11″ he’s only about a half inch taller than me, but at 305lbs of solid muscle he’s built like a brick.

I don’t think you can really appreciate how big and in shape this guy is from only one picture, but let me tell you, he’s a monster. He works out twice a day, six days a week, plus swimming, karate, and who knows what else, even most of his contemporaries can’t keep up. This guy burns so much energy working out he can afford to include things in his diet like candy bars, potatoes, and 3lbs of bacon for breakfast. For the rest of us mere mortals, paying a bit more attention to what goes in the cart is generally a good idea.

Grocery shopping is the portion of your diet where you have the most control. Anyone can have a weak moment, and eat more than they intended or foods you know you shouldn’t have had, but if they’re not in your cubbard, it’s much more difficult. Few binge urges last long enough for a grocery trip. When you’re shopping for food you should be absolutely strict.

The first thing you’ll notice is that nearly all the stuff that’s good for you is around the outside of the store: fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese and such, while the bad junk is all in the middle, sugar, flour, potato chips, corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oils, etc. Anytime you find yourself going down the aisle for something, remember that you’re in enemy territory and watch out!

Here are some things you should buy:
Fish - Any kind, pretty much every diet ever written agrees that fish is good for you, so stock up! Avoid breading though, and remember that tartar sauce usually has plenty of sugar in it, so stay away.
Poultry - Chicken and turkey, these meats are lowfat and have lots of protein. Avoid the cranberry sauce though, it’s made with a ton of sugar! You can make your own using cranberries and artificial sweetener, I’ve tried this and it comes out great.
Beef - Stick to lean cuts as much as possible, red meat is good for you, but don’t overdose on the saturated fat. For hamburger I usually buy 7%, I’ve found that if it has less fat than that, it’s rather difficult to cook. A good trick is to throw it in the strainer after browning, and run just a bit of water over it, this tends to wash off surface grease and give you results similar to a leaner version.
Pork - Again, stick to lean cuts, and watch out for surprise ingredients like brown sugar. It’s ok to eat bacon now and then, but use moderation, that’s definitely not an everyday food.
Vegetables - Pretty much everything except potatoes and corn are great for you, buy as much of this as you can, in fact I make sure to start and end my grocery trip in the vegetable section. Sweet potatoes make a good substitute for regular potatoes. Some people also like yams (and some restaurants don’t know the difference) which have a dark orange interior.
Fruit - I dare you to get fat on fruit, I mean seriously try it, can’t be done. Although they have fructose, a natural form of sugar, humans are very well adapted to it, and you don’t have anything to fear from fruit. They’re low in calories and high on flavor, make sure to stock up. Be careful if you buy canned or frozen though, they almost always add sugar. If you’re still stressed about this, don’t take my word for it, make an insulin graph, and then you won’t have to guess, YOU’ll KNOW.
Nuts - Nuts make a good snack food, though you need to watch out since they’re fairly calorie dense. Also some of the flavored kinds have sugar added, so look for the natural ones.
Grains - Oats and brown rice are ok, but avoid pretty much everything else. (flax seeds, quinoa, and whole barley while rare, aren’t too bad either) Anything that has white flour is out! If you have any confusion about it, think like you’re living in the 1800’s, ingredients should be short, simple, and disgustingly healthy sounding.

What to avoid:
Boxed items - If it comes in a cardboard box it’s just about guaranteed to be bad for you. If for some reason you find yourself contemplating purchasing such an item, read the label extremely carefully. Seriously, you could almost make a diet just off this one idea.
Items with hard to pronounce ingredients - If you can’t say it, or don’t know what it is, you shouldn’t be eating it.
Soybean oil - Tons of things from regular mayonnaise to snack crackers are made with soybean oil. Soy in general isn’t very good for you, and soybean oil is about the worst way to eat it. Look for a product made with Canola or Olive oil instead. Remember to stay away from “partially hydrogenated vegetable oils” as well, they’re full of trans fats.
Sugar - Sugar, corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, and the like should all be avoided. Fake sugars such as aspertame and sucralose are ok in moderation. I will buy some things that use molasses or honey as sweeteners, but you need to weigh the other factors pretty carefully before making that kind of decision.
Calorie laden drinks - Soda, fruit juice, milk, etc. It’s ok to use milk for cooking, just don’t use it as a beverage. Diet soda is ok as long as you still get all your water drinking done each day. Once in a great while I cheat and have Orange or Tomato juice with breakfast, but make sure you count the calories and mark on your checklist that you cheated on beverages for that day. Most items like grape or apple juice are full of sugar so stay away!
Bread - This has both flour and sugar in it, a deadly combination. Most bread is out! (If you look around carefully there are a few brands that are semi-ok, such as Sara Lee 100% Whole Wheat with Honey) The oat muffin recipe I provided should help solve some of your cravings in a healthy way, and remember you can use thin slices of meat or lettuce as wraps for that “sandwhich” type food. If you find yourself tempted to cheat on this one, reflect on the fact that bakers are stereotypically depicted as fat, that’s not an accident! Fishermen are always shown as lean, wouldn’t you rather be like that?
Corn - Corn isn’t actually a vegetable, it’s a grain and a really starchy one at that. Corn is ok in mixed vegetables, but don’t eat it by itself.
Potatoes - Another very starchy item that shouldn’t be on your menu. Both Russian and Irish cuisine involve lots of potatoes, and neither group is really envisioned as being a thin culture. Greeks and Japanese on the other hand don’t and they generally are seen as being thin. Surprising? I think not.
Pasta - This isn’t forbidden, however you need to be EXTREMELY careful here. First, make sure to only buy the newer healthy pastas (Barilla plus for example), and remember that pasta is very calorie dense, so watch your intake! Traditional white pasta is a serious no no.

I can’t possibly live without insert bad product name here, what do I do? Well the first thing is to look around for healthier alternatives of the same product. For example they make a mayonnaise with Canola oil instead of Soybean oil now. If that doesn’t work, look up how to make it yourself online, you may be able to substitute good ingredients for the bad ones. Using sweet potatoes in potato salad for example. Sometimes though, there just isn’t any replacement or way around it, and you’ll just have to decide whether you’d rather eat that product and be fat or skip it and be thin. As a last resort, remember that you only need 90% compliance to be successful, six meals a day seven days a week is 42 meals, so you could cheat at up to four of them, but that doesn’t mean go hog wild, watch your portion sizes.

One of the most important things you need to do while in the store is READ THE LABEL. The FDA requires that manufacturers list the ingredients by quantity, and post nutritional information. The general rule is:

If it has sugar, corn syrup, potatoes, corn, white flour, soy, or other bad items in the first three ingredients don’t buy it. (First two for soup since they tend to be significantly less dense).

The packaging will sometimes try and trick you. For example the product “I can’t believe it’s not butter!” claims to have no trans fats, yet the ingredients list partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, a prime source of trans fats. They can do this because the FDA only requires them to claim amounts over 0.5g per serving, so they just adjust the serving size until it’s around 0.4g or so and they can slap on the label. In addition, pay attention to the serving size, Campbell’s Bean and Bacon soup for example comes with 2.5 servings per can. Who eats 40% of a can of soup?