I mentioned in a previous blog that I attempted the Scarsdale Diet and it just didn’t work for me. There is a very good reason for that. While some people manage just fine living on roots, twigs, bark and leaves, I don’t. I’m a carnivore. I need protein and lots of it. A handful of tofu chunks in a stir fry is a serious waste of the energy it took to heat the pan, if you ask me. I do my part to keep methane levels down by eating beef and pork (the smaller the population, the less methane, right?). I do my part to keep topsoil erosion down by eating chicken and eggs (fewer birds to scratch the ground).
I’m sure that if a vegetarian reads this they’ll probably tell all their vegetarian friends to flame me, but that would just support my theory that vegetarians are angry and bitter toward the rest of us because we actually get to eat meat!
So, on with my story…
You may recall that my day on the Scarsdale Diet was a bust from the get go. I never did follow the diet properly but I did lose weight, even though I started the day with a huge piece of spice cake. The reason I lost weight is because I understand my body. If I don’t feel satisfied after a meal, I’ll keep on eating until I do. The best way for me to feel satisfied is to eat foods that lead to early satiety. Enter protein and fat. Yes, protein and fat switch on the satiety feeling in the brain and that’s what makes you stop eating.
For lunch on that fateful day, I had a three-egg omelet filled with six Jimmy Dean sausage patties (the little, pre-cooked ones – none of that vegetarian Boca stuff) and two slices of American cheese (full fat). The whole meal contained 40 grams of protein and more fat than a vegetarian will take in during a whole day. I actually ended up saving half of the omelet for later because I was so full. The second half made a great afternoon snack. Nowhere in that whole meal was there a bit of starch. That meal kept me from snacking on high-carb, sweets during the afternoon (my weakest time) and it also kept me honest at dinner because I wasn’t a raving lunatic with hunger.
The next day, I weighed two less pounds.
The moral of the story is:
If you are hungry, eat!
Just make the right choices. Choose protein over starch and vegetables over fruit. By doing these two things, you’ll stop wasting muscle when you diet and be able to load up on fiber without all the extra sugar that fruits naturally pack.