Fad diets don’t last, and too many people don’t understand the best and most sound nutritional advice. This educational writing reviews my latest diet and nutrition recommendations. I will review carbohydrates: both good and bad. Also, fats: both good and bad will be emphasized. The diet I have developed is called the SSS DIET. The SAUNDERS’ SCIENTIFIC yet SIMPLE DIET. This diet will work for most that learn it, understand it, and use it.
I have had a long standing interest in diet and nutrition for over 30 years! I studied nutrition in medical school. I have been published in peer reviewed journals about nutrition. My article was an extensive review of the latest and most complex metabolic issues in metabolism and its relationship with surgery. It was titled Surgical Nutrition: A Review and was published in the Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons. I still study nutrition to this day. The material I present in this writing will be straight forward. I describe it as a diet based on information studied by doctors and taught by doctors. The information is not slanted or biased to make it more interesting or to sell anything. Many diets and educational advice comes from people or companies who want to sell you something or make money off you. My diet is nutritional advice based on scientific medical studies. The diet works and is something everyone should try.
Some of the things in this diet will be the opposite of what you might have heard for years about food and nutrition. For example, carbohydrates or carbs are bad. Another is that certain foods like avocados and nuts are good for you. I will review the information and nutritional facts to help you understand what we should eat, why, and how much.
Fat is the Enemy!
So why is a plastic and cosmetic surgeon interested in diet and nutrition? The best answer is, “Fat is the enemy!” I specialize in liposuction, tummy tucks, and other procedures to make us skinnier. Most people know that 2/3’s of Americans are overweight or obese. The best cosmetic surgery results come from my patients who lose weight after learning about diet and nutrition. Diet, nutrition, and exercise are part of the best cosmetic surgery. Patients should try to incorporate these changes into their life. The patient who has an abdominoplasty or liposuction and subsequently loses weight is most likely to get the best surgical results. I describe it as turning a home run into a grand slam! For more information on this topic please click here.
So, what’s the skinny on my diet? It’s a diet that is scientific. It’s based on facts that doctors study and learn. The diet recommends things that have been scientifically proven in medical studies, not just someone’s opinion. Many diets are actually the opposite and are focused on making money. They often try to push an agenda or to capitalize on something to make a profit. An example is avocado growers or nut growers. They pay people who claim to be nutritional experts to promote the health benefits of avocados and nuts. Honestly, the scientific evidence will show these foods will just make you fat. They are loaded with calories and fat. In Pediatric hospitals, malnourished children will be fed diets of almost exclusively avocados to help the child gain weight and to fatten up the malnourished child. The advice of my diet will instead be based exclusively on science.
In addition to the science, this cosmetic surgery diet will focus on simple things. Some diets are too complicated. This plan will outline simple concepts and steps to lose weight. Remember, fat is the enemy. The goal of a diet is to lose weight. The steps I outline will be simple and easy to learn.
- A Count Down Diet
- Record Everything
- The Food Pyramid
- Learn about Carbohydrates
- Learn about Fats
- Eat 6- 7 Small Meals a Day
- Drink Zero Calorie Drinks
1- A Countdown Diet:
You have to count and record everything you eat and drink. We will focus on total calories and total fats. Nothing else is recorded. Many diets add the calories and work up by addition to your target or goal calories. Although similar, I have found the countdown works best. This means we pick out our target total calories and total fat. Let’s say 1200 calories and 50 gms of fat. This number is written at the top of the page. Everything you eat is subtracted one by one. It would look like this.
1200 calories: 50 gms Fat:
Two eggs = 78 calories each – 5 gms fat each
156 calories – 10 gms fat. 1044 40
One Banana = 105 calories – 0.4 gms fat 939 39.6
We are going to focus only on total calories and total fats. Nothing else will matter if we stick to just these two simple goals. Many women should start at 1200 calories a day and men at 1800 per day. I will work with you on your starting diet goals for the countdown.
2- Record Everything:
This is obviously important. Everything must be counted. Every drop of olive oil or butter is recorded. Every snack and every food nibbled on is recorded. Be accurate or we won’t get the results, and we won’t be able to figure out the best way for you to lose weight.
3- The Food Pyramid:
It’s imperative to understand this pyramid. We are supposed to eat frequently things at the bottom of the pyramid and eat very infrequently things at the top. The bottom is mainly fruits and vegetables. Eat these foods as much as possible. The top of the pyramid is oils and butters. We should try to never eat these. Things in the middle should be eaten in moderation. But try to stick to the bottom of the pyramid, and try never to eat things at the top.
4- Learn about Carbohydrates:
Carbs or carbohydrates have been vilified in the media. Carbs are bad is what you mainly hear. Did you know that vegetables are carbs? Yes they are. They are almost pure carbs that are loaded with nutrients and fiber. They are what we should eat most of the time. Remember, this is the bottom of the food pyramid. Eat vegetables and fruits.
Some carbs are bad. This is true. Beer, wine, white bread, candy bars are just empty carbohydrates with no nutritional value. We should rarely eat these foods. They are the bad actors that give carbs a bad name. But, fruits and veggies are essentially pure carbs that we should live on and eat all the time.
5- Learn about Fat:
Eating fats make us fat! Don’t be tricked into believing some fats are good and others are bad. This leads you down the path of eating too much fat. Remember the food pyramid. Fat is at the top, and you need to avoid them. Fat has double the calories per gram compared to proteins and carbs. This means your body needs to burn off double the energy when eating fats versus protein or carbs.
Nuts and avocados are often marketed as good fats that are good to eat. Unfortunately, they are loaded in fats and calories and will make you gain weight. As I have said, in pediatric hospitals, malnourished children will often be fed mashed avocados to help them gain weight. Guacamole is horribly fattening, regardless of it being described as a good fat.
Nuts are a similar story. They are loaded in calories and fats. One handful of nuts can be 200 calories, and many people routinely have two handfuls. I once had twenty people lose 20 pounds in one summer by doing one thing only. Stop eating nuts. All were eating them like it was healthy and gobbling several handfuls during the day as snacks. They heard it was healthy fat. No! Just fattening! They stopped that habit and boom – weight loss.
There is some truth to good versus bad fats, but for most Americans this is not important for weight loss. If we lived in a third world country and we were malnourished, then this might be a factor and healthy. But most Americans are overweight and need to cut down on total fats. Monitor fats! They are a key to weight loss like monitoring total calories.
6- Eat 6-7 Small Meals a Day:
Frequent small meals will help you lose weight. You still have to record everything, but it’s done by eating smaller portions. Small meals will help your stomach shrink and to help you feel more full. It also will help reduce hunger feelings and overeating.
Have you ever missed a meal or two? When you finally got to eat, you couldn’t stop eating, and you ate a ton extra. This not something surprising. It’s a physiologic process in our body. If we miss meals, we might starve; so the body is neurologically wired to make our brains say eat more. It is a biological feedback loop studied in medical schools every day. It has survival advantage. You can’t change this increased hunger feeling, when you have missed meals. It’s biologic. Frequent small meals will help minimize hunger sensations.
Many recent fad diets focus on intermittent fasting. All diets work, but most don’t have longevity. This means weight is lost but people fall off the bandwagon and regain the weight. Intermittent fasting leads to increased cravings and over eating. Small frequent meals is a more natural and easier solution to decrease hunger feelings. If someone wants to incorporate intermittent fasting into my diet, I don’t object; but you must stick to the other goals and targets. It might minimize the value of small frequent meals to decrease hunger feelings, but it would still be an option for some.
7- Drink Zero Calorie Drinks:
This is easy to do. Many drinks are available that are excellent and will add no calories to the countdown diet. I have personally found carbonated water like Perrier and Pelogrino to help me drink more water. A bit of citrus helps the flavor and makes it even better. Personally, I like an orange slice. Another good brand is Fresca. They have lots of great flavors and zero calories. I like the grapefruit flavor best.
Summary
The SSS diet is a scientist yet simple diet that I have had success with for over 20 years of patients and cosmetic surgery. Fat is the enemy! Being overweight is common in America, and no one should be frustrated anymore. Do not give up hope.
My diet works and will help jumpstart your life. It requires effort and hard work to pay off. This is so true for weight loss in general. You must be motivated to succeed.
Cosmetic surgery operations like tummy tuck and liposuction target fat to help a person look better. Weight loss by itself or with the cosmetic surgery can give fantastic and thinner appearances to those interested.