Survival After Seventy-Five

     Carbohydrates, also known as carbs, are a healthy source of food energy.  In case you don't know much about carbs, there are two kinds: Simple and complex carbohydrates.  Simple carbs consists of sugar and/or sugar based syrups found in many processed foods at supermarkets these days.  Complex carbohydrates are plant based foods.      Carbohydrate foods includes grain products, such as breads, cereals, and pasta; also, starchy vegetables, such as potatoes and corn.      The Mayo Clinic Diet book emphasize choosing whole grain foods in limited amounts.  On my diet plan, for example, I should only eat four servings of carbs per day.  One serving could be 1/2 cup of rice or one slice of bread, etc.  At times, I find this difficult during meal planning because I am used to eating plenty of carbs.        However, eating carbs at breakfast works out better for me because I do most of my physical work during morning hours when I need high energy.      My diet plan differs from other

      I'm on the Mayo Clinic Diet mainly to lower my cholesterol.  By losing weight, I'm lowering my low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL).  And then, with moderate exercise my chances of losing weight increases.  Eating more vegetables and fruits while eating less meat helps me to lose weight faster.      Reducing the amount of sugar and salt in my diet has been a huge factor in my weight loss journey.  I'm using artificial sweeteners in my coffee on a daily basis and trying to iliminate granulated sugar completely.  By the way, alcohol is counted as sugar--no alcohol!  At my age, salt intake should only be 1/2 teaspoon or about 1200 mg daily.  Using less salt helps me lower my blood pressure and prevents water weight gain.      Another important factor in weight loss and lower cholesterol levels, particularly LDL, is fat intake should be not more than 30 percent of total calories.  Lowering fat intake could reduce my cholesterol levels by 20 to 15 percent. I have seve

     It is a quite, Saturday morning here and I slept in for a little while.  I'm up now, bathed, dressed to shoes and ready for my day.  Sticking to the Mayo Clinic Diet Plan, I ate 1/3 cup of homemade granola with 1/2 cup fat-free milk and 4 ounces of orange juice.  And that is equivalent to one carbohydrate, one protein and one fruit serving.  I also drank coffee with sugar free, powdered creamer, French Vanilla flavored Coffee Mate which has only 15 calories so I'm not counting it. My diet plan is basically whatever I want to eat within limited amounts of food, up to 1200 calories.  Vegetables are unlimited, at least four servings a day and at least three servings of fruit.  However, potatoes and corn are categorized as carbohydrates.  To meet my limit of 1200 calories a day, I'm allowed only four carb servings, three protein servings of 2 ounces each, only three fats and occasionally sweets, but sugar is off my food list for the time being.  It's complicated accept