@dark_silence: yes, rice is better than the rest, but of course it depends on what goes with it. i will also reply to Taliesin in the same breath: try garlic rice, just sautée small quantities of garlic and a few shallots in a pan, then boil regular white rice (do not fry it), and serve the rice with more or less 1 tablespoon of the aromatized oil and more or less 1 teaspoon of parmesan cheese. sprinkle liberally with pepper or paprika, if you like. this is a typical good way to get a very tasty carb-intensive entrée without getting fat. quantity of rice: 60 to 120 grams depending on gender and body type. if you want to lose weight, you should have such a dish only once a day.
this is just an example, of course, and maybe you hate garlic, because you're a tr00 goth vampire
but a typical slim-down diet would entail stuff like this:
absolutely forbidden anytime: butter (also for cooking: use olive oil!), desserts, carbonated drinks, spirits, charcuterie except if it's lean cured meat such as
bresaola
recommended on a typical day:
breakfast:
coffee/tea/juice
1-2 apples or any other fruit except grapes (high in sugar) or bananas (high in protein)
lunch:
appropriate portion of rice or pasta with light condiment. 1 tablespoon of olive oil or pesto or natural tomato sauce are ok, as of course are any herbs and spices you might want to add; anything which is based on cream, sour cream, or animal fat is definitely not. a risotto is ok every once in a while, but try to keep to boiled rather than fried or sautéed at least 70% of the time. where spices are concerned, get the original powdered ones rather than pre-made ones: for example, i do my own curries starting from curry powder and mixing it with whatever the base is for what i'm cooking. it tastes definitely better than most of the prepackaged variety, not to mention that it's waaay healthier.
one reasonable serving of white fish, such as sole, or white meat such as chicken breast, cooked in the oven. again, the trick is to work with flavors without piling on excess calories: in the case of sole, you can try for example to add basil for aroma, lemon for accentuation of taste, and black olives - if you can find them, gaeta olives - as a nice complement. it can taste wonderful and you don't need to get fat. in the case of chicken, you can add chopped spring onions or similar long-stem vegetables and a mixture of black and white pepper. the idea is that you want to have the maximum protein per gram, and it doesn't get any better than that. lean red meat is ok as well.
any raw vegetable you want in any quantity you want. for example, salad with tomatos, carrots, black olives and white onions can be pretty good, if served with a light vinaigrette. any salad dressing of anglo-saxon origin is just evil, but it is particularly evil when you want to lose weight.
more fruit.
dinner:
about 50 grams of bread, to be made interesting for example in the form of bruschetta - small drop of oil, diced fresh tomatoes, and in the oven until crispy.
one reasonable serving of the protein source you did not have at lunch. if you don't want to do oven-cooked all the time, you can also cook in a pan, but again the base should be oil and not butter, you should avoid bacon or lardons in the base, and generally speaking you should be heavy on the rosemary and other flavors if you want the meal to taste good.
more vegetables, possibly different from the ones you had at lunch. if you want to cook them, do so, but avoid vegetable pies or other items that contain ingredients that are indeed replete with animal fat and saturated fat.
it's very important to have carrots (they carry vitamins that are harder to find elsewhere) and greens such as peas or squash.
cheese is acceptable 3-4 times per week, in substitution of meat or fish, but it should not be high-fat cheese such as camambert or brie. normally, fresh is better than seasoned, if you want to lose weight.
eggs are also ok, again in substitution of meat or fish, and boiled is better than fried.
shellfish = fat so be careful (i hate that, being a fan of shellfish, but well).
in substitution of fish and meat, the occasional serving of beans, red or white, is perfectly good. just don't have beans instead of vegetables.
as in all similar things, there's not really a strict rule, just making sense of the method and then be creative.
scout around for mediterranean recipes or ask if you want more.
