Healthy weight loss program: Alton Brown diet of ‘Good Eats’

Here’s something we watched while my blog was in the shop. It’s the January 4 episode of the Food Network’s Good Eats, titled “Live and Let Diet.” (Both parts should play in sequence above, or else you can watch them at YouTube.)

We had noticed, going back to a recent season of Alton Brown’s Feasting on Asphalt, that the guy had become fairly thick around the middle. Then, on the January 3rd Iron Chef America: “Super Chef Battle,” Alton suddenly looked a heck of a lot leaner. One of my sisters worried that he was sick.

Quite the contrary, according to Mr. Brown. Alton has accomplished his weight reduction lost his fat — 50 pounds of it — by creating his own four food groups:

• Daily: Fruits, whole grains, leafy greens, nuts, carrots, green tea
• 3 times weekly: Oily fish, yogurt, broccoli, sweet potato, avocado
• 1 time weekly: Red meat, pasta, dessert, alcohol
• 0 times weekly: Fast food, soda, processed meals, canned soups, “diet” anything

How to lose weight and keep it off is a longtime topic of interest in our house. Since seeing the episode, we have been adding open-faced sardine and avocado sandwiches to our healthy diet, and we plan to try the Ginger Almonds recipe soon.

We already had been drinking green tea and eating lots of sweet potatoes and broccoli, and recently stepped up the whole grains and leafy greens — since Amy started making a variety safflower oil salad dressings.

Now I need to get away from the computer more often and get some exercise. Just in time, another six inches of snow has piled up outside over the course of the afternoon.