I'm just beginning to realize that I don't actually know anything I should about food!

[sweetheart]

I've tried every fad going over the last 15 years and i am currently about 2.5 stone heavier than i want to be. I didn't want to do other fad so i looked into making changes to the way I eat for life based on my metabolic type.....

I have the help of a lady for food plans etc but she is a very busy lady - I have lots of questions and the answers are not always quick in coming back. Every thing I seem to look up makes me more confused!

Are there any really clued up people on here regarding all this? I'm even struggling to put foods into groups and understand why you eat protein with carbs etc.

Trying to stick to natural foods as much as possibly but have even found myself thinking "I don't actually know if this is a natural food!"

Also things like cheese - why is cheddar bad (apparently) but feta is good?

I'm so confused!

Not an expert but the school I volunteered at taught their year 3's food last term so I may be able to help a little. Groups - foods containing fats & sugars, starch foods like bread, pasta etc which contrain carbohydrates, meats pulses & quorn which are high in protein, dairy products which are high calcium, and fruit & vegetables. You eat protein with carbs because protein fills you up so good for weightloss and helps your body repair itself, and carbs provide energy (but try and eat complex carbs e.g wholemeal pasta, rice, bread etc, because your body breaks it down slower than refined carbs like white bread. Solid cheese have more fat than softer cheeses, hence why cottage cheese is a good low fat diet food. Hope that helps

OP, I think you're over thinking things. There is no such thing as a diet for your metabolic type - they all work by restricting what you eat. Many of these blood type diets are ridiculously anti social and unsustainable as a lifestyle change.

Eat food (not chemicals, preservatives, sweeteners etc) mostly plants, in moderation.

It's Calories in and calories out, but 300cal of grilled chicken will fill you up longer than a Mars bar.

Good luck

so whats the deal with things like - if you eat a slice of bread spread it with real butter because the fat does something to neutralize the starch carb intake....? Things like that really make my mind boggle.

Again you are overthinking things - you really don't need to consider the molecular structure. As I said before, eat food, mostly plants, in moderation. Burn more calories than you use and you will lose weight. There is nothing more complex than that, but nobody will pay for that advice so there's an industry trying to make it more complicated than necessary.

I wouldn't worry too much about things like that, it's nice to think that little cheats like that can help us lose weight - I once went through a phase of cooking pasta, letting it go cold then reheating it when I wanted to eat because I heard your body can break it down quicker. But it's silly, eat less, move more!

This 'metabolic type ' thing is another faddy diet, I'm afraid. You don't need to know anything about science to eat healthily and lose weight. Eat 3 proper meals a day (meat/fish/eggs, veg, small portion of normal carbs - rice/potatoes etc). Fruit for dessert. Have a little treat at the weekend (piece of cake/ ice cream/whatever). Drink plenty of water. Do some exercise. Don't sit down too much.

Another good piece of advice I saw summed up on here recently - 'Don't drink your calories!' Avoid sugary drinks.

I'm not claiming it's easy to avoid temptation. But it's not complicated to understand.

Oh and you asked about 'natural food'. Basically it's best to eat things which are as close as possible to how they grew. Anything with long lists of ingredients you wouldn't recognise or wouldn't find in a normal kitchen is not natural and is highly processed.

It's not easy to eat entirely natural stuff ALL the time. But if you stick mostly to unprocessed meat, fish and eggs, eat plenty if fresh veg and fruit and avoid shop-bought baked goods you'll be doing pretty well!