You're Doing It Wrong: Dieting {A Three Things Thursday post}

I've been doing something novel lately. I've been eating eggs.

Like the whole egg - yolk and all.

Not too long ago, it was rare for me to eat a whole egg much less two as I do now. I thought it was better, because it was lower calorie, to just eat the egg whites. I would scramble them with some veggies and top it with low-fat cheese, making a main dish breakfast that came in under 100 calories. By doing that, I was able to save "room" (calorie-wise) for things like bread, hash browns or turkey bacon.

But since I've transitioned, for at least the time being, to a lower carb and higher fat diet, I'm skipping the bread and letting myself have the higher calorie whole egg times two, along with some full-fat cheese and veggies. The product is similar but tastes much better and offers a more impressive nutritional profile. {Read here, here and here.}

Eating just egg whites, a habit I developed while a Weight Watchers participant, wasn't terribly bad but I'm not sure it was terribly good. It was a means (diet) to an end (weight loss) but there are better ways to achieve the goal, at least from the way I see it.

Here's when to know you need to reconsider your means:

1. Cover it up. I sort of cringe every time I think of post I wrote a couple years back. I was sharing hot chocolate "recipes" for the winter season, and each variation consisted of a packet of diet hot chocolate and an extract - peppermint, vanilla, almond. While peppermint extract does add a festive flair to hot chocolate, the taste wasn't the only reason I was adding it. The truth was - and still is - that diet hot chocolate does not taste good. In fact, it tastes bad and the only way to drink it with some satisfaction is to doctor it. I did it, though, because it was 25 calories per packet compared to 80 or 110 calories for more traditional versions.

If the diet food you are eating requires help to taste good, do not eat it. Find a better, more palatable option or find another way to cut calories such as a smaller portion.

2. Health binge. One of my Weight Watcher leader's favorite lines was, "No one got fat by eating watermelon." Her motivation was to encourage people to eat fruit and to eat it to satisfaction. She didn't want people to be scared or restrictive. It's probably true but it doesn't mean that you can eat an entire watermelon and still lose weight. Almost any food, no matter how healthy, has an effect on you - whether it's a caloric load or affects your blood glucose level.

3. Add-on. I was in a seminar the other day and someone asked about a pasta found at the store. "White Fiber," it is labeled and the participant wanted to know how it compared to other pastas on the market. The moderator seemed a bit stumped and asked for an email address. Obviously, she had never done Weight Watchers before. When I was on the plan, I would look for the highest fiber foods because the greater the value, the lower in points they were. The theory, I believe, is that higher fiber foods have a lower glycemic index and thus reducing the affect on blood sugar. They are, then, "healthier." However, these "healthier" foods included Fiber One and Gnu bars (which gave me the worst gas possible), VitaTop muffins and SmartTaste pasta. I got more bang for my points buck and felt like I was cheating the system.

The only thing I was cheating was me.

In my lowly opinion, if you need to seek out foods with added vitamins, minerals and other nutritional benefits, then you are most likely cutting corners other places. Example: When I gave up bread, someone asked me about fiber and where I would get it. My answer? Vegetables - and I'd probably get more fiber from them than I would from bread. A sandwich thin, which I also used a lot during WW, has 5 grams of fiber and a few vitamins and minerals. A sweet potato, on the other hand, has 4 grams of fiber, as well as vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. Add a side of broccoli to the potato, and you'll get an additional 3 grams of fiber plus Protein, Thiamin, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Potassium and Manganese. I don't need a sandwich thin for fiber if I'm eating enough vegetables.

Now, for my fourth bonus rule: You are doing it wrong if you believe the only way to diet/eat healthy is the way you are doing it. I follow certain guidelines, for the time being, because it works for me and it makes me feel good. It's important to find a way that benefits you.

Tell me: What are the signs of a bad diet?