The 10 Top Food Groups for Permanent Weight Loss

Excerpted from
The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet Personal Daily Journal: A Diet Journal to Keep You Focused on Your Weight-Loss Goals
By Nicholas Perricone, M.D.

In order for any weight-loss program to 1) work, and 2) become a lifelong lifestyle, there have to be plenty of options available. If you feel hungry or deprived, you are on the wrong program. Filling is one of the great pleasures in life, and the Perricone Weight-Loss Diet is a celebration of good food. How many weight-loss diets allow you to enjoy three meals per day and two snacks-and still lose weight? You'll never get bored (or fat) choosing from the wide variety of foods you'll find in this chapter.

In fact, I've made it easy for you. I have put my favorite foods into what I call "SuperGroups." Each SuperGroup is comprised of a different family of healthy, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity choices. The food I consider to be the healthiest choice in each group is labeled "Top Choice(s)" and is followed by other healthy (and tasty) choices I call "Runners-Up."

Some of the foods in each group will be very familiar to you (especially if you've read my earlier books). Others may not be. That's why I've included information on some of the science behind each of my choices. These are all foods that will not only help you lose weight, but have proven benefits for your overall health and well-being. Feel free to mix and match foods from all these categories. Enjoy them, and enjoy the healthful benefits they provide.

Everyone familiar with my previous work knows that the name "Perricone" and "salmon" are practically synonymous. In fact, as the years go by, rather than waning, I find myself becoming even more enthusiastic about this amazing food. Therefore it should come as no surprise to learn that wild salmon, the king of the superfoods, leads the pack in helping us to shed excess weight and keep it off. And the same thing that makes it such a rich, delicious, and satisfying meal-its abundance of healthful omega-3 fats-is, ironically, the same thing that makes it a top weight-control food! In chapter 4 we learned how the right fats, such as those in salmon, encourage the burning of fat for energy and discourage the storage of fat.

Top Choice: Wild Alaskan Salmon

Many Americans are unaware that wild salmon is available because of the dominance of cheaper fanned salmon in the marketplace. A number of countries and states, including Canada and California, offer wild salmon. The most abundant source of this fish is, however, Alaska. Wild salmon offers several key advantages in terms of weight control, safety, and overall health:

1. Wild and fanned salmon have comparable levels of omega-3s, but only wild salmon offers the ideal 1:2 ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s: the exact proportion that health experts recommend.

2. Wild salmon has much less cholesterol-raising, inflammation-inducing saturated fat than fanned salmon. The relatively high levels of saturated fat and omega-3 fat found in farmed salmon interfere with the benefits offered by its omega-3s.

3. Compared with wild salmon, farmed salmon is high in toxic PCBs and other dioxin-type chemicals-the same suspected carcinogens used to poison and disfigure the democratic challenger in Ukraine's 2004 elections.

4. Only wild salmon is rich in natural astaxanthin, a uniquely potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory nutrient. (Most fanned salmon is fed synthetic astaxanthin. which is biologically inferior to the natural form.)

5. Wild salmon offers far superior flavor and texture. It is preferred by leading chefs and restaurant chains, such as Legal Seafoods, P.F. Chang's, and many others.

6. Alaska's salmon fishery is certified as safe and sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council and nearly all other environmental organizations, while most advise you to avoid farmed salmon. (Salmon farms pose real environmental risks.)

Runners-Up: Sardines, Anchovies, Tuna, Sablefish, and Company

All of the fish on our Runners-Up list are not only high in omega-3s, they're also safe from a mercury-and-PCBs standpoint.

Sardines are a superior food because of their protein and fatty-acid content, and because their soft, edible bones add a calcium bonus to the nutritional picture.

Anchovies are another outstanding source of the omega-Ms. Anchovies are, however, usually cured in salt. Soak them in pure water for 30 minutes before use to decrease salinity. Anchovies and sardines are also good sources of DMAE, a special nutrient that oilers benefits to both the brain and the skin.

Tuna is another good source of omega-3s, but you need to select low-mercury types, including canned light tuna and my favorite: the young, low-weight, low-mercury Pacific albacore tuna harvested by Alaska's small-boat troller fleet. (See the Resource Guide for direct sources of fresh-frozen wild salmon, sablefish, sardines, and low-weight Pacific albacore tuna.)