High-Response Cost, High-Yield Nutrition

In order to have behavioral control over your eating, you need to know which foods work against you by promoting mindless, uncontrolled eating, and which foods defeat impulse eating and support control.

High-response cost foods require a great deal of effort to prepare and eat, and have a calorie payoff that is low and healthy. These kinds of foods need to be chewed, cannot be eaten quickly, and are not "convenient" in any sense of the word. Some examples are a sunflower seed in its hull, meat, poultry, soup, fresh fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, whole grains, and certain cereals. By contrast, low-response cost foods are overly convenient and accessible, can be eaten quickly, invite and promote uncontrolled eating, and don't need a lot of preparation time. Food also has a nutritional yield.

High-yield foods supply a lot of nutrients relative to the amount of calories they contain. They are close to the state in which they are found in nature, and are often colorful.

Low-yield foods, on the other hand, provide an excess of calories in relation to the nutrients they contain.

High-response cost, high-yield foods are hunger suppressors, meaning they control and curb your hunger, while low-response cost, low-yield foods are hunger drivers. Keep Dr. Phil's meal planner in mind as you devise your meals each day:  

  Dr. Phil's Seven-Day High-Response Cost, High-Yield Food Plan

For more on key five, including which foods you should choose and which foods you should avoid, go to Chapter 8 in  The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom. With Dr. Phil's newest book,  The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide, you'll find out exactly what you need to eat to lose weight and keep it off. For sample menus from his "Rapid Start"program, click here.