How You can Stop Binge Eating

If you’re struggling with eating disorders such as binge eating and compulsive overeating – you’re not alone. There are millions like you. Even so, you must take positive action because you can’t live like this or you’ll harm your health severely. People engage in binge eating (eating large quantities of food even when they’re not hungry) to block out painful emotions. They’re using food as a crutch for comfort.

A typical binge-eating scenario plays out like this: You feel anxious or emotionally troubled and you eat a whole tub of ice cream at the end of a stressful day. Many people also report starting off strong on a diet and then giving up and binge eating because it was too much stress maintaining the diet plan. You’re not the first one this has happened to but the good news is, you can stop binge eating. What follows are seven tips that’ll help you to stop binge eating:

STOP BINGE EATING TIP #1: Face Reality – Weight Loss Isn’t Easy.

Let’s face it, the ads for weight loss products make it seem so easy but the truth is it’s not. And expanding waistlines prove it. The fact of the matter is losing unwanted weight and keeping it off is really one of the toughest challenges you’ll face. That’s because there are so many issues such as your personal level of self-discipline to consider. So take a realistic approach to weight loss and realise it’ll take time and it’ll take a lot of hard work – but it’s worth it!

STOP BINGE EATING TIP #2: Forgive Yourself and Let it Go. 

You’re only human and there will be days where you will cave in to the temptation to binge eat. It happens. Don’t let the feelings of guilt overwhelm you. You are not perfect but realise you must take positive action and that’ll mean you’ll get knocked off the horse several times. Just keep getting back on and don’t allow yourself to feel the torment of guilt.

STOP BINGE EATING TIP #3: Take 15-Minute Breaks. 

Here’s what I mean by this. Whenever you get the urge to binge eat or overeat, tell yourself that you’re going to wait 15 minutes before you touch any food. Just 15 minutes. During that 15 minutes period of time, get a grip on your emotions and distract yourself. I think you’ll be surprised by how at the end of that 15-minute period you’ll have no interest in binge eating or overeating.

STOP BINGE EATING TIP #4: Don’t Rely on Diets. 

I truly believe that there are no one-size fits all diets. And for many people it seems as if diets don’t work. So let’s try a different strategy if diets don’t work well for you. Instead of following a strict diet, try to slowly improve your eating habits. For instance instead of eating 5 junk foods a day, just eat 3 a day for the next 7 days. Then once that’s successful then keep pushing till you eat no junk food.

STOP BINGE EATING TIP #5: Moderate Portion Sizes. 

 

When you deprive yourself of the foods you love, it tends to be too much of a shock for the average person. You’ll then be left with cravings for the foods you’ve eaten for years and the temptation will be too overwhelming. So start out by moderating portion sizes. Instead of ordering a full sized pizza, try getting a smaller sized pizza, maybe a kid-sized pizza. Instead of eating on large, normal-sized plates, eat on smaller plates. By doing this you’ll have smaller portions of food available to you and will end up eating less.

STOP BINGE EATING TIP #6: Control Your Emotions.

Instead of trying to escape emotional pain, face those emotions and deal with them. If you don’t do this, they’ll torment you possibly for years to come. Face them down; get help if you must because most eating disorders are symptoms of deeper, emotional issues that are unresolved. Fix those issues and you may be surprised to find that your problems with food disappear as they have for many.

STOP BINGE EATING TIP #7: Get Support From Others. 

 

 

Can you overcome this problem by yourself; sure it’s possible. But why do it the hard way when you can get a circle of people to help and support you? Make yourself accountable to others and use that peer pressure to overcome binge eating.

Calories in Alcohol

It’s a question people ask all the time. “How many calories are in various alcoholic drinks?” That’s a good question because many people like to enjoy a couple of glasses of red wine or even a beer or two after a hard day of work. It’s a habit many people have.

And technically, drinking a couple of glasses of red wine a day could be considered good for your heart. Also, we all know what a killer stress is and a little bit of alcohol now and then can help diffuse built up stress. But the big problem is, alcohol isn’t much of a help when it comes to weight loss.

First of all, while engaging in some casual drinking, you may be sooner tempted to eat snacks and various food items that will pack on the pounds – especially if you’re out with friends. When you’re with a group of friends, all of whom are in a jovial mood, enjoying a few drinks, it’s hard to say “no” to pizza or similar high-calorie food items.

The second problem with alcohol is that the calories in alcohol are empty. What follows are some basic tips you might want to try when it comes to reducing your intake of the calories in alcohol:

Slimming Tip #1

You may want to give up alcohol for a week or even a couple of months till you hit your target weight.

Slimming Tip #2

Be forewarned that it’s so easy to abstain from alcohol all week and then go out on a Friday or Saturday night and binge. You will be tempted! So be prepared to deal with this reality. Keep in mind that one binge and you’ve undone days or even weeks of work.

Slimming Tip #3

 If you will be drinking some alcohol, you may want to try a small 125ml glass of wine. This is the same principle of eating smaller food portions.

Slimming Tip #4

 You can substitute alcoholic drinks with water or low-calorie soft drinks or fruit drinks.

When your body intakes alcohol, what happens is that the calories in alcohol are metabolised first before fat is burned and that’s not desirable when you’re on a weight loss program! What follows is a calories in alcohol chart to help you make better decisions

Calories in Alcohol Chart

How to Decide Which Slimming Diet is Right for You

It seems almost every month, an exciting new diet that promises miracle results appears in the news and on the TV talk shows. Over time, it’s hard to know which diet you should try. After all, there’s so many to choose from.

There are liquid slimming diets, high protein diets, low-carb diets, cookie diets, blood type diets, vegetarian diets and even diets claiming to shrink your belly. Generally speaking most of these diets all have a few things in common:

• They demand that you dramatically decrease the amount of food you eat

• You must shop for specific products and only eat those items on a consistent basis

• They may require you to make time-consuming meals

• You’ll often be stuck making one meal for the family while you eat something entirely different

 

• You’ll almost always be hungry to some extent

At first, you may be excited to try one of these slimming diets. But after a few days or even a week of being a diet Spartan, chances are, that dieting zeal will turn into discouragement. So it’s important to understand, that if you want results, then you’ve got to take the right actions to achieve those results.

And despite what the marketing hype says, you will not peel off six or more pounds of weight weekly. If you do lose several pounds a week then the diet may not be healthy. Healthy weight loss is a slow process that if followed over many weeks will help you realise your weight loss goal. So what’s my point in telling you this?

When exploring diet options, you want to go with a diet that fits your personality, your palate and your schedule. Let me give you a few examples:

• If you’re a busy person, then a slimming diet that requires constant trips to the shop and meals that take too long to prepare will fail you.

• Suppose you can’t handle eating too much meat all the time, following a high protein meat based diet will end up failing you too.

• Likewise, a vegetarian style diet may not work for you if you tend to feel run down easily.

• And some foods on these diet plans may give you headaches or just not agree with you.

Here’s another issue to think about.

  Some slimming diets are extremely limited in what you can eat. So if you’re the type of personality that needs lots of variety, and you get bored easily then you need to find a diet that offers you lots of options and a variety of foods to choose from, otherwise you’ll just give up in a few weeks. The bottom line is this, you need to really shop around and really evaluate what’ll work best for you.

Don’t get caught up in the marketing hype. 

It’s easy to feel compelled to follow a certain diet that may be showcased on certain TV talk shows. Remember those diets might work great for those people but not so well for you. Find the diet that’s right for you.

After all, before you buy a new car, or any other significant purchase, you tend to spend time looking at prices and options. Well you have only one body and one life to live. And how you feel affects every area of your life so doesn’t it make sense to carefully evaluate slimming diets based upon your daily schedule, your needs, your body’s reaction to certain foods and other criteria

 

 

 

How to Stop Yo-Yo Dieting for Good

Along with the temporary weight loss, you also run across the many dangers of yo-yo dieting. This repetitious battle of losing and gaining weight comes with many physical and psychological perils. Our bodies are deprived as we lose the weight, and then our self-esteem plummets as we put the weight back on. If yo-yo dieting is controlling your weight, take advantage of the following recommended tips to break the cycle:

Remove the word “diet” from your vocabulary. Diets are temporary and we only see results when we are dieting. But what about after you’ve reached your goal weight? You need to think of getting control of your health as a lifestyle change which you can continue throughout the rest of your life. Diets don’t work in the long term.

DO NOT completely eliminate your favorite goodies and snacks. Limited self control is part of how we end up overweight in the first place. Are we really going to have enough self control to keep away from these foods forever? It’s highly unlikely. And when we don’t satiate our cravings, we end up cranky and unhappy. Don’t make your lifestyle change an unhappy experience by banning foods.

Set reasonable goals for yourself. It’s completely unhealthy and counterproductive to aim for high weight loss each week. During the first week most will lose quite a few pounds, which is mostly water weight, and think this will be the continued rate of weight loss. Don’t fall into this trap or you’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment. Set your goal at 2 to 4 lbs a week, and no more. At a minimum this is more than 20 lbs in the first three months.

Create a balanced meal plan with a caloric intake of around 1,200 to 1,400 (for women) per day. You can easily stay within these limits and still feel full if you pick the right foods. Remember to keep fiber content high and fat content low. Knowing the facts about fat will help you choose better foods. Add in fresh fruits and veggies and you’ve got a great, healthy start to your new lifestyle change.

Control your portions. Fill your plate two-thirds full at mealtimes or use a smaller plate to get better control of your portions. If your snack is a single serving of low-fat snack crackers, buy those in single servings or buy a bigger box and put single servings in plastic baggies for easy grabbing. Sitting at your desk with the whole box will only tempt you to eat way more than you should. Also, try eating 5-6 smaller meals per day rather than 3 large one’s. This will help you burn calories more efficiently by boosting your metabolism.

Get active. Start walking, join an aerobics class, get involved in a sports league, design an exercise routine – whichever you choose it needs to be tailored to fit your life and something you will continue. The key is finding slimming exercises you enjoy! Sometimes having a workout buddy helps keep your mind off the actual exercise and it turns into more of a group activity. This also helps with being held accountable to stick with the program.

Stay busy. If you keep busy and limit your idle time, you’ll have less time to think about food. Instead of eating junk food in front of the TV you could be getting involved in any number of hobbies or out socialising with friends.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been yo-yo dieting for years, or even decades, you can still break the chain and ease your way into lifestyle changes to help you lose weight and get into shape. If you follow the steps above you’re headed in the right direction for a slimmer, trimmer and healthier you!

The Dangers of Yo-Yo Dieting

You’ve no doubt heard of the phrase, “Yo-yo dieting”. And chances are if you’ve struggled with your weight for a long time, you may have done it. What exactly is yo-yo dieting?

The yo-yo diet is a term defined by Krause’s Food, Nutrition and Diet Therapy as “the process of losing and gaining weight several times throughout a lifetime.” Here’s what yo-yo dieting usually looks like in a person’s life.

You hear about this fantastic diet on TV and it just seems too good to pass up on. You stock up on special foods this diet requires and totally change your eating habits. Then you have a stressful day or your schedule gets messed up where you don’t have the special diet foods you need or just don’t have time to prepare a meal that’s based upon the requirements of your diet. Then the overwhelming temptation to break the diet out of convenience happens.

You end up giving in to temptation and break your diet. Then another bad or stressful day occurs and chocolate ice cream sure sounds like a good idea and you give in – to satiate your cravings and emotions.

Before you know it, you find yourself cheating on your diet several times a week and it can easily turn into binge eating, making it difficult to get back on track with the diet. Eventually you quit the diet and give up for awhile, until at a later date you decide to try a drastic diet, which fails also, and then you repeat the process. Does any of this sound familiar?

If so, then you’re in danger of yo-yo dieting. Losing weight then regaining weight and losing it again and regaining it is no laughing matter, that’s because it can put you at risk for some serious health problems, including:

7 Ways You can Beat Food Cravings

Most overweight people suffer from food cravings on occasion. Typically this food craving is for a particular type of food. What’s interesting to note is that it’s not really an issue of hunger but of something deeper. Looking deeper you’ll see that when a person is dealing with food cravings, there are usually two biological factors in action that drive you to desire certain foods.

The two types of foods people tend to get an insatiable craving for are foods loaded with sugar or salt. When there is a dip in your Serotonin levels or Adrenal Fatigue that can trigger food cravings. But what’s important to you is the question, “How do I beat food cravings?” The following is a list of seven tips that are tested and proven to work … and they work even if the urge to binge seems unstoppable. Why not give these tips a try?

Beat Food Cravings Tip #1

 The next time you feel a food craving coming immediately change the place you’re in and/or what you’re doing. Now why would you want to do this? It’s because your surroundings may be sending off signals to trigger your mind to suddenly desire a certain food. Sights, and especially smells can trigger memories that remind you of food.

Beat Food Cravings Tip #2

 You can also beat food cravings by going for a short run or jog. This too will refocus your mind elsewhere so you forget about your food craving.

Beat Food Cravings Tip #3

 You can “distract” your taste buds so that you don’t end up eating calorie packed fattening foods. For example, let’s say you’re craving something salty, instead of indulging on a bag of salty chips you can eat something spicy and low calorie. Or let’s say you’re craving something sugary, instead of eating a chocolate bar; eat something sour that has few calories such as a sour apple or a pickle.

Beat Food Cravings Tip #4

 Another thing you can do to wean yourself from food cravings is to give yourself some kind of desirable reward for avoiding the craving. You could rent a movie, buy yourself a gift or go out. The logic behind this is that you refocus the reward of satisfying your cravings for something else.

Beat Food Cravings Tip #5

 You never want to starve yourself. Usually when you starve yourself for a pro-longed period of time you’re just setting yourself up for trouble because the lower your blood sugar drops the weaker your will becomes and you’ll likely end up bingeing on the food you crave.

Beat Food Cravings Tip #6

 Try to avoid sugar. Sure it makes foods taste wonderful, but if you’re trying to drop pounds and inches, you’ve got to make serious steps to wean yourself off sugar. You might be surprised to know that some dieticians feel that sugar can be as addictive as the drug heroin. The problem with sugar-loaded foods is that they’re loaded with empty calories and often after you eat them, you will feel hungry again in a few hours.

Beat Food Cravings Tip #7

 

 Eat plenty of foods rich in calcium. Why is this important? It’s important because sometimes food cravings can be traced back to a deficiency in calcium. The result is that your body initiates various food cravings to fill the calcium deficiency. So what you need to do is to make sure your daily diet consists of plenty of low calorie foods loaded with calcium. Good examples of those foods would be many leafy green vegetables.

The Magic of Fat Burning Foods

One of the most exciting secrets of losing weight involves what are called fat burning foods. What are fat burning foods? Imagine this, a food that helps you burn more calories than you consume and makes you feel full! Picture a food item that zero’s in on your belly fat and helps to slim your torso. If there were foods that could do that, wouldn’t you want to know what they are? The good news is I’m going to show you what they are! All of these foods are available at your local shop or supermarket.

FAT BURNING FOOD #1: EFAs.
EFA’s are Essential fatty acids. These fatty acids come from fish. Now here’s what’s special about EFA’s. It was found that women who consume fish regularly have lower levels of a protein hormone called leptin, which is linked to a slower metabolism and obesity. You can acquire EFA’s through supplements or by eating fresh fish three to five times a week. The best fish for EFA supplementation include wild salmon, fresh tuna, herring and mackerel.

FAT BURNING FOOD #2: Cinnamon.

It was found by the USDA that as little as ¼ of a teaspoon of cinnamon added to food helps your body metabolise sugar 20 times faster and lowers your blood-sugar levels.

FAT BURNING FOOD #3: Apples & berries.

Apples and berries contain a significant amount of a substance called pectin. What’s special about pectin is that it has a water binding property that drowns out the fat from your cells, thus hindering your body’s ability to absorb fat. You’ve heard the saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, now you know an apple a day keeps fat away!

FAT BURNING FOOD #4: Cayenne pepper.

Cayenne pepper became vogue as a weight loss food when it was published that models such as Gisele Bundchen and singer Beyonce rely on it to keep their body’s lean. The reason why Cayenne pepper slims you down is because it triggers what’s called a thermodynamic burn that lasts for hours after you eat. In other words, Cayenne pepper helps to speed up your metabolism. Chilli pepper also has the same effect. In fact, recent studies have revealed that adding chilli to your meals can help you lose up to 5lbs a month!

FAT BURNING FOOD #5: Citrus fruit.

Lemons, oranges, grapefruit and limes are considered citrus fruit. What’s special about these fruits is that they contain a high amount of vitamin C. This is important because vitamin C can help liquefy or dilute fat so that it exits your body. Citrus fruit is known to help increase your metabolic rate.

FAT BURNING FOOD #6: Garlic.

At first glance, eating too much garlic seems rather unappealing. But when you consider what it can do for your waistline you might reconsider your thoughts about it. Garlic works as a thermogenic in your body, thus it speeds up your metabolism and keeps your insulin levels low to maximise fat burning.

FAT BURNING FOOD #7: Ginger.

Ginger has properties that expand blood vessels and increases body heat, which in turn helps to boost your metabolism by 20%. Ginger is also known to detoxify the body and promote good blood circulation. You can add ginger to meals or drink ginger tea for the benefits.

FAT BURNING FOOD #8: Dairy Foods.

It just doesn’t seem like it’s possible but low-fat dairy foods can aid in weight loss. The reason why is because in an April 2005 study conducted by the International Journal of Obesity, it was found that the calcium and protein found in low-fat dairy foods actually promotes weight loss and helps maintain muscle mass. For this to work, you may want to try eating three servings of low-fat dairy foods a day.

The Milk Diet

If you want to lose weight quickly – you can use milk diet. Effect of milk diet: 3 – 4 pounds in three days.

What is milk?
In the first place – is an important and useful product for the human. In the composition of milk includes vitamins A, B, C, E, calcium and many minerals, proteins. Even drinking 1 liter of milk a day, you are fully meets the needs of the organism in the protein, the whole day. Dairy products are beneficial to the entire digestive system.

Milk diet lowers blood cholesterol levels, strengthens bones, nervous system, normalize intestinal function, and improve its micro flora. Also, this wonderful diet improves the skin and even helps get rid of acne.

That’s why milk diet – is popular. Using milk and dairy products during this diet, you not only lose excess weight, but also nourish your body beneficial substances, thereby improving your health.

Milk diet menu
Before each meal drink a glass of mineral water without gas.

Breakfast: 1 yogurt, 1 banana, tea with honey or coffee with milk, no sugar.
Dinner: 1 boiled egg, cucumber salad, dressed with natural yogurt or cottage cheese with fruit, 1 cup sour milk or buttermilk.
Lunch: 100 grams of oatmeal in water or milk, 200 g of cottage cheese, 1 cup milk
Evening meal: 1 pear, 1 yogurt.

Tips and advice.
During the milk diet you should reduce physical exertion and the time to stop playing sport. When you sit on a milk diet, try to take a bath more often. So you can remove the stress from feeling hungry. Water will wash away all that is derived from the organism.

To People Who Want a Flatter Stomach & 6-Pack Abs

Can you imagine how exciting it would feel to have a flat tummy? Picture how great it would be to fit into clothes that flatter your figure. There’s no question, that a flatter stomach or six-pack abs makes you look healthier and younger.

But when it’s crunch time, most people don’t know where to start when it comes to developing a washboard stomach. Put the right information in your hands and you too can have a sexy waistline and stomach. It’s not easy but it’s absolutely worth it. In this article, you’ll see 7 tips that show you how to start your flatter stomach program.

Tip #1: Drink More Water

By drinking more water you can offset any water retention caused by eating too much salt.

Tip #2: Reduce Carb Intake. 

According to Leslie Bonci, R.D., at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center, many bars and sweets are loaded with glycerin or sugar alcohols, which cause bloating. Cut unnecessary junk and snack foods from your diet.

Tip #3: Reduce Salt Intake. 

It’s no mystery that eating lots of salt can cause water retention, thus making your stomach look bigger than usual. The solution is to watch how much salt you eat. Keep in mind that many condiments and canned foods are loaded with salt.

Tip #4: Eat More Potassium.

  Potassium counteracts the bloating-effect of salt. Some foods that contain Potassium include salmon, almonds and cherries.

Tip #5: Work Abs 3 to 5 Times Weekly.

  Don’t fall for the claim that you should work your abs everyday. They need rest and recovery time just like other muscles in your body.

Tip #6: Work at a Moderate Pace.

There is an erroneous claim that your ab workouts should take 30 minutes or even hours and that you should do crunches super slow. The evidence suggests that the opposite is in fact true. Try 4 counts to come up and 4 counts to come down.

Tip #7: Use Bodyweight Exercises. 

The good news is you don’t need machines or weights to tone and flatten your tummy. The right bodyweight exercises will do the trick. This means, you can work your abs anywhere, even in a small room.

Of course, there isn’t enough room here for a complete step-by-step ab program; this information will put you ahead of the curve. But if you really want to learn more detailed information on diet and various ab exercises you can do in the comfort of your home you may want to try “The Truth About Six Pack Abs” program by Mike Geary. Many consider him the ultimate guru on the topic of developing a flat tummy and his methods work equally well for men and women.

The Diet of the Ancient Egyptians

The Diet of the Ancient Egyptians

Doubtless, ancient Egypt's probably eat better than many others in the ancient world. After all, KMT, a name for ancient Egypt refers to its rich, dark, fertile soil and we have no doubt that since the invention of agriculture, Egyptians, with the Nile Valley and Delta, had a distinct advantage over many others when it came to food. Of course, there were lean times, when the inundation of the Nile failed them, but most often, this was not the case. In fact, we find many statues and pictures of ancient Egyptians who are well overweight.

However, it is very easy to describe any process in ancient Egypt in too broad of terms. We also must keep in mind that ancient Egypt spans thousands of years, and during that period their diets varied to some extent, while new foods were also added to their menus.

Bread and Cereal Food

Agriculture existed from an early date in Egypt. For the common people of Egypt, cereal foods formed the main backbone of their diet from the predynastic period onward Even for the rich, this staple mean generally consisted of a variety of different breads, often with other ingredients mixed in.

Sometimes these ingredients were purposeful, while at other times not. Because of the crude utensils used to make bread, quartz, felspar, mica, ferro magnesium minerals and other foreign bodies, including germs were almost always present in the flour. bread was made by mixing the dough, kneading it with both hands or sometimes with the feet in large containers. Yeast, salt, spices, milk and sometimes butter and eggs were then added, before the bread was placed in a baking form or patted into various shapes.

At first it was cooked in open fires or even on the embers. But from the Old Kingdom on, bread-moulds were used which were preheated, wiped with fat and filled with the dough. Slowly this process became more sophisticated.

In the Middle Kingdom, tall, tapered bread ovens with a firebox at the bottom, a grating and domed, upper compartment which was open at the top were used. At first, and really for even later common consumption, bread was usually cooked in the shape of a pancake. However, later bread was made in long or round rolls, and sometimes even shaped into figures, particularly for ceremonial purposes. Large, soft griddle cakes were also made, just as in Nubia today.

Sometimes thick loaves were made, with a hollow center that was then filled with beans, vegetables or other items. Sometimes flat bread was made with raised edges in order to hold eggs, or other fillings. Eventually, bread was made with various other ingredients, but there was no distinction between bread and pastries. Yet bread was often sweetened with honey or dates, or flavored with sesame, aniseed or fruit.

Vegetables

Obviously, even for the poor, other items such as vegetables, fruit and fish were consumed, all gifts of the Nile. They often ate beans, chick peas, lentils and green peas, just as modern Egyptians do today. Leeks and Egyptian lettuce was also popular. garlic were eaten, as well as thought to repel agents of diseases, and onions were popular, as well as being used for medical purposes. Though Herodotus tells us otherwise, radishes do not appear to have been consumed much.

Fruit

Chances are we do not know all the different types of fruit consumed. The most popular fruit in ancient Egypt was probably dates, which are rich in sugar and protein. While the rich used honey as a sweetener, the poor more often employed dates. They were also dried for later consumption, and were sometimes fermented to make wine.

We know that figs were eaten, but mostly from illustrations and references. Grapes were popular when available, and were also sun-dried to make raisins. Persea Mimusops laurifolia we know from the food left in tombs, as well as pomegranates, which have been found as far back as the 12th Dynasty.

We have even found a watermelon in the New Kingdom tomb of Nebseni. We only know of Egyptian plums from the New Kingdom, and the peach does not show up until the Ptolemaic (Greek) period. Olives were probably bought into Egypt with the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period, but walnuts and carob pods (St. John's bread) are only known from the New Kingdom onward.

Meat, Fish and Poultry

While it is difficult to believe that certain meats, such as fish and wild poultry did not show up fairly frequently on the tables of common people, we are told by Egyptologists that it was for the most part only the rich who regularly feasted on most meat. The poor ate geese, ducks, quails, cranes and other species, and from the New Kingdom onward raised domesticated fowl. Most edible fish from the Nile were consumed, though some fish, such as the genera Lepidotus and Phragus and a few others were forbidden because of their connection with the myth of Osiris.

In some locations, even the Nile perch was worshipped, and therefore never eaten. While fish were roasted or boiled, most frequently they were salted and preserved and dried in the sun.

Beef from cattle was frequently eaten by the rich, but appeared on the tables of common people usually only during festive occasions, when a sheep or goat might be slaughtered. We also see from tomb paintings, the preparation of wild game such as antelope, ibex, gazelles and deer. Pork was eaten, though the animal was associated with the evil god Seth. Early on it was widely consumed in Lower Egypt, but rarely in Upper Egypt. Yet we know that pigs were later bred and pork widely eaten throughout Egypt.

Dairy Products

While milk, cheese and butter are not well attested to, at least in text, we certainly believe that the early Egyptians were familiar with all of these dairy products. We do find a number of scenes showing men carrying what appears to be pots of milk or cream, and in one Theban tomb from the 19th dynasty, we find a seated woman pulling white cones of what is probably butter or cheese out of a large vessel.

Fats and Oil

There were also a number of different oils and fat used in the preparation of food. We know of beef, goat and other fats, and the Egyptian language had 21 different names for vegetable oils obtained from sesame, caster-oil plants, flax seed, radish seed, horseradish, safflower and colocynth. Horseradish oil was particularly popular. Oil and fat was mostly used for frying meat and vegetables, though food was also cooked in milk or butter.

Seasonings and Sweeteners

Sea salt, because of its connection to the evil Seth, was not consumed but salt from the Siwa Oasis was available. Pepper, however, only appears from the Greek period, but other spices were also used, including aniseed, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, fenugreek, marjoram, mustard and thyme. Sugar itself does not appear in the Egyptian diet until late in history, though honey was used by the rich for a sweetener, but was probably too expensive for the poor.

Common people used various fruits as sweeteners, though the most popular seems to have been dates. Without doubt, because of Egypt's rich soil and lush vegetation, the rich of Egypt probably always ate well, even during times of drought. In the worst of times, common people probably suffered to some extent, but mostly they were probably fed well, though not as lavishly as the rich.

Banquets were frequent, as were various festivals and other celebrations, and at these times, it is likely that everyone enjoyed the bounty of the Black Land. In fact, it is likely that their superior nutrition had much to do with their success in the ancient world.

Common bakeries were not known until the New Kingdom, but larger kitchens were manned for work gangs, the military as well as the royal household and temple personnel. Common meals were often served with beer, or for the very rich, wine. Beer was fermented mostly from wheat, though occasionally stale bread was utilized. Notation: While one may discover "ancient Egyptian recipes" on the internet, text for recipes on cooking food are notoriously absent from the archaeological record.