Anthony Lim practices lifestyle medicine in Santa Rosa where he works at Kaiser, TrueNorth and the McDougall program. He observed that many patients become discouraged when they lose weight but plateau at a level above optimal. They may become frustrated and return to old eating habits since weight loss was their primary reason for diet change.

Lim suggests that allowing unlimited eating of healthy foods may fail for weight loss if caloric density is not considered since dilatation of the stomach plays a major role in satiation. Stretch receptors around the stomach signal satiety. Eating enough food to fill the stomach but limiting calories is best done by eating mainly low calorie dense foods.

He measures food groups by average calories per pound. His numbers:

                      Vegetables- 100
                       Fruit-  200
                       Whole unprocessed starches like potatoes, oatmeal-  520
                       Pasta or Legumes-  600
                       Meat- 800
                       Processed starches (even whole grain bread and whole grain cold cereals)-  1500
                       Sugars and Dried fruit-1500
                       Junk food (chips, cookies)-  2300
                       Seeds and Nuts- 2800 (very healthy but limit to 1 ounce/day if trying to lose weight)
                       Oils and Fats- 4000

His cut off for unlimited quantities is all foods at 600 or less.

Lim suggests limiting or avoiding healthy snack bars, meat substitutes and starting the meal with low calorie dense foods. His ideal dinner plate is half veggies and half legumes and healthy starches.