Carbohydrates are, however, fairly useful in terms of overloading the body's metabolism. (That's why you lost the 30 lbs.) Back in college, I used to burn protein pretty badly, and my performance in the gym was severely hampered. I had a meeting with the S&C coach, where he imparted the need to carbo-load after a workout to prevent metabolism from using protein as quick energy. (At the time I was eating around 6-7k calories a day while losing weight, this helped me drop to a manageable diet.) Since carbohydrates are largely energy stores much in the same way as fat is, but without the added benefit of fat-soluble vitamins, they should be the first thing to cut down on. Well, probably fatty meat as well.

For a while I've been playing with spices, in all the good senses of "play", and I've been upping my culinary game. Even more recently I've started to get into sort of "gourmet" cooking; I'm scare quoting it because I'm not really in it for the attitude, but just the flavor. I have a small collection of vinegars, cooking wines, various extracts and oils (you can pry my sesame oil out of my cold dead fingers), and have been experimenting with a variety of cheeses. My wife, who isn't quite as into this yet, has also become hooked; she's discovered she really likes Balsamic Vinegar in a couple of recipes. (We buy the, ahem, "fake" stuff that doesn't take decades to create and only costs slightly more than other vinegars in the store; I'm sure it's not as good but it's good enough.)

And lo, it turns out that there are entire culinary traditions around the world that have centuries of history working with these ingredients, and it is good. My "boredom" level has plummeted in the past six months as I've opened these doors, and lately I'm getting to the point where I couldn't go back.

It isn't that hard, and it isn't actually that expensive. It does take some experimentation, though; you can follow recipes but I've found that my tastes and the tastes of those who are really "into" the culinary thing diverge quite strongly, even as we agree on ingredients. These are expensive ingredients relative to other foods in the store, yes, but typically you only use them in very small quantities; per use they are monetarily insignificant.

Example: I like hamburgers. For other reasons, I have to eat them without a bun, but I now wouldn't eat them with a bun anyhow. I do not know what it is exactly, but I find that adding one drop of sesame oil to a pound of hamburger can really change things. Don't forget to salt the meat. Toss in some dried onions for even more fun. Mix it all together, then form the patties. This is not a normal burger. I say "I don't know what it is" because something is really opening up the sesame oil, usually one drop does not have such an effect on a meal, but don't dribble much more in or you will actually ruin it. (Unless you really like sesame flavor.)

And this is just one example. It really isn't surprising (in hindsight, remember I've been there) that trying to take a typical American diet and subtract the bad stuff, which also happens to be where all the flavor is, has a boring result. But there are other traditions and ways of cooking that are as good or better; after all, the recommended American diet is a local aberration, not what we've been eating for centuries.