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Taking the 'Die' Out of
D-I-E-T
Unlock the Secrets of Proper Eating So
You Can
Look Good and Feel Great
by Scott White
Weight loss
seems simple. A calorie is a calorie. Eat too many...gain weight. Eat
too few...lose weight. What could be easier, right? Wrong. Weight loss
is more than a simple caloric equation — the most important additional
element being exercise, or movement. Still, everywhere you
turn, there are so-called 'new and improved' ways to lose weight.
According to the American Dietetic Association, Americans spend an
estimated $33 billion
a year on weight loss foods, products and services. With that
amount of money at stake, it’s no surprise that an overwhelming number
of miracle diets and weight-loss products make daily bids for the sweaty
dollars of grossly overweight Americans.
The thing is,
it’s the 'die' in diet that is making these specialty foods and products
such hot commodities. Mention the word 'diet' and people instantly think
of extreme weight loss measures like eating 2 peas for dinner and never,
ever eating another sweet. The ironic thing is that while you cannot die
from following a sensible diet, the diets of most Americans — even those
who are temporarily achieving their weight loss goals — are killing us
in record numbers. Yes, literally killing us. Generally
speaking, diets (as in weight-reduction plans that limit the intake of
food), are making us fatter and less healthy than ever before.
Think about
it. How many 400 to 1,000 pound people walked the earth 50 or more years
ago? Our children are now growing to 250 pounds by the age of 14! This
would have been unimaginable just a generation or two ago. And no child
can be blamed for making himself obese, because he didn’t make the early
and instructional decisions that formed his dietary habits. His parents
did! What are we feeding our kids to create these immense monsters? Is
it simply an issue of not being able to say 'No!'
What the hell
have we allowed to happen to us? How did we let things get so out of
control? For one thing, we gave up our power to the food manufacturers,
largely in the name of convenience. Today, most of the foods we eat
contain chemicals and additives that cause us to eat more. Will power is
not enough to do battle with the highly paid food-scientist lab rats who
have figured out how to manipulate our brains into consuming greater and
greater quantities of low-quality food.
Of course, the
temptation is to tell yourself you’ve tried everything and just throw in
the towel. My guess is, though, that you have barely tried anything at
all — perhaps one diet that didn’t deliver as promised or an exercise
program you quit before you had time to see results. I don’t know about
you, but as a nutrition expert, I am more convinced than ever that diets
just don’t work. Exercise does, but you have to stick with it.
Let’s first
agree on the terminology.
The word 'diet'
has two distinct meanings:
1.
Food and drink regularly provided or consumed.
2.
A prescribed course of eating and drinking in which the amount
and kind of food, as well as the times when it is consumed, are
regulated for medical reasons or cosmetic weight loss; reduction of
caloric intake so as to lose weight.
In other words,
everything we eat is considered our diet. For the purposes of this
article, however, our use of the word will primarily refer to the
concept of a weight-reduction plan.
Fad diets
don’t work.
Almost every
diet is a fad, a passing craze taken up with great enthusiasm for a
short time but with no lasting effect. Diet fads universally promise
miraculous results in unrealistic time frames. I’ve said it before, and
I’ll say it again. The words of that old adage contain GREAT wisdom:
If it seems too
good to be true, it probably is.
I know, I know.
Who wouldn’t want to drop three dress sizes in a week, lose 10 pounds in
10 days, or turn that fat into muscle so you can look great in a
Speedo? [Yes, Scott, I know fat
doesn’t turn into muscle. Leave this alone and keep reading.]
Ads for these fad diets work because they tell you what you want to
hear: there’s a shortcut around the only two things that will get you
and keep you slim: performing regular exercise and changing your entire
eating regime. The ad-makers appeal to your emotions, and you allow
yourself to believe them. The proponents of these diet books, capsules,
drinks, and meal-replacement bars know that. It’s why they pay those ad
companies big bucks!
The truth is
that a fad diet will never get you thin in a healthy matter or keep
you that way. You’d be malnourished to the point of extreme illness
if you dropped three dress sizes in a week or lost 10 pounds in 10
days. And — the biggest untruth of all fad diet statements — fat
will never, ever, ever turn into muscle. Fat cells are and will
always be fat cells. Muscle cells are always muscle cells. You can lose
fat — but building muscle is an independent activity.
Still, the fairy
tale promise will always beckon — even after reading this, you may still
decide to try a fad-diet shortcut. Obviously, I can’t stop you. Just
go in with eyes open, knowing that even if you lose weight with one of
these fad diets, you are invariably sacrificing great health for some
very short-term results.
Let’s explore
some of today’s more popular diets.
Let’s take a
closer look at some of these diets to decipher why they might be
increasing our nation’s waistlines and making us fat, fat, fat. And I
mean F-A-T. Let’s bring these diets, eating plans, and nutrition
programs under a microscope, and dissect which factors might be causing
you and your kids to not only gain weight, but to continue to gain in
record amounts.
WARNING [and
this is the only one you’re going to get]: If you don’t want the truth
and you want someone to blame for your lack of success, stop
reading now. If, however, you do want to be able to tell diet
fact from died fad fiction, if you want to know how to be thin and trim
with a gorgeous physique — then read on.
The Diets
Atkins Diet
Created by Dr.
Robert Atkins and introduced in 1972 through his book, Dr. Atkins’
Diet Revolution, this diet emphasizes low carbohydrate consumption,
balanced by high protein intake.
Participants
gear their eating towards meats (including poultry and fish), nuts,
seeds, and vegetables. Fruits and starches are eaten
occasionally. Participants also take nutritional supplements to ensure
that they ingest adequate vitamins and minerals.
One guy who
tried this program ate nothing but meat and cheese. After a couple of
weeks, he had headaches and a terrible case of constipation. Later
still, he had such a bad case of gout (uric acid collecting in the legs
and feet) that he was out of work for a couple of weeks. He consulted
the Atkins people, who started sending the man huge supplies of
Atkins-plan food. With the supplemental foods, he got better and did
well on the diet, losing 30 or so pounds.
But is this a
plan you could call a lifestyle? Definitely not. If you can’t
make it work straight from the book, you’re going to have to spend a ton
of money on the Atkins food. Gee, could that be part of the overall
plan? Odds are, as soon as you tire of paying for the food, you’ll
go back to your old habits, and start gaining the weight back.
Beverly
Hills Diet
This diet
recommends eating fruit by itself, and never mixing protein with
carbohydrates in order to properly digest food and not store it as body
fat. The diet begins with a 35-day plan that specifies items to be eaten
at each meal, without counting calories or fat grams. In the first 10
days, only fruit is permitted; on day 11 carbohydrates and butter are
added; on day 19, protein is added. Fatty treats are permitted.
If you detest
counting calories and are sick of eating low-fat foods, this plan might
appeal to you. Although initial weight loss can be rapid, this diet has
a very structured menu plan. Additionally, the diet is based on no
scientific evidence; it’s dangerously low in protein and several vital
vitamins and minerals; and it can cause diarrhea.
Blood Type
Diet
The premise of
this plan, introduced in the books Eat Right 4 Your Type and
Live Right 4 Your Type, is that each blood type has its own unique
antigen (any substance, including bacteria, toxins and the cells of
transplanted organs, that when introduced into the body stimulate the
production of antibodies), a marker that reacts in a negative way with certain
foods. Also, individuals have varying levels of stomach acidity and
digestive enzymes, traits which seem to correspond to your blood type.
The books advise individuals with each blood type very detailed lists of
foods they must avoid.
If you find
having a set list of foods you can and cannot eat helpful, this diet
might appeal to you. Specific guidelines are provided for foods,
quantities, and timing of meals. Fairly obviously, weight loss will
result if you restrict your food intake.
This plan is
unrealistic for family members having different blood types, as it
requires each to follow a completely different diet. Also, each plan
unnecessarily eliminates specific groups of foods, which can result in
nutrient deficiency. There is great merit in eating according to your
metabolism, (the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which
its material substance is produced, maintained, and destroyed, and by
which energy is made available) but that’s not the same thing as eating based on your blood
type.
Cabbage Soup
Diet
Introduced in
1997 by Margaret Danbrot, the Cabbage Soup Diet is designed to last 7
days — just long enough to lose (up to) 10 pounds, then return to your
regular eating plan. The incredibly structured menu for those 7 days
revolves around a homemade cabbage soup. Dieters can eat as much of the
cabbage soup as they like at any time. Other than that, there’s a
strict schedule for when other fruits and vegetables can be eaten. Danbrot
notes you should not use this diet for more than 7 days, as it
does not provide balanced nutrition.
There doesn't
appear to be any short or long term medical studies to measure the
effectiveness of the Cabbage Soup Diet. It is clear, though, that this
diet does not provide the vitamins and minerals necessary to provide
adequate nutrition. Also, because the diet focuses only on short-term
weight loss, those who use it are likely to regain any weight they lose.
Diet Patches
Diet patches
supply herbs and mineral extracts through the skin in an effort to curb
the user’s appetite. Ingredients administered through the skin enter the
body immediately and at full strength, unlike ingredients administered
orally, which must make their way through the body’s digestive
process. During the relatively lengthy digestive process, ingredients
tend to lose their potency. Diet patches claim to administer proper
dosages, penetrating both the body and mind at constant rates for up to
16 hours.
Diet patch
manufacturers claim their patches often contain all-natural ingredients
and that they tend to be cost-effective. However, there’s no clinical
evidence to support the theory that diet patches contribute to weight
loss. Additionally, patches should never be applied to open wounds,
cuts, rashes, or other skin injuries. They should never be placed on the
eyes, lips, or other sensitive areas of the skin.
Fit For Life
Diet
The Fit for Life
Diet offers specific guidelines for types of foods to eat throughout the
day. The diet is comprised of 70 percent fruit and vegetables, with
dairy products and meats severely limited. Weight loss is thought to
result from improved digestion, and is not based on counting calories or
grams of fat.
The diet is
appealing to those who hate counting calories, as you can eat as much of
the specific foods as you wish; you never have to measure portions or
worry about caloric intake. Weight loss tends to be rapid due to the
elimination of many higher calorie foods. However, due to the limited
food choices, protein, zinc, Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 are
consumed in insufficient quantities. Additionally, in order to follow
the food combining guidelines, you may have to radically alter the way
you eat.
Grapefruit
Diet
First introduced
in the1930s as the Hollywood Diet by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D, a Yale
University psychology professor, the Grapefruit Diet was designed to
jumpstart a weight loss program and help dieters lose the largest amount
of weight in the shortest amount of time. The low calorie, fat-free and
Vitamin-C-enriched diet is based on the consumption of grapefruit and/or
grapefruit juice, which is believed to contain special fat-burning
enzymes. The low-calorie diet allows one to burn far more calories than
are consumed, thus inevitable weight loss. There are many variations of
the Grapefruit Diet, however, there is no scientific basis to the claim.
No systematic
clinical studies exist to back up the claims made by the proponents of
the Grapefruit Diet. Additionally, because the diet does not require a
change in eating habits, the crash-diet effects move the body into
starvation mode, which slows down metabolism. This will eventually lead
to long-term weight gain rather than weight loss.
The Hamptons
Diet
The Hamptons
Diet is a merger and improvement upon the Atkins and Mediterranean
diets. The basic premise of the Hamptons Diet is to eat more vegetables,
fish, and omega-3 fatty acids, and to consume monounsaturated fats.
The Hamptons
Diet introduces new a food pyramid, as well as a separate pyramid for
each of the standard USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) food
groups. The pyramid positions food choices for each food by levels of
desirability. In the protein pyramid, for example, processed and fried
meats are not actually prohibited, but they are undesirable in
comparison to the other choices, so they appear at the peak of the
pyramid, with a recommendation to limit their intake.
Herbalife
Herbalife has
developed a variety of weight-loss programs that typically include a
protein drink to be substituted for two meals each day, along with
multivitamins and herbal tablets. They recommend one balanced meal each
day, with a total intake of at least 1,000 calories per day.
This diet may
appeal to people who like using shakes as meal replacements and
appreciate not having to worry about counting calories or fat grams; and
like the convenience of eliminating the need to plan for numerous meals and snacks throughout
the day. However, some Herbalife supplements contain the ingredient
sida cordifolia which is a botanical source of ephedrine alkaloids.
According to the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, people younger than the
age of 18 as well as pregnant or nursing women should not use dietary
supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids. Additionally, the need to
buy special foods can become cost-prohibitive. This is an unrealistic
answer for long-term weight loss planning.
Hollywood Diet
See
Grapefruit Diet.
Jenny Craig
Diet
Jenny Craig
began by providing frozen meals to clients as a means of food management
in 1983. More recently, it has branched out into cookbooks and programs
that encourage clients to choose from readily available foods, as well
as an at-home program for people who do not live near one of their
established centers. Food is shipped by UPS.
Weekly personal phone
consultations for motivation and behavioral changes are central to the program.
The program
relies largely on frozen meals, which while convenient, offer nowhere
near the nutrition available in fresh food. Additionally, the Jenny
Craig counselors are not highly trained health professionals. The Jenny
Craig plan is an expensive menu-planning service that may or may not
help you make the changes necessary to achieve your long-term weight
loss goals.
Juice Fasts
Most juice fasts
last from one to five days. During the fast, 100% fruit and vegetable
juices, sometimes diluted with distilled water, are the only foods
allowed. Organic, freshly squeezed juices are preferred, and all juices
should contain no salt, sugar, or additives.
This plan is
simple to follow since the choices are so limited. You’ll lose weight
quickly because of the very low caloric intake, although weight loss is
not usually the goal of fasting. Many people believe that juice fasts
allow the body to rejuvenate and heal itself. One problem is that the
extremely low-calorie diet, combined with zero protein, complex
carbohydrates, or fat will quickly make you feel weak and disoriented
and your metabolism will slow down with so few calories to burn. As a diet
plan, fasting takes a good thing and goes too far.
If you try this
plan, don’t plan on participating in any vigorous activity or needing
your brain at peak mental function. Drink plenty of water and avoid
caffeine. After the fast, ease slowly back into solid foods. Start
with toast and cottage cheese or yogurt.
Mayo Diet
The Mayo Diet,
which has no affiliation with the Mayo Clinic Health Center and
Hospital in Rochester, MN., is typical of fad diets. It began more
than 30 years ago, but its origin remains unknown. Primarily
distributed via the Internet, junk mail, bulletin boards, word of mouth,
and faxes, the diet has taken on many forms over the years, but the
primary characteristics are that it usually contains grapefruit, is high
in protein, and is low in carbs.
There are no
medical studies to back up the claims made by the proponents of this
diet. Additionally, this diet may promote temporary quick weight loss;
however, it is not nutritionally balanced or a safe method of weight
loss for long-term success. Such diets can be dangerous for some
individuals.
Mediterranean
Diet
Gaining
popularity in the mid-90s, the Mediterranean Diet is not a diet per se,
but rather encompasses the eating practices of people in countries that
border the Mediterranean Sea. Researchers have discovered that people
living in this region exhibit some of the lowest rates of chronic
disease and the highest rates of adult life expectancy in the world. The
traditional Mediterranean diet includes locally grown fruits and
vegetables that are consumed raw or with little processing.
Though people in
the region tend to consume relatively high amounts of animal fat, they
also consume large amounts of olive oil, which tends to counterbalance
the health consequences associated with fat consumption. The
Mediterranean Diet also includes moderate amounts of wine. The diet
consists mostly of grains, fruits, beans, and vegetables that may
improve longevity, lower the risk of heart disease, lower the risk of
cancer, and lower cholesterol.
NutriSystem
Diet
Founded in the
mid-70s, NutriSystem is a commercial weight-loss plan. Dieters follow
meal plans which recommend eating six times per day. The company
advertises that these meal plans are low in fat and help 'control your
carbohydrates.' The dieter purchases their food directly from NutriSystem and receives guidance from weight-loss counselors and
personalized exercise instructors. NutriSystem also sells exercise
equipment and nutritional supplements.
NutriSystem
emphasizes the role of regular exercise, provides a weekly newsletter
and chat rooms, and includes a weekly one-on-one e-mail chat with a
personal counselor to help consumers stay on track. Those who have
trouble with meal planning and portion control may find this plan
appealing. A significant drawback is the cost of the program: according
to their Website, a week’s worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner entrees
costs $50, before shipping. And you need to supply your
own fruit, vegetables, and milk. While the system takes the guesswork out
of dieting and incorporates exercise, it doesn’t prepare you for
lifelong changes, unless you plan to use their food forever.
Richard Simmons
Weight Loss Plan
Richard Simmons’
Move, Groove and Lose Plan incorporates daily motivational tips, on-line
chats, new aerobic exercise videos, and a revised eating plan called the
Food Mover Plan. Food Mover is modeled on the American Diabetes
Association exchange system, basing individual caloric needs on gender,
starting weight, and goal weight. The plan helps track protein, starch,
fruit and vegetables, dairy, fat, and 'extra' food intake; it also
promotes drinking lots of water, daily exercise, and regular positive
motivation.
The plan
includes all food groups and is designed for steady weight loss of one
to two pounds per week. Simmons encourages anyone who is pregnant or
breastfeeding, or with specific health needs, to work with a registered
dietitian and their physician to modify their food plan to fit their
individual needs. Upbeat motivation is often a plus for many
people, although Simmons’ goofy style is often more annoying than
motivational.
Scarsdale Diet
Herman Tarnower,
MD, creator of the Scarsdale Diet, says his diet plan evolved from years of
medical practice, day-to-day experience with all kinds of patients, and
just plain common sense. Dr. Tarnower practiced medicine in Scarsdale,
New York, the location from which the name of his program is derived. The low-carb,
low-calorie weight-loss diet is a four-phase program. Gaining
popularity in the 1970s, the diet includes a strict 14-day eating plan
which provides for meals that are 43-percent protein, 22.5-percent fat,
and 34.5-percent carbohydrates.
There do not
appear to be any clinical studies of the Scarsdale Diet’s
effectiveness. Additionally, the diet is designed for adults in normal
health. It is not recommended for individuals with medical problems or
pregnant women.
Slim Fast
The basic
Slim-Fast weight loss program uses two meal-replacement shakes, three
snacks, and one sensible meal to lose one to two pounds a week. The
program encourages an intake of 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day, 30 to
60 minutes of exercise per day, and lifestyle changes to promote
long-lasting weight maintenance. Slim-Fast also provides information
about lifestyle changes, exercise plans, healthy meal and snack ideas,
and weight maintenance. Their Website includes an online support club
and an 'Ask the Dietitian' section for ongoing support.
However, in
spite of the flexible program based on a healthy weight-loss strategy,
one person who chose this plan complained he was hungry all the
time. He said he was hungry when he went to bed, and hungry when he
woke up. And he wasn’t losing any weight, either! Even if it had
worked, being hungry all the time was an indicator that sooner or later
the guy would drop the plan and go back to his old habits. The man
consulted the Slim Fast experts, who determined that he was not eating
enough. They modified his plan, and...voila! He began losing
weight.
But, if the plan
takes expert intervention to work, most people will have little to no
success with it. And once again you are buying a lot of specialized food. Hardly a recipe for success if you want to attempt to live life
normally.
South Beach
Diet
The South Beach
Diet was first introduced by
Dr. Arthur Agatson, associate professor of medicine at the University of
Miami Medical School, in 2003, through his book with the same name, South Beach Diet. The
diet targets certain 'bad' carbohydrates. Marketed as being easy to
stick with (you eat three normal meals, as well as required snacks and
desserts after dinner), and easy to understand (you don’t need to count
calories, fat grams, or measure out strict portions), it proceeds in
three distinct phases.
Since the diet
was introduced so recently, there has not been enough time to perform
studies regarding the long-term effects. People with diabetes should
have their kidneys tested before they begin this diet. People with
kidney problems should talk with their doctors before beginning this
diet.
Special K
To follow the
Special K Kick-Start Diet, eat one cup of Kellogg’s Special K, Kellogg’s
Special K Red Berries or Kellogg’s Smart Start with 2/3
cup of skim milk and fruit for breakfast, and again for either lunch or
dinner for a total of two weeks. Eat a sensible third meal and snack on
fruits or vegetables.
The Special K
Kick-Start Diet is similar to many other meal replacement plans, and
frankly it’s not one of the best. There are no guidelines for the
healthy non-cereal meal and no suggestions for increasing activity or
exercise. Here’s a thought: combine all the different meal replacement
plans (Kellogg’s, Kashi Go-Lean, SlimFast, Revival Soy, etc.) and pick
and choose among them for two meals per day. That way you can enjoy a
wider variety of replacement options.
Subway Diet
(featuring Jared)
The Subway Diet
has taken on a life of its own. The Subway sandwich chain doesn’t
endorse the weight loss plan popularized by Jared (the star of the
widespread advertising campaign), but they do capitalize on his
success. Go figure. Jared had only a low-fat Subway sub, small bag of
chips, and diet drink for lunch and dinner each day for a year — and
lost 245 pounds. Rather than promoting a specific plan, the Subway Website provides basic healthy weight loss suggestions, such as loading up
on as many veggies as possible, eating a healthy breakfast, eating
slowly and enjoying your food, choosing calorie-free beverages, and
regular exercise.
If fast food is
a way of life, then Subway is definitely a healthier choice. Still, you
can’t consume fast food every day and expect to remain healthy or stay
slim.
While everybody
wants to be like Jared, even Subway realizes that his results are not
typical. He also took the diet to the extreme, skipping breakfast and
limiting his caloric intake to an unhealthy 1,000 calories per day. A
Subway-only diet over a long period of time will result in vitamin and
mineral deficiencies — cheating you of essential calcium, zinc and
Vitamin D. In addition, Subway foods can be extremely high in sodium,
if you add pickles, olives or salt.
Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers
has a new Winning Points Plan that’s based on a point system, where
every food is assigned a number of points based on its fat, fiber, and
calorie content. Each person is assigned a daily range of points they
can consume. Weight Watchers doesn’t work from a list of forbidden
foods or tell you what you can or can’t eat. Instead, their current
focus is to provide the information, knowledge, tools and motivation you
need to develop your own successful long-term weight management plan. Weight Watchers groups can be found virtually everywhere, including at
many work locations and online.
If you’re
looking for that magical diet that will cause the weight to instantly
melt off, you won’t want this healthy, commonsense plan. Weight
Watchers has changed over the years and encourages everyone to figure
out how to control their weight over time. Incorporate
exercise, and this could be a great program.
One person using
the Weight Watchers system appeared to be making a fair amount of
progress, but she wasn’t doing a lot of exercise. As I stated earlier,
that’s a recipe for long-term failure. It’s easy to lose weight on any
kind of regimented program where you’re eating less. But unless you
make exercise an equal part of the plan, you cannot maintain the weight
loss.
Zone Diet
Introduced in
the 1995 book by Dr. Barry Sears, Enter the Zone, the Zone diet
recommends lots of lean proteins and naturally occurring carbohydrates,
like those found in high-fiber vegetables and fruit. The Zone diet
recommends that 40 percent of your calories come from carbohydrates, 30
percent from protein, and 30 percent from fat, their so-called 40-30-30
proportions.
The Zone diet is
said to work for two reasons: (1) adherents reduce their overall caloric
intake; and (2) it avoids the starvation mode typified by most 'crash'
diets by utilizing the 40-30-30 food combination.
However, the
diet is very low in carbohydrates, which can quickly sap your energy levels.
It’s also low in fiber and some vitamins and minerals. Figuring out how
to make each and every meal and snack follow the 40-30-30 ratio can be
daunting.
Fad diets
actually make you fatter in the long run.
Weight Watchers,
Slim Fast, Atkins, South Beach, The Zone, and the Grapefruit Diet all
work. Yes — if you want to lose mass fairly quickly, any one of them
will work for you. BUT, the results probably will not last;
in fact, you most likely will get fatter because it is
almost impossible to follow these diets 100% of the time, and most
people will eventually get sick and tried of eating a certain way. Some
people will even feel physically ill, depressed, and have other mood and
health issues when following particular fad diets.
This is what I’m
saying: there is no shortcut method to losing weight quickly and
keeping it off. To do it right, you mush eat properly and
exercise regularly — ideally combining weight training and cardio
exercise.
If they don’t
work, why are they so popular???
OK — fad diets
make us fatter. So why do we follow them? We’re Americans and we’ve
been trained to believe that it’s our right to demand the quick fix! Nothing would make me happier than sitting here and telling you that I
have a magic weight-loss pill — or I can simply wave my magic wand — and
in seconds we’ll all have the bodies of our dreams. Hell, I’d be
thrilled because I’d be a billionaire — no what am I thinking — a multi trillionaire. Bill Gates would have nothing on the income that
results like those would promise. Maybe I should try it. I do
have a magic wand and, while you will probably never get weight loss
results from it, at least you won’t become fatter than you were before. Meaning my magic wand is at least better than the majority of these
diets.
The thing is, a
certain amount of credit is due to some of these diet programs. After
years and years, they are slowly improving so they’re not as unhealthy
as they used to be. A little government intervention might have helped,
of course, in that a law was passed a few years ago stating that no diet
could be recommended by the FDA if it were below 1,200 calories per
day. Almost all of the diets used to be way below that — but since the
law passed, most of today’s popular diets hover right around 1,200
calories and not much more.
The fact
remains, however, that cutting calories is not the answer to fat loss,
weight loss, and your battle with the bulge — unless you want to suffer
later on down the road. Focus first on increasing your activity level
before you ever try to reduce your calories. Exercise first — and do it
correctly. Weight training will always be the most efficient method for
burning calories and decreasing your waistline. Running, walking, and
other forms of cardiovascular exercise are important, but you will get
way more bang for your buck if you follow a good weightlifting program. You only need to worry about getting big and bulky if you are following
the wrong program, so go do your homework, or, better yet, hire a
personal trainer who will help you lift properly to lose all that weight
and fat.
With any diet
you choose, you must
exercise!
What do you do
now? The diet that promised to get you slim quickly actually has caused
you to get fatter than you were before. Before you decide to try a
different diet, think about what we’ve already discussed. The only thing a different diet is going to do is help you lose some
weight, temporarily — until your body refuses to go along with that
unrealistic eating plan, forcing you to quit the diet and regain even
more weight. The thing is, each time that you lose and gain a
significant amount of weight, you make it more and more difficult for
your body to stay thin, healthy, and fit. The yo-yo diet craze has
taken you by storm, caused you to be fatter than ever, and made it almost impossible for you to lose that fat.
You can
still lose the fat and
get as thin as you want to be, but it is going to take a lot of
effort and a big commitment on your part. The common problem with most
popular diets is that, no matter what, you
must exercise. If you begin a new diet or eating plan but don’t exercise, you can
expect to fail on that diet. Period. Exercise is a fundamental part of
healthy living and the proactive key to noticeable and sustained fat
loss, increased stamina, elevated energy, and improved mental clarity. You must exercise. Even if the thought makes you cringe — your body
needs it for you to be healthy. It’s kind of like filing your taxes, in
that you might not want to, but the consequences of not doing it are far
worse — although exercise is a million times more important than your
taxes!
You keep saying
you want to get in shape or lose that excess weight you’ve put on over
the last 10 years. Well, there are no more excuses! The first step is
to move that butt and get going to the gym — or hire a professional
personal trainer and someone well qualified to help you adjust your
eating plan or nutritional program. Whatever you do, get quality
advice about which exercises and programs will best help you
achieve your goals. (If you need help knowing how to hire a qualified
personal trainer, check out the personal
trainer directory or read my
book, How to Hire a
Qualified Personal Trainer.)
One of the
benefits of working with a trainer is that they can design a program for
you that will keep your interest while helping you achieve your goals. Don’t delude yourself — you will still have to work hard. But a trainer
can help you keep the exercise interesting, making it much more likely
that you will stay with it long term in order to see results.
Calorie
reduction alone will hurt you in the long run.
Diets such as
Slim Fast, South Beach, Atkins, The Zone — and my new favorite, Special
K (eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast, another one for dinner, and a
sensible lunch), are all a big crock of hooey. OK — it is true that you
can lose weight on any one of these diets because they so drastically
reduce your intake of food (calories), and therefore your body must lose
mass. It only makes sense that when you consume fewer calories than
your body is used to, your body will start to burn more calories than
you take in.
The Law of
Thermodynamics states that: (a) if you burn more calories than you
consume, you will lose mass; (b)conversely, if you consume more
calories than you burn, you will gain mass; and (c) if you eat the same
amount of calories as you burn, your mass will remain the same. This
means it’s fairly easy to get someone to lose weight quickly — all you
have to do is lower your intake to create a caloric deficit, making you
lose weight and appear to shrink in size, which is what these diets do.
So what’s the
problem, then?
Your body is
immensely adaptable, and will quickly adjust to its new (lower) caloric
intake, and when it does it will start shedding mass. The problem is
that this mass being shed is both muscle and fat, and if
you don’t exercise during the process, it’s a whole lot more muscle that
goes away than fat.
You might think
this is a good thing, until you realize how important your muscle is to
the whole weight-loss process. When muscle is healthy and active, it is
able to burn up a ton of calories, giving someone with more muscle a
higher metabolic rate. This means you can eat more and still lose
weight because the extra muscle keeps your metabolism high during the
day by burning more calories. Some people call muscle the body’s
fat-burning machinery.
By following one
of these diets without incorporating exercise, your body will lose
some fat and lots of muscle. This muscle loss
slows down your metabolism, making it easier for you to gain fat or
weight, even when you’re on a lower-calorie diet. Eventually, your body
will begin starving itself, which is exactly what it’s doing when you go
on these kinds of crash diets.
How do these
diets hurt your body? For one thing, because the lower calories are not
providing your body with enough nutrients, your body has a hard time
functioning properly. As a result, you instinctively resort to eating
more and more. What is 'more' now might not even be anywhere as much as
you used to eat; it’s just more than you ate on the diet. But now,
since your body has a lower metabolism, you start to gain mass. And
since you’re not exercising (and, more importantly you’re not working
out with weights), your body starts to gain back all its weight and more
— and the majority of this weight comes in the form of fat.
OK, we’ve
established that reducing the calories you eat and increasing the
calories you burn is an effective way to lose fat and weight. However,
if you were to do only one of these, it would be much better to increase
your activity and burn more calories than it would be to try to
drastically reduce your caloric intake — and risk starving yourself or
lowering your metabolism. Burning more calories is always the preferred
way to drop the fat and weight.
Counting
calories is a good place to start.
Counting
calories is important when you first begin changing your eating plan to
get healthy.
You should
always know how many calories you are putting in your mouth via the
foods you eat. For one thing, you might think twice about putting some
of those foods in your body if you stopped to realize how many calories
that particular food contains. It can be tedious and time-consuming to
write down everything and measure your food so you can know exactly how
many calories you are eating. After a while, though, you won’t have to
measure or do much work because you will instinctively know how much
meat makes up a three-ounce serving. (FYI, three ounces of raw meat is
about the size of a small deck of cards.)
Knowing how many
crackers you ate or how many measuring cups of cereal you had for
breakfast is vital so that people begin to realize what kinds of junk
they are eating. Most people don’t realize the amount of work it takes
to lose or gain one pound of fat. If you want to gain one pound of fat,
you must consume 3,500 more calories than you burn — and if you want to
lose one pound of fat, you must burn 3,500 calories.
Ideally, you
will cut the garbage and unnecessary calories out of your diet. But as
a place to begin, it’s much better to exercise more and increase your
metabolism. Think of it this way, the more you exercise, the higher
your metabolism, and the higher your metabolism, the better results
you’ll see from your exercise. A higher metabolism makes you more
active, and when you’re more active, you burn fat more quickly and
easily.
Focusing only on
cutting calories typically leads to many problems and will actually
damage your body more than it helps, in the long run. Still,
calorie-counting may be necessary to some people under certain
conditions, particularly for those who are just beginning an overhaul on
their eating and exercise regimens.
There are
different methods for finding out how many calories you burn. One is a
new electronic device that measures the calories you expend during the
day. This special armband also measures the quality of your sleep, your
activity level, and the number of steps you take in a day. Click here for more info.
The quality of
your food counts as much as the quantity.
Knowing how many
calories you consume versus how many calories you burn or need to burn
will make it a whole lot easier to lose that fat. BUT, I
don’t believe you can eat anything just as long as it is below your
prescribed caloric intake. My years as a personal trainer and
certified nutritionist have shown me that it isn’t that simple. For one thing,
the human body is much more complex than that, and what you put in it
doesn’t always completely leave — especially prepackaged foods that are
extremely high in additives and preservatives.
It’s downright
impossible to eat the proper amount of calories for your body to lose
weight if you’re consuming unhealthy foods. And food manufacturers know
this! Certain foods contain substances that actually cause food
cravings and hormonal imbalances. They stimulate your appetite and
cause the mood swings that send your metabolism and emotions out of
control so you binge and eat more. Stop for a minute and you can see
the effects of this everywhere you look. We are a nation of fat,
unhappy, unhealthy people. And it’s going to take a lot more than will
power to solve this epidemic of obesity and ill health.
As long as you
continue to eat the wrong foods for your body’s biochemistry, your body
will continue to want to eat, not stopping until it’s satisfied. Counting and watching your calories is important, but if you eat the
wrong foods, the counting will just be a waste of effort. If you eat for
your biochemistry, you won’t even have to watch or count calories
because your body will always be satisfied. You will never want to
overeat because your body’s getting all the nutrients it needs and
doesn’t want to eat any extra food.
When planning
for the reduced calories you want to consume, think about foods that
will work great on your system. For the most part, these are fresh,
clean, certified organic foods. Things you know for a fact that are
naturally healthy because you’ve done your research and are shopping
where they sell natural foods, not things that come in a package slapped
with a sticker that says 'all-natural.' Be careful, food manufacturers
spend unbelievable amounts of money on great ad campaigns to get you to
believe just about anything. Understand this: their goal is go get you
to buy their product, not to get you thin and healthy. But if telling
you their food is all-natural will get you to buy it, that’s what
they’ll say on their packaging!
Of course, we’re
not machines, and occasionally, even the best eater will have a cheat
day where you eat lower quality foods. Don’t worry — your body will
recognize this, often by making you feel ill. This is a quick reminder
that you you’ve strayed off the plan and probably don’t want to eat a
whole lot more of these foods.
Measuring your
caloric intake against the calories you burn is a major part of fighting
fat, but don’t use it as a crutch, thinking “If I don’t eat all day, I
can have alcohol every night, or eat lots of big desserts, and still
stay thin.” Calories are an important key to the weight loss equation,
but you must use them wisely. A few simple
healthy eating principles will keep fat off forever.
Eat 6 Small
Meals a Day
Eating 6 small
meals a day — or eating every couple of hours — will keep up your metabolic
rate so you are consistently burning calories. This eating plan also
constantly fuels your body, so your blood sugar never drops to an
all-time low, meaning your hunger monster never reveals its ugly head
causing you to devour everything in sight. With your blood sugar
remaining steady because you’re eating every couple of hours, your body
will remain in more of a fat-burning state.
I once met a
woman who lost 100 pounds, and I asked her how she did it. She went on
to tell me that before the weight loss, all she would eat all day long
was one big meal at night. When she switched to eating 6 small meals
throughout the day, it was nothing to lose 100 pounds, and she has kept
the weight off for more than 2 years now. She only changed one variable
about her eating, but she changed one of the most important factors for
creating lasting results.
Eating 6 small
meals will also keep the body out of a starvation state. The result is
that your body will burn fat faster than ever; since you’re consistently
refueling your body, it will never have to store the food as fat. Eating
one small meal will provide your body with enough fuel to keep it
going until your next small meal, and since you’re not overeating, you
should never store any fat — you should just keep burning fat all day
long.
Eat Breakfast
Your mother was
right. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast got
its name from the idea that while you sleep, your body fasts, or moves
into a starvation mode because it’s not eating — once you wake up, you
must break the fast. In my opinion, it means you should
break right out of bed, fast, so you can feed your body!
Eating breakfast
stimulates your body to kick your metabolic rate into gear. Some
nutritionists feel that eating breakfast stimulates your metabolism and
keeps it up all day long. When you don’t eat breakfast, you ultimately
maintain a low metabolism all day long, which will contribute to keeping
you fat.
I don’t care
what other steps of your morning ritual you have to omit — eating and
fueling your body is way more important than anything else! Get up
earlier if your excuse is that you don’t have time to eat. You know
how, on an airplane, they instruct you to put on your own oxygen mask
first before you help someone else out? Well, this is also the case
when it comes to eating breakfast. If you want to be fat, slow, and
have mental confusion during your day, go ahead and skip breakfast. If
you want to stimulate your metabolism, stay mentally sharp, and set your
fat-burning machine to 'on' for the whole day, eat breakfast every
morning.
Eat Protein and Fat with Every Meal
Eating protein
and fat is an excellent way to maintain a normal blood-sugar level which
helps maintain your hunger during the day. If you find yourself
famished at night, you most likely didn’t get eat enough protein and/or fat
during the day. The body digests protein by breaking it down into amino
acids. You’ve heard of these — they’re the body’s building blocks. Everything
in your body is made of proteins. Fat is great at keeping your
body satiated during the day, so you don’t feel unnecessarily hungry,
and eating good fats is essential to losing body fat. Yes —
as backwards as it may sound, you must eat fat to lose fat. Protein and
fat are essential for keeping the body’s metabolism high and helping
your body to function optimally. The only thing is that they must come
from quality sources, such as _________ and _________.
Protein
consumption is particularly important following a workout, because
_________.
Eat Organic
Eat as much
high-quality organic food as possible. Eating low-quality, prepackaged
food, canned food, plastic-wrapped food, or food that is refined,
fortified, and bleached is one of the worst things you can do to your
body. If food lasts longer on the shelf than the time between your
vacations, it should be thrown out and not consumed. Think about it
— if it’s still good on the shelf a year later, you can only image what it’s doing inside your body! One problem with
most prepackaged foods is that your liver has a very hard time
processing all the crap in them. Waste products back up in the liver,
and since your body stores toxins in fat, you become incredibly toxic. So now, you’re not only fat from this food, you’re also toxic. Which
means that in addition to eating healthy food and exercising, you need
to detox as well.
Organic food has
been shown to have 40 percent more nutrients than regular commercial
food. So not only is it healthier for you, but because you don’t have
to consume as much food to stay nourished, you keep your calories low
which helps keep the weight off. This is what scientists mean when they
say, 'Eat less, live longer.' Studies show that people who eat less
generally live longer, though you can’t typically eat less and get more
nutrients unless you eat organic food. Organic is more nutrient-dense,
compared to regular food.
Eating fresh
food is your very best option, the next best being lightly frozen foods. The food that doesn’t last long in the fridge or in your cupboard is
typically the best for your body, because it’s the bad-for-you
preservatives that make long-lasting food keep forever. Foods rot
when their nutrients oxidize, so when foods don’t rot, it’s a good sign
they don’t have many nutrients. Either that, or they are synthetic, and
your body wasn’t designed to absorb, digest, or consume synthetic
materials.
Eat healthy and
support your organic farms. Sure, it’ll cost a little more, but since
you eat less when you eat organic, it pretty much balances out to be the
same. You always have the option of contacting farmers to buy directly
from them, or get into a co-op, if you want to save some money when
buying organic food. When you eat organic, you won’t only look
great, but you will feel so much better — mentally, physically, and
spiritually.
Eat Your
Veggies!
Following good
eating habits includes eating fresh vegetables. Vegetables are very
important — they are the best carbohydrates for the body. Yes,
vegetables are carbohydrates. Fruit is Mother Nature’s candy — so stop
reaching for a cookie or that ever-so-fattening Krispy Kreme donut.
Instead, grab an apple, orange, peach, or my favorite, a big slice
of watermelon.
Fruits and
vegetables provide your body with a ton of nutrients such as
antioxidants that fight cancer and the breaking down down of your body. They also
provide your body with tons of vitamins and minerals. Whenever
possible, go organic with your produce!
Junk the Junk
Food!
When you eat
low-quality food (like potato chips, soda, and candy) that are void of
nutrients, your body will keep eating as long as it has to in order to
find those nutrients. And guess, what! It’s never going
to find
them in junk food! This is where that whole 'you can’t eat just
one' thing comes from. You really can’t eat just one bite of cake
or handful of chips or can of soda, because these things contain no
nutrients, and your body can’t recognize what’s not there — so it’s
never going to be able to tell your brain to stop eating. Why else
would you eat until you’re beyond full and sick of the taste? Why else
would you consume a ton of calories that just keep adding to your fat? Foods that
provide your body with no nutrients are considered non-foods
because they rob your body of more nutrients than they provide, making
you worse off for eating them. You will never feel full and satisfied
when eating non-foods, even though you may physically be full. This is
why it is so important to buy high-quality, nutritious, organic food
that will satisfy your body right away so you can eat less while getting
more nutrients.
Dump the
Additives
As far as
possible, limit or remove from your diet all additives, sugar,
processed and refined foods, and sauces like ketchup, barbecue sauce,
and tomato sauce. These are all forms of food you might overlook when
it comes to your eating plan, but most of these foods can add tons of
calories and add stress to you liver because of all the toxins they
contain. The sugar content of these sauces will really put a damper on
your fat-loss goals.
Instead of going
the condiment route, use more spices and herbs from organic sources. Your body will thank you, as well as your mind. Do
not hesitate to look
at the label and read the ingredients on any product you’re considering
eating. If it looks like one long list of chemicals, don’t put it in
your mouth. Quality products are out there — make sure you find them. Don’t settle for chemicals and preservatives that will pollute your
body.
Eat According
to Your Metabolic Type
The Metabolic
Typing Diet, based on the book of the same name by William Wolcott, is
an excellent way to find out how your body’s biochemistry functions. As
humans, we are all unique physically, chemically, and mentally — so
not everything works the same for everyone. This is especially true of
diets. One person may feel great and lose weight on a diet that is rich
in protein and fat, where another person on the same eating plan may be
depressed, gain weight, and feel lousy. The same goes for a higher carb
diet and vegetarianism — these ways of eating may work for some and not
for others.
The metabolic
typing diet teaches you to determine how your body functions best and
select a diet that will work for your body’s needs. By following an
eating plan tailored to your specific needs, you should feel great,
experience noticeable weight loss, and improve your mental clarity and
all other aspects of your life. Eating right for your own particular
metabolic type is the secret to success. This might be a complex book
to understand, so I would recommend hiring a professional who can
instruct you, or following this diet
plan, which simplifies the concepts a bit.
Drink Lots and
Lots of H20
Water is your
biggest friend when losing weight, because it is needed as a part of
every metabolic function that occurs within you body. When you’re
dehydrated, your body can suffer from joint pain, skin problems,
headaches, hunger pangs, excess weight, stress, and many other health
problems. Water is one of the most important elements for your body —
without it, you will quickly die.
Don’t make the
mistake of thinking that drinking lots of soft drinks, juices, tea, or
coffee will provide your body with enough water. Your body needs plain
old water, and lots of it. You should be drinking a minimum of half
your body weight in ounces every day. For example, if you weigh 100
pounds, you must drink at least 50 ounces of water a day. You can never
get enough water. Ideally, water should be your only drink — and if not
your only drink, your drink of choice, making up the majority of your
beverage choices.
To learn more
about how important water is for your body, you might want to read the
book Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, by Fereydoon Batmanghelidj. Replacing your other drinks with water will reduce your caloric intake
dramatically, because consuming one can of soda or glass of fruit juice
can add as many as 600 to 1,500 calories per 12-ounce drink. Wow! That
will add pounds extremely fast. Drink water, not soda (even diet
soda — don’t get me started on the chemicals again), to regain and keep
a great figure. The only thing soda will get you is sick and fat.
Alcohol is
Poison
Avoid alcohol as
much as possible. It is poison, no matter what the media says about it.
Alcohol is
broken down in your body as sugar and is one of the only substances that
is absorbed within the gut (stomach) almost everything else is
absorbed through the small intestines. Since it is a sugar and it is
absorbed very rapidly, when you drink alcohol, you will experience a
spike in blood sugar that will make your body crave more and more sugar,
as well as storing it as fat very quickly. Wine is probably one of the
best alcoholic beverages for making you fat.
Give up the
alcohol — or at least moderate it to a few glasses on special occasions,
but do not in any way assume that alcohol is beneficial for the body. About 50 years ago, there was actually some nutritional value to
alcohol. Now, though, with modern processing and refining methods and
low-quality food sources, all alcohol is essentially void of nutrients,
making it simply a poison that will slowly break your body down and
contribute to making you fat and unhealthy.
Coffee — Not So
Good, Either
Coffee — or
should I say cappuccinos, mochas, frappuccinos, or any other rich,
coffee-based drink — is loaded with calories and sugar, two of the most
addictive substances out there. If you’re going to drink coffee at all,
drink it black and get it from an organic source. Avoid those
high-calorie coffee drinks, because they will contribute to making you
fat very quickly. It will take you almost an hour of intense exercise
to burn off the calories in one small coffee or soft
drink. Is it really worth it?
Try to Live by
the 80-20 Rule
No one can be
100 percent perfect when it comes to eating. You will drive
yourself crazy and give yourself a complex about food if you even aim
for perfection. The whole idea is to enjoy life — which includes some
of the great culinary delights out there. This is where the 80-20 rule
comes into effect.
The way the
80-20 rule works is that you want to aspire to eat great, wholesome,
organic food, according to your metabolic type 80 percent of the time. The other 20 percent of the time, you should enjoy and eat the foods you
love that might not be so good for you. Remember, though, this should
only be 20 percent of the time. Since the large
majority of the time you will be eating healthy, you’re giving yourself
permission to not be perfect all the time, which is an impossible goal
anyway. Your body will thank you by feeling better, staying healthier,
burning fat, losing weight, and many other benefits.
Avoid going
crazy and making life — or, more importantly, your diet — impossible. Allow yourself room for error. Actually, it’s not error, or even
cheating. With the 80-20 rule, you are setting yourself up for
success, because there are inevitably going to be times when you want a
beer, a glass of wine, a slice of pizza, or some cheesecake.
Whatever your delicacy, you can have it, as long as you keep it to that
20%
range. This means you will never again have to beat yourself up for
eating a cookie or taking a bite of some birthday cake. You will keep
your sanity and make your improved eating plan an instant success,
because your mistakes will no longer be mistakes — they are just room to
enjoy life and be human. Follow the 80-20 rule for eating and your
mental, physical, and spiritual health will improve dramatically. No
more food stress. No more beating yourself up for failing. It’s all
good because it’s all built into the plan.
Other areas of
concern if you want to slim down and feel great.
Exercise,
Exercise, Exercise!
Have I mentioned
how important exercise is to your weight loss goals?
For optimal fat
loss, you should weight train (including warming-up beforehand and
stretching at the end) for about an hour, and perform 30 minutes of
cardio, 3 times a week. There is no need to do more than this. If you want to increase results, just increase the intensity.
You should feel tired and sweaty after you finish exercising. I don’t want to hear
that you don’t sweat, because if you don’t sweat, you’re not pushing
yourself hard enough to get great results. If you work out hard, you’ll
reap the many benefits.
Once you’re on a
weight training regimen, you must regularly make the weights heavier,
and increase the resistance and incline on your cardio fitness
equipment. You should sweat more and more, from workout to workout. Working out should always feel like something of a struggle. Again, if
it’s not somewhat difficult, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. Hire a professional fitness trainer who can teach the right exercises to
get you really great results.
Take the Media
Hype with a Grain of Salt
If you’re
committed to losing weight and getting in shape, you’re going to have to
release the hold the media, especially television, has on your belief
systems. Just because you hear it on the 6 o’clock news doesn’t make it
true! Don’t believe all the hype and baloney you hear on TV or read in
the paper. This product is good for you. That one will
finally help you lose weight quickly. You know what you
have to do. And, if after all this, you still aren’t sure what to
believe, I have a great CD program [purchase
now] that will teach you all about You Are What You
Eat. I guarantee that when you listen to these CDs and start
implementing the ideas in this program, you will change you life for the
better — forever.
Listen to Your
Kids
Children don’t
care much for regular vegetables and fruits because they’re so low in
nutrients, and filled with pesticides and herbicides that kill a lot of
the taste. Give your child an organic tomato or orange, though, and
they typically will love the taste and enjoy almost all organic fruits
and vegetables. On the flip side, if you give your child a regularly
farmed non-organic tomato, it will taste bland and will typically have
no real taste, making the child not enjoy it and not want to eat it.
Children are
very tuned in to what is good and bad for their bodies. If you give
them alcohol or a cigarette, they will immediately spit it out, knowing
it’s disgusting. Besides knowing what’s good and bad for them, children
also are tuned into when it’s time to eat — so if they are hungry, feed
them.
If you teach
your kids to follow their instincts and eat healthy now, they will eat
healthy for life. Yeah, there will be peer pressure for them to eat
processed crap and fast food. Just remember though, you are the parent! Take
great care about introducing your kids to unhealthy foods, because food
scientists are experts at controlling the brain’s response to processed
food, and creating a craving for more of it. This is why they add sugar
and salt to almost everything: to make you crave more, eat more, and buy
more — and causing you to get fatter. So beware. If you are going to
buy low quality food for your children and yourself, expect that you
will most likely be on the road to being fat and unhealthy.
Vitamins Are
Vital
Vitamins and
minerals are extremely important to the body’s proper functioning. The
vitamins and minerals from food are far more important than vitamins and
minerals that come from supplements, shakes, or nutrition bars. Nothing
can beat Mother Nature’s quality foods that are produced naturally
(organically). However, our soils are becoming very nutrient-depleted,
producing food with lower and lower amounts of nutrients. As a result,
we must not only eat organic food, but we must also take
high-quality food supplements to provide any nutrients our
bodies might be missing.
It is essential
to take a multivitamin as a backup, to protect your body in case you’re
not getting enough vitamins and minerals from your food. One reason we
eat so much is because the body only knows how to stop eating when it’s
thoroughly nourished. If it isn’t getting enough nutrients to satisfy
its needs, it can’t tell itself, “Hey, stop eating! We got the
nutrients we need, so you don’t have to eat any more.”
One thing: make
sure your supplement is a high-quality bio-available multivitamin. For
a review of high-quality multivitamin supplements,
click here.
Cook, Cook,
Cook Your Own Food!
It is absolutely essential that you learn to
cook your own food. For one thing, by cooking your own food, you know
exactly what you are consuming and putting into your body. When you eat
out at restaurants, even fancy restaurants, you are
most likely eating low-quality food, not to mention that you have no
idea how the food is handled and prepared.
And forget about fast food! I shouldn’t
even have to mention fast food, but it is amazing to me how many people
shovel that crap into their systems and still have the nerve to complain
about their life and their health, and wonder how come they can’t seem
to lose weight or keep the fat off. Fast food is one of our nation’s
number one killers, but they shouldn’t make it illegal. You’re a
grownup; you have free will. What you eat is ultimately your choice. If you choose to eat garbage and treat your body like crap, you have no
one to blame but yourself. Yeah, these words are harsh, but I want you
to understand how vitally important it is that you eat food that is good
for you
Don’t let 'I don’t know how' be your excuse
for not cooking. If you don’t know how to cook, you can take classes,
buy a cookbook, ask a friend, or just experiment. This will only work,
though, if you start today by finding the time to cook your meals. If
you have to prepare a week’s worth of meals on Sunday night, then do
that! But you can’t keep using time, money, and not knowing how to as
excuses. They’re all cop-outs, nothing more.
Cooking at Home
Creates Family Time
Cooking for yourself is probably one of the
healthiest things you can learn how to do. Cooking brings families
together. Gathering around the dinner table to eat together and
talk about work or school is what keeps families connected. You not
only know that your kids are eating healthy, but you also know what’s
happening in their lives, a key component to staying connected and
having an invaluable influence on their decision-making as they grow up. And what parent doesn’t want to raise good kids who make smart choices
in life?
It’s important when you sit down to eat your
meal that you turn off the TV. This makes dinner time more
family-focused, but it also creates healthier digestion. Improve your
digestive health and family time by taking a 10- to 15-minute walk after
dinner. Mix food, family and exercise, and watch the benefits everyone
experiences! Health isn’t just a physical thing — it is also mental and
spiritual. Making time for your family and for relaxation is just as
important as working out. If you all make a commitment to staying
healthy, you can live longer and enjoy as much time together as possible.
Cook your meals with organic food and watch
how much physically and mentally stronger your children become. By
taking care of your family in this way, you will not only have control
over what you are eating, but you will save a ton of money from not
eating out and other health expenses down the road that will occur if
you eat
lower quality food.
Be Prepared
One last tip for
lasting weight loss and great health is to always be prepared for any
situation. Don’t get caught on the run and find yourself without a
healthy snack or food. Always carry walnuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds,
sunflower seeds, or cashews with you so you will be prepared in a pinch
or if you don’t have time to find nutritious food. If you commit to
every other aspect of exercise and healthy eating, being prepared by
always having a nutritious meal or snack around is the last piece of the
puzzle.
Don’t risk going
out and having to buy low-quality fast food or a candy bar because you
don’t have time for anything else, or your body is starving and ready to
eat anything in sight. Carry a healthy snack that will tide you over —
or even better, carry full meals with you. Also, know the locations of
several organic grocery stores or health food stores where you can go to
get something that will keep you healthy and fit.
Being unprepared
by not having groceries in the house is one of the worst things you can
do, because then you raid the cabinets for any food, good or bad. Always have organic groceries or a healthy snack around. This will also
make it easier for you to eat your six small meals, helping you stay
lean and keeping your waistline trim and slim.
Conclusion
The healthy care
and feeding of your body does require effort on your part, but once it
is your lifestyle, you’ll never think about it again. Commit to organic
food and regular exercise, and it will become as ordinary to you as
brushing your teeth — I do hope you brush your teeth, otherwise we might
have bigger issues than exercise and diet going on here. Avoid crash diets and learn to cook your own food. Know what it takes to get
in six small meals, and plan accordingly for your day or situation. When you go on vacation, find out in advance where
you can exercise or set
out on a morning jog. Follow the 80-20 rule. Involve your family! Make healthy eating and exercise essential components of your life, and
your mind and body will thank you.
Additional
Resources
Dr. Atkins’
Diet Revolution, by Dr. Robert Atkins
Eat Right 4
Your Type, by Peter J. D’Adamo
Enter the
Zone, by Dr. Barry Sears
Feed Your
Kids Well, by Fred Pescatore, M.D.
Nutrition and
Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2000, 5th Edition
(USDA consumer pamphlet)
The Allergy
and Asthma Cure, by Fred Pescatore, M.D.
The Complete
Scarsdale Medical Diet, by Herman Tarnower, M.D. and Samm Sinclair
Baker
The Fit for
Life Solution, by Harvey Diamond
The
Mediterranean Diet: Constituents and Health Promotion, by
Antonia-Leda Matalas
The Metabolic
Typing Diet: Customize Your Diet to Your Own Unique Body Chemistry,
by William Wolcott
The New
Beverly Hills Diet, by Judy Mazel
The South
Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and
Healthy Weight Loss, by Dr. Arthur Agatston
Thin for Good,
by Fred Pescatore, M.D.
Your Body's
Many Cries for Water: You Are Not Sick, You Are Thirsty, by
Fereydoon Batmanghelidj
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