Friday, January 25, 2013

Diets…..Are you freaking kidding me?????


Note the first 3 letters of Diet is DIE!

I am so tired of hearing about diets and trendy fads.  These diet programs are not sustainable and the worst ones are the ones that sell you food, or have you count calories or some other gimmick that is pointless.  I am all for programs that have support systems, but most of those are bundled around plans things that do not really work.  We all know that most dieters return to their previous weight or gain more once they quit these programs.

Here is the plan and simple truth: IF you make lifestyle changes and eat the right types of whole natural foods then you will lose weight, PERIOD!!!  Our bodies are very complex in nature but eating should not be.  I am not sure if I ever heard stories about previous generations or eastern cultures that were healthy counting calories or over complicating food options.  The best thing we can do is keep it simple.

Your worst enemy is the food companies that try to sell you healthy packaged foods.  It is very difficult to find packaged foods that are actually healthy, you must eat fruit and vegetables in their natural state (or as close to it as possible) and if you are going to eat meat and dairy then get it as unprocessed as possible.

Most diets make you restrict your calorie intake.  Do you know what your body does when you restrict calories?  It views this calorie shortage as a threat (not having enough food), it hangs on to the fat stores that we have, it reduces your energy levels so it can conserve energy and then your body starts to crave more food!  Is that any sustainable way to live?  How can we expect to live healthy and starve our bodies of nutrition, it does not work and I encourage you to save your money on those programs and go out and buy nutritious healthy food!

I did not lose 60 lbs. by starving; I ate all I wanted until I was full and satisfied.  The trick is to change what you want to eat!  We also need to listen to our bodies.  It will tell you when you are thirsty, it will tell you when you are hungry and when you are full.  We do not listen to our bodies or we feed it non-nutritious food, then it craves more trying to get the right food to sustain us.

What drives me even crazier are the weight loss “programs!”  These programs offer to sell you food so they can restrict the calories for you, however as noted above the same results will occur at a much higher price.  Supplements or foods claiming to replace meals are also a problem.  Just because the label says it has the right nutrition does not mean it is healthy or even good for you.

When you see those celebrities showing off their before and after pictures, keep in mind the companies that hire them also hire them chefs, trainers, etc.  Most of these people go on these programs because they are paid to, just as they are paid for an acting deal.  Have you EVER seen Kristie Allie keep the weight off? J

I am shocked at how desperate we are as a society to lose weight and take cut short cuts.  I am not pointing fingers here; I have tried a few gimmicks myself but I quickly realized that do not work.  Part of the problem is no one makes any money telling you what you should already know.  If you do not know what to eat, then you can quickly learn it and not have to buy anything.  There is no profits to be made when we eat sensible natural foods.  These people must bottle up the magic and sell it to the victims!

If you really, really want to lose weight then you have to change your lifestyle.  Slow steady change will work best as I have described in other blog post.  It took me about 12 months to lose the weight that I had gained over the last 12 years!  The other challenge with this approach is it is a fairly slow process.  Your body has to adjust to the changes.  Once your body starts to heal and it realizes the change is permanent then you cross the threshold and the weight comes off faster.

Good luck in your journey, enjoy eating the right types of foods and enjoy a healthy life!!!!       

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