You may not realize it, but each of us are already on a diet...

The only difference is that some of us are on health-promoting diets and others eat with little regard for the outcome.

 

It is also important to note that researchers have discovered that the typical short-term ‘weight loss’ diet that so many people often pursue can actually increase one’s chances of lifestyle disease. This is often called ‘Yo-Yo Dieting’ which results in dramatic weight loss (that is often achieved by aggressive, unhealthy eating habits), which is inevitably replaced by rapid, rebound weight gain.

 

It’s not hard to see why people opt for the quick and easy way to losing weight. Two out of three adults is overweight. In today’s society there is little time left to really take care of yourself.   Everything is fast, easy, and convenient, including the booming diet industry. It is hard to make it through your day without seeing some kind of advertisement claiming the “magic bullet” of weight loss. 

 

The reality is – weight gain occurs when you consume more calories than you burn in a day or week. One of the principal causes of the increase in weight is the way we eat. The typical American diet is ‘high-fat, high-carb, high-calorie’ and this can cause the body to store these extra calories as fat. To compound this problem, most daily activity is limited due to computers. Not only do we work a typical 40-hour work week sitting in front of a computer, we go home and use the computer for email communications or online gaming. This lifestyle limits movement and is considered sedentary. Which is unfortunate since exerting yourself is the only way of burning the fat storage. 

 

Controlling your weight is all about making simple dietary choices… consistently.

 

 

Drink plenty of water, throughout the day. When most people start to think they are hungry, they are in fact – thirsty! And, filling that hunger void in the stomach with water is an effective way to stave off food cravings, especially between meals when snacking habits can be the most detrimental to successful weight management.

Maintaining good hydration can also benefit one’s energy stores. Water is an essential part of creating energy in the body. If one has suboptimal hydration status, they will have suboptimal energy as well. All we need to do is look to athletes – they never miss an opportunity to hydrate because they know how vital it is to maintain their energy for top performance. And while most of us don’t think of ourselves as athletes, we all share the same basic human metabolism that requires water for healthy metabolism. And, keeping energy levels up through hydration will also keep hunger cravings down – the body will not crave as much energy (i.e. food!) when properly hydrated.

 

Most adults should be drinking 64 ounces of water per day. The best way to achieve this is to have refillable water bottle within easy reach throughout the day. Next time you think you are hungry between meals; drink a tall glass of water instead. At the outset of each meal, drink a glass of water first as well – and avoid the second helpings and desserts. Try to keep water (and other fluid) consumption to a minimum during meals. Large amounts of fluid will dilute the gastric juices, making digestion less efficient. Less efficient digestion means the body is not absorbing all that it needs from the food, which in turn will lead to more food cravings soon after the incomplete digestive process occurs.

 

Supplementing with a good digestive enzyme at the outset of each large meal will also ensure that the digestive process is complete, and all essential nutrients are absorbed. When essential nutrients are not absorbed, this sets one up for food cravings until the body’s needs are fully met. Unfortunately this comes with a lot of extra calories.

 

 

It is essential to supplement with fiber whenever eating carbs, whether it is bread, pasta, or other simple carbs such as the 4 C’s (Cookies, Cake, Candy or Cola). Fiber is a plant substance that is difficult for humans to digest. This is actually a good thing, as fiber helps ‘clean’ the digestive tract out, as it has a ‘bulking’ effect on the stool. Fiber also has the tendency to bind up other foods in the intestine, and keeps extra calories from being absorbed.

 

The glycemic index is a scale that tells us how quickly a food becomes sugar in the bloodstream. All foods (especially carbohydrates) become blood glucose after they are digested. Foods that are high on the Glycemic Index scale are typically simple carbohydrates such as the 4 C’s mentioned above. Foods that are low on the Glycemic Index scale are typically complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables and whole grains. High Glycemic Index carbohydrates that are quickly digested raise the blood sugar, and the body will try to store all of that sugar (calories!) as fast as it can. This process leads to wide swings in blood sugar, and elevated levels of the hormone insulin. These two events have one big side effect: weight gain. The message here is to minimize the amount of high-glycemic foods. Finding a list of foods and their Glycemic Index can be quite easy in health and diet related books.

 

Other foods that are high on the Glycemic Index include white bread, pasta, white rice, muffins and any kind of sugary snack food. Make sure your breads, pastas and grains are whole grain, rather than enriched. Whole grain foods are lower on the Glycemic Index. Of course the 4 C’s are foods that should be minimized altogether for good weight management and general health.

 

 

Each day the volume of the total food you have consumed should follow this ratio:

3 vegetable portions

2 fruits

1 multi-grain

+1 lean protein

 

If you cannot tell which of the above groups your food fits into, chances are it is a processed food. Processed foods in general are calorically dense and nutrient poor – the perfect food for causing weight gain. Stick with foods that have best retained their identity as close to when they were grown. For instance, fresh fruits and vegetables appear exactly the same as when they were grown. Multi- or whole grains have been minimally processed and are sold in a form that closely resembles their growing state (minus inedible parts of the plant). Proteins in the form of animal products should be obtained in the form of fresh lean cuts rather than processed forms like hotdogs or greasy, high fat bacon.

 

 

Don’t eat for 3 hours prior to going to bed, no late night snacks or sugar beverages either. Your body will immediately begin to process and utilize the foods you consume soon after ingesting them. This means that those calories will be burned soon after digestion, as long as the body is active. Eating late at night at bedtime will put those foods into storage rather than immediate energy needs, as these are quite low when sleeping. And stored calories go by another name –fat. Only very rarely in certain metabolic disorders will hunger actually awaken a person or keep them from sleep. If you are hungry before bedtime, try another glass of water or tea, then get to sleep – you won’t be aware of food cravings while you are dreaming!

 

 

A body in motion stays in motion, a body at rest stays at rest. If you don’t get your body in motion sooner than later, the reality is that progressive de-conditioning will set in and future weight loss goals will begin to become more difficult to achieve.

 

A consistent exercise progra