If your answer is no, then don’t bother to read the rest of what I have to say. I don’t want to waste your time. I am here to teach you how to be healthy and to only somewhat manipulate and “cheat the system” with a few of my glamorous tips and tricks.
Remember that “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Also keep in mind that every year our metabolism goes down by 1% in activity so in order to maintain our current weight we have to learn to eat less as time goes by, otherwise we will be victims to the average American weight gain of ten pounds per decade.
Discipline is an art form that takes time and dedication to hone for the most of us self indulgent folks born with inherently weak will power and a love for food.
In order to not disappoint, I promise I will in fact talk about all the latest and greatest naturopathic herbs and supplements to help with weight loss, but I am going to save that for a future post so that I can take the time to emphasize WHY the following foundations of health are fundamental to the success of any weight loss program you ever choose to partake in. Let’s get the foundation properly laid down before we build the rest of the house, shall we?
Are you ready to start pouring some cement?
Sleep - Yes, sleeping is my first tip. I know! I am sure you are all quite shocked, but if you are over-tired, you will not have the energy to exercise and eat right. Also, the more we sleep the less we crave foods that are high in carbohydrates. Sleep increases our growth hormone production which naturally keeps us feeling young and fabulous. Try it. See if you can sleep your way to a slimmer you! (Please don’t put yourself in a coma or anything crazy like that, I don’t need any lawsuits here. We are just covering the basics.)
Whole Foods- The most important question for weight loss is “do you have real fat or false fat?” Real fat is “adipose tissue”. False fat is from fluid retention. Most diets high in sodium and refined foods cause fluid retention, and the resultant “false fat” that is the evil unnecessary enemy for dieters.
Most people the first few days of a diet will lose ten pounds because they are just losing the water they have been retaining by eating more healthfully. A gallon of water weighs eight pounds. So just keep in mind that whenever you start the latest “diet trend” you are always immediately getting results because you are losing “false fat”.
As added motivation for avoiding processed “white foods”, it is REALLY tough to be overweight on a whole foods diet. I don’t know many people that eat a whole foods diet that are overweight, and trust me I know a lot of them! Most people can only manage to remain ten or twenty pounds overweight at the very most on a whole foods diet. If you are new to whole foods eating take a friend with you to the grocery store, make a few purchases together as an adventure and make new friends with recipes and products bit by bit so it is not too overwhelming.
Exercise - Everyone needs to exercise, so please just do it. You cannot expect to lose weight, be healthy, prevent osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease without exercise. That is really all I have to say about that. Please do read my tirade on exercise and why you should buy a heart rate monitor and pedometer to ensure fat burning success. You do not want to be working out too hard to lose weight, you have to be in the fat burning zone, which means more time spent doing lower impact exercise.
Diabetes diet- If I could, I would put nearly everyone in America on the diabetes diet for two reasons. First of all diabetes is soon to be a national epidemic as people are developing pre-diabetes and diabetes as I write this, so it is a fabulous preventative measure to ensure that at least my patients do not fall victim to diabetes. Second of all the diabetes diet is the best way to ensure that you remain feeling satisfied and not STARVING all day long. Eating foods with a high “satiety index” that are high in fiber, protein and water is the key to not feeling so hungry all the time. A piece of white bread all by itself will just go right through you and leave you cranky, hungry and irritable an hour later when you are on a diet.
Keeping stable blood sugar is fundamental to ensuring that you don’t go on a super bad hungry binge. Most women that are “hypoglycemic” simply need to be on this diet to insure stable blood sugar as well. I just can’t preach enough positive about eating The Low Glycemic Index diet. Keeping your blood sugar stable also prevents premature aging. It is relatively simple to follow and everyone can do it. All you have to do is learn which foods are high in protein and high in fiber and then simply eat them at every meal. Voila! I have single handedly cured the epidemic of diabetes running rampant, well not quite, it is a matter of getting people to DO the diet that is so tough.
So let’s review the formula for success one last time…
Protein + Fiber + Water + Whole Foods + Exercise + Sleep= Weight Loss
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