The Downfall to Dieting

                Have you experienced the exuberance of victory when dieting, only to be brought crashing down a week or two later when your “celebratory dinner” turned into a reversal of all your hard work?  The entire diet industry is built on this.  Weight Watchers doesn’t become enormously successful unless it’s designed for you to need the structure to maintain your weight. 

                What if I told you there were only a few, easy-to-follow rules to follow and for no money at all, you could start down the path of a healthy LIFESTYLE?  That’s the key… stop referring to these changes as diets.  While, generally speaking, the word diet refers to food choices throughout societies and lifespans, it has taken on the connotation of finite changes to reach a specific weight loss goal.  Also, rather than focusing on the weight, find a few other markers to gauge success. 

                One of the biggest changes we should be making is our water intake.  Dehydration isn’t just an on/off switch.  There are varying degrees of hydration.  A glass of water before meals can help decrease the amount of food you eat during, helping with portion control.  Actually being hydrated can prevent choices like soda and sugary coffees.  Drinking plenty of water can maintain kidney health, cardiovascular health, colon health and helps your body remove toxins from your system-leading to improvement of your overall health.

                When it comes to food choices, you can find just about any rules from diets.  The government still recommends a relatively high-carbohydrate diet; ketogenic diet espouses the virtues of fat; and Atkin’s pumps you full of protein.  There are unfathomable variations on the three extreme schools of thought.  Guess what, you can lose weight by taking any macro-nutrient from your diet.  Carbohydrates themselves aren’t inherently evil.  All vegetables and fruits have carbohydrates.  It’s the source and the quantity of all 3 macro-nutrients that determine whether they are healthy or not.  Good rule of thumb: make most of your food choices non-starchy vegetables and fruits and you’ll be getting most of your nutrients while not consuming sugar, and other questionable foods.

According to this infographic, you need as much grains as vegetables and Fats need to be minimized to the level of sugars...

                Stop eating and drinking sugar.  Americans have, over the past century increased their sugar intake to incredible levels.  Part of that reason was due to the Harvard study that was paid-off to claim sugar was healthier than fat, but regardless, we have a serious sugar addiction in our society.  If you want something sweet, eat an apple… not a king-sized Snickers and a Coke.

                The last bit of advice: exercise daily.  You don’t have to train for a marathon, but you should get your heartrate up and sweat every day.  Every.  Day.  On your “off day”, go for a walk or jog around the block.  It doesn’t need to consume your life to benefit you.  And when you aren’t actively exercising, do your best to refrain from sitting.  Get a sit/stand desk; watch TV while tidying up around the house; but do sit for your meals. 

                These aren’t big, drastic changes.  A few guidelines to follow, that if implemented will get you moving down the path of health and wellness and the best part, no monthly fee or set-up costs!  We all inherently know what we need to do to live a healthier life, we just need the discipline to follow through.  Like the old saying goes: it’s incredibly simple, but it isn’t easy.