The Stop Dieting Diet Forget Everything You’ve Read
May 17th, 2008 by Go Weblog
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” - Margaret Thatcher
“One swallow does not a summer make.” - Aristotle
“Fed Up!” read the cover of Newsweek, which went on to ask, “Is there anything left we can eat?” No area of health has been more confusing and misunderstood than diet and nutrition, especially as related to cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease. The message is everywhere. Good Morning America is featuring weight-loss tips every day this month. AOL tells its subscribers via e-mail that it’s “Time to lose your spare tire.” Magazines lining grocery aisles exhort you to “Lose 10 pounds this month!”
According to US News, Americans spend more than $33 million a year on diet books, foods, programs, gadgets and DVDs in the hopes of losing weight. Yet, about two thirds of the American population remains overweight. Some 30 percent are obese and half of them are dieting. So, it’s become crystal clear that dieting does not work! The solution is simple: stop obsessing about every morsel you put in your mouth.
Most people think that eating properly means cutting out everything they love, and thus feeling deprived and dissatisfied. But the facts are that eating healthily and reducing weight does not have to involve pain and sacrifice. In all likelihood, many of your favorite foods are healthy, and many of your favorite recipes can be modified easily to become healthy. Proper eating requires only a few simple adjustments.
You need follow only one rule and keep one commitment. The rule: cut down the fat by making simple substitutions. This decreases not only cholesterol levels but also the number of calories. The commitment: Set aside your preconceived notions about food and become a thoughtful eater. Being a thoughtful eater mans thinking clearly and objectively about the food you eat; making adjustments and substitutions more knowledgeably and comfortably; experimenting and learning what works best for you; introducing changes over time rather than abruptly; AND, allowing for slips. Being a thoughtful eater also means becoming interested in learning relevant information about food and health.
Below are some suggestions for dietary changes. These are meant as general guidelines. You may want to adjust some or make other changes in your own eating plan.
Seven Substitutions:
l. Use skim or low-fat milk and cheese and nonfat yogurt in place of whole mile and regular cheese, butter of ice cream.
2. Eat more fish and chicken (with the skin removed) and complex carbohydrates such as pasta, brown rice and whole-grain bread. Eat lean cuts of mean with the fat trimmed, and in smaller (e.g. 4-ounce) portions.
3. Use egg whites and/or egg substitutes instead of egg yolks.
4. Avoid high-cholesterol foods such as liver, kidney, brain and sweetbreads.
5. Cut back on processed meats such as sausage, bologna, corned beef, pastrami, salami and hot dogs. Try chicken or turkey breasts with mustard instead of butter and mayo.
6. Adopt healthier methods of cooking: boil, stream, broil, roast or bake instead of frying.
7. Choose salad dressings and sauces made with olive oil and soy and avoid saturated oils. Flavor your meals with herbs and seasonings instead of butter and fatty sauces.
Lastly, by making food label evaluations a routine part of your shopping, you will become more knowledgeable and conscious about food and naturally more aware of the amount of fat you eat. Remember: compulsive eating leads to guilt, more compulsive eating and ultimately to defeat and resignation. Stay aware, make conscious choices, learn form your experiences, and stay with your plan. As Gandhi once said, “We cannot in a moment get rid of the habits of a lifetime.”
Richard Helfant, MD, a Harvard-trained cardiologist. Courageous Confrontations, Dr. Helfant’s latest work, is about how to use the mind-body relationship to combat disease. Many stories in the book include examples of diet and weight loss.
Tags: calories, cholesterol, diet, dieting, eating, fat, food, nutrition, overweight, weight lossThe Foolproof Diet
May 14th, 2008 by Go Weblog
Weight-loss gurus often tout impractical and absurd diets. They push their products and posit their heft-reducing theories, each claiming to have unlocked some previously undiscovered or undisclosed secrets. These hucksters market all kinds of nutrition plans, from the never-eat-anything-bigger-than-your-fist to the fill-up-with-enough-fiber-to-start-your-own-gas-transmission-plant variety.
One man I know (whose name I won’t mention) has been following a high-fiber diet so long that he’s become a hazard to others’ health. In fact, he should be forced to wear a sign that reads: WARNING: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE.
The sheer magnitude of weight-loss programs today causes me to develop apathy toward the entire industry. Why would I want to join some fat-reducing organization from the West Coast when I live in Texas? Who wants to spend their time counting points or calories? And what’s so great about drinking unsweetened green tea? This is the Southwest (home of “sweet tea”)not the Orient.
If I have to purchase prepackaged foods sold only through authorized distributors to banish my bulge, then I’ll keep my fleshy rolls (and my yeast ones, too), thank you very much. So stop asking. No, I haven’t called Jenny yet!
I prefer to follow a healthy eating program that includes all my food groups: chocolate, ice cream, pizza, fried potatoes, and specialty breads. And finally somebody has developed one; it’s called The Flavor Point Diet.
Now, if I correctly understand the concept, The Flavor Point Diet works by flooding your taste buds with one central flavor for an entire day. So on tomato day, for instance, the diet recommends eating tomato products at every meal. The next day, you’re instructed to switch to a different flavorlike pineapple.
On tomato day, then, I would eat cold pizza for breakfast, tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich on tomato/rosemary bread for lunch, and lasagna for dinner. Somehow I don’t see myself shedding much weight on a plan like that. But from a foods permitted standpoint, this program I’ve come up with a weight-loss program of my own. Here’s how it works:
Allow yourself to eat only bland foods at every meal. Appropriate dishes include plain, unsweetened yogurt, boiled oatmeal without added sweeteners, salad greens with no dressing, celery (no dips), plain chickpeas, and tasteless vegetables such as hominy.
If you’re uncertain whether a specific item might be appropriate for this diet, here’s a simple test to help you find out:
1) Take a bite of the food in question.
2) Swirl the sample in your mouth.
3) Determine if this morsel tastes good. Depending on results, follow
“a” or “b” below:
a. If this food holds no appeal, swallow and continue eating.
b. If you’d like a second sample, spit out contents. This is not suitable fare for the The Flavorless Diet plan.
Follow this diet for one week and I guarantee you will have no desire overeat. You’ll feel no craving whatsoever to excessively consume any of these foods. And you will absolutely lose weight the whole time you stay on this programeven if you don’t exercise.
There’s only one drawback; dieters following The Flavorless Diet are advised to wear a sign. To be safe, they’ll want to warn those nearby to exercise caution when lighting a flame.
Diana Estill has been a freelance journalist and humor columnist for ten years. Her work has appeared online, in magazines, and in newspapers such as The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, and The Dallas Morning News. She was a finalist in the August 2005 America’s Funniest Humor Contest. Her book, Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road: Humorous Views on Love, Lust, and Lawn Care, will be released in June 2006. To see more of her work, visit http://www.DianaEstill.com
Tags: diet, diets, eat, eating, fads, food, humor, weight loss, women, womens