The Stop Dieting Diet: Forget Everything You've Read

"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 [http://www.richardhhelfantmd.org].

The Jenny Craig Diet - Dieting With A Difference!

Most of us have actually seen the dieting commercials where Kristie Allie, who was previously obese, singing the praises of the person who assisted her in losing a whooping 75 pounds, Jenny Craig. Many of us have actually been amazed by that accomplishment, but most of us, while seeing that commercial and munching away the pizza, would not realize that we are on the verge of becoming obese, as Kristie!

Jenny Craig, in the recent years has actually jumped up to a great extent, and is getting recognized for their incredible work. Jenny Craig has actually adapted itself over the years and has given the consumers what they want.

Jenny Craig has been in business for quite sometime now, and they are ready to do anything to fulfill your desires. They are not only being loyal to their customers, but also making sure that their customers do not get misguided. The first thing that made these people famous was the packaged food that they supplied. Off late, they have been offering recipes that are new and refreshing, on their websites, and they help people fulfill their desire to cook. Yeah! There are people left, who still want to cook new things, and experiment. And, this is exactly why people started putting on weight!

The Jenny Craig proves to be a very attractive option when it comes to dieting. There are many plans that are open, and they are available in different budgets. Most of the plans in Jenny Craig come under the same budget. This is perhaps one of the best advantages with Jenny Craig, and this is exactly why people throng this place, and there are other exciting offers too?

Jenny Craig also insists on burning the calories, and all the advantages of maintaining a body that is completely free of the extra calories and fat. It is very much important to make sure that your kind of dieting, and weight loss will support your lifestyle, and will not hamper your health in anyway! To achieve what you want, you must make sure that you exercise with a schedule to make sure that you keep yourself fit. This is a two way process, as you lose some calories, it is important that you gain some, otherwise, it is going to be very hard, and you might become weak after a period of time. And this is another good thing about Jenny Craig; they know the importance of gaining calories, as much as losing it!

Dieting is seen as a taboo in our society. There are many people who are consistently dieting, but still failing to achieve what they want to. Their main aim is to shed a couple of pounds, and they are finding it really hard to do it, in spite of all the die hard dieting, and exercise. This is where Jenny Craig scores! They manage to give their customers what they want. There are millions of people today who are thanking Jenny Craig for assisting them in what they wanted to do, and there is almost zero negative feedback from the customers. Jenny Craig is a success story that has managed to shape many people's lives, and this will continue. They have many plans to choose from. Jenny Craig has them all, and ready to help!

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Diets Don't Work: Yo-Yo Dieting

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Yo-yo dieting, a phrase coined by obesity experts, refers to a period where weight-loss occurs due to an extreme reduction to calories and a subsequent period when the weight is put back on. Yo-yo dieting is a massive problem, not only does it give the false impression that the diet is going to work initially but it also leads to physiological changes that actually cause an increase in body fat.

In short, the reasons for yo-yo dieting are due to an initial calorie restriction that is too extreme. As previously mentioned, any extreme calorie restriction will results in weight-loss (not fat-loss), almost everyone loses weight initially, but it never takes long for the body to catch up and start preserving its energy. This initial weight-loss is often deemed to be an extremely positive result for the dieter but this is not the case. Over time however the problems associated with such an extreme calorie restriction materialise and make it almost impossible to continue. Ultimately, the dieter will revert to their old eating habits and be in a worse position, both physiologically and mentally, than when they started.

The Psychological Affects: As covered above, after the initial weight loss period the dieter reaches a plateau stage where it becomes increasingly more difficult to lose weight. This lack of results, together with the inevitable gnawing of hunger pangs and cravings is what causes people to give up: very often out of sheer frustration. Once off their diet, the weight starts to pile back on, only now they have less lean muscle than before and a slower metabolism. So the dieter is now feeling a) frustrated that they have quit b) upset that they have not only failed to lose weight but that the weight is now starting to pile on again and c) less motivated to lose weight again. Such an emotional state will often lead to the dieter eating more (for comfort in many cases) and eventually end up repeating this cycle, each time increasing the negative effects of the yo-yo dieting.

The Physiological Affects: As previously mentioned, when you eat less your body will burn less, i.e. your metabolism will slow down. This means that the same calorific intake that used to be affective at maintaining weight will now cause a calorie surplus and actually cause you to put on weight. With each repeated bout of dieting your metabolism becomes less and less efficient until the point is reached where eating less food will actually cause weight-gain. A great book that describes the process of actually gaining fat when you diet, 'Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle' uses a case study to explain exactly how bad this can be. I have chosen one of my clients as a case study (before he came to me) and explained what can happen below.

The dieter was male, weighed 89kg and had 20% body fat. His goal was to lose 6kg. A pre-examination revealed that 17.8kg of his total mass was body fat and 71.2kg of his total mass was lean.

He started his diet (like most) with and extreme initial calorie deficit and began to lose weight. It didn't take him long to lose the weight and by week 5 he was weighed 82.4kg. So he succeeded... ? It would seem that by weight loss alone he was successful (and if this was his goal then he had been), however upon reexamination it was clear that he was not successful. He now weighed 82.4kg and had 18% body fat. Therefore he had lost a total of 6.6kgs and now had 14.8kg of body fat and 67.6kg of lean mass. This means that 61% off his weight loss came from lean muscle mass. This drop in lean mass had decreased his metabolism and he was now burning fewer calories per day.

Once the diet was over, and the client was happy with his weight-loss and returned to normal eating again. As a result of his now slower metabolism, the number of calories that used to be efficient at maintaining his weight now caused him to gain weight. A few weeks after the end of the diet he was back to his original weight of 89kg, however he now had 23% body fat and 77% lean mass. He was back to the start but with more fat, less muscle and a slower metabolism. This made it increasingly harder to lose body fat each time the dietary pattern 'recycled' itself, and the curse of yo-yo dieting was upon him.

So yo-yo dieting is not just losing the weight and putting it back on, it carries with it severe negative psychological and physiological effects.

Don't worry though, there are ways to burn body fat and keep it that way. My next article will cover some of these methods in more detail.

For more information, pictures, and videos of Functional Fitness Training and how to effectively lose weight please visit Rigs Fitness: http://www.rigsfitness.co.uk/. The home of Functional Training in the UK.

6 Commonly Asked Questions on Dieting, Food Shopping, and Weight Loss

-As I've gotten older, I've gained weight. Why is this happening?
When you are younger, you have a higher metabolism and are more active. As we get older and take on more responsibilities, such as jobs and children, leisure activities become less of a priority. Work outs and healthy cooking falls to the wayside. Add an increasingly slower metabolism and what do you have? Weight gain

-How do I lose it?
In the simplest terms: Exercise, clean diet, and quality sleep.

-Can you elaborate more on clean diet?
Clean diet is just a term that I have used for years that means high quality and nutrient dense foods. People call me all the time and ask what they should be eating. If you need to ask, it's probably not good. If what you are eating was made in a factory, you probably do not want to eat it.

-What diet are you following?
I do not diet. I eat a diet full of nutrient dense foods and eating "bad" foods (ie. cake, ice cream, and cookies) in moderation. Some examples of nutrient dense foods are kale, spinach, broccoli sprouts, avocados, all berries, almonds, Brazil nuts, chia seeds, hemp seeds, cacao, raw honey, coconut oil, olive oil, grass-fed beef, free range poultry, salmon, tuna, beans, yerba mate, and green and white teas.

-I can't afford to buy everything organic, what should I do?
If you can't afford a totally organic diet, then only buy the "dirty dozen" organic. These 12 fruits and vegetables are found to be covered with the most pesticide residues and grown with chemical fertilizers. Also to save money, buy the "clean 15" conventionally. The produce on this list are found to have minimal pesticides on them whether they are grown conventionally or organically. As a rule of thumb, if the fruit or vegetable has a thick skin on it that is not eaten, it is safe to buy conventionally.

-What diet do you recommend?
I do not recommend diets for most people. Once you are on a diet, you start to get cravings because you are depriving yourself of something. That something is usually a food that you like (and possibly love). If I had to pick one, it would be the slow carb diet. I have had amazing results with it. I lost close to 20 pounds in almost 3 weeks. My flexibility, endurance, and overall athletic performance improved tremendously.

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