An Inspirational Quote
“All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.”
JJohann Wolfgang von Goethe
Most efforts to lose weight focus on a LESS mentality. The thinking goes, to lose weight, you have to eat LESS of something: less calories, less fat, less carbohydrates, less “fun” foods.
All this focus on LESS thinking can lead to a mentality of deprivation. Dieters may end up feeling sorry for themselves or develop a “poor me” attitude towards food as they project that other people can eat all the “good stuff” while they feel like they are restricted to foods that are bland, boring or emotionally unfulfilling.
Here at Total Fitness, we want all our clients to develop a healthy relationship with food and a healthy relationship with exercise. Part of the way we accomplish these goals is to empower our clients to have a MORE mentality.
By eating MORE nutritious organic foods, you have MORE energy, MORE fun when you are actually eating and you can enjoy MORE foods than most restrictive diets. As you enjoy MORE energy, you heal your metabolism, replenish your brain chemistry and find yourself functioning at a higher level in every area of your life.
Consider three simple facts:
You hold toxins in your fat cells. Given that fact, why in the world would you ever want to consume conventional diet products that are loaded with chemicals?
Within 24 hours of going on a low calorie diet, which is defined as eating less than 1800 calories per day, you immediately deplete your brain chemistry. When your brain chemistry is depleted, you experience cravings, as your brain is your body’s most important organ. Low calorie dieting is especially challenging for anyone with a history of depression, anxiety, eating disorders or alcoholism. People with depleted brain chemistry may find it harder and harder to fight their body’s signals begging for the nutrients they really need. Why set yourself up for failure by depleting your brain chemistry? Here at Total Fitness, we can run lab tests to determine how nutritionally depleted our clients are. Anyone with a history of chronic low calorie dieting or long-term use of psychiatric medications usually has severe nutritional deficiencies.
When scientists want to breed fat rats in the laboratory, all they have to do is feed them processed foods. The research shows that even rats doing hours and hours of exercise do not lose weight no matter how much exercise they are doing. When a new client tells me they are exercising vigorously every day and can’t lose weight, I already know what they are eating before they even tell me.
In order to create a caloric deficit in order to lose weight, a MORE intelligent approach is to eat enough food to replenish your brain chemistry and keep the body’s metabolism running at its peak and create enough energy to exercise daily. In other words, cover your bases nutritionally and then be consistent with your workouts – the scientific research shows that to lose weight, you need to exercise 3 ½ to 5 hours every week.
I like to make things simple, because simple guidelines are easier to follow. Here are a few suggestions:
Focus on eating the most nutritionally dense foods you can find. Many people do not know what is actually healthy. My practice is full of people who couldn’t understand why they were fat and exhausted living on so-called “healthy choice” dinners that have been frozen, wrapped in plastic and then microwaved. This is a far cry from the wonderful options that anyone can avail themselves of visiting their local farmers market. To make it easy for you, we have a FREE shopping list on our website. The higher the number next to a food on the list, the more nutritious it is for your body. Please follow the link below: Shopping List For Worlds Healthiest Foods.
If you are healthy and at a normal weight, you can give yourself permission to follow the 80/20 rule. That is, 80 percent of the time, anything that goes into your mouth has to come off the list of healthy foods. Up to but no more than 20 percent of the time, you can go off the reservation, but even when you go off the reservation, eat like a civilized person.
If you are sick or overweight, follow the 90/10 rule. That is, 90 percent of the time, anything that goes into your mouth has to be from the healthy foods list. Don’t go off the reservation more than 10 percent of the time. The healthier you choose to be, the more you will want to stick to the list.
Do not eat processed food. Even when you are going off the reservation, choose treats like the ones from my recipes below. Remember, eating processed food sets you up for failure, even if you are doing hours and hours of exercise every week.
Drink half your body weight in ounces of water every day. Dehydration affects your ability to digest fat . You must sip enough water throughout the day so that your gallbladder can make enough bile to metabolize fats.
Cook your food the way your grandmother did it. Do not use a microwave to defrost, cook or reheat your food. Do not make the mistake of buying expensive organic food and then coming home and zapping it. Microwaving reverses the spin of the molecules in food, suppresses your immune system and makes it much harder for you to lose weight. Even eating microwaved vegetables will raise your cholesterol.
Eat minimeals every 3 hours. Eating small portions takes the stress off your digestive system, can eliminate inflammation and bloating, keeps your blood sugar and energy levels stable throughout the day and improves your body’s ability to assimilate the nutrients from foods.
Focus on getting your carbohydrates from energy rich, nutrient dense natural sources like fruits and vegetables. Nutrition boils down to chemistry. You need basic nutrients to keep your metabolism healthy, and if you don’t get them, your metabolism may become damaged and you’ll find yourself looking fatter, breaking down muscle tissue and aging fast. Many fat people are starved of the basic nutrition they need to keep their bodies running properly. A damaged metabolism impairs your ability to lose weight no matter how few calories you take in or how much you exercise.
Focus on getting your fats from organic olive oil, real butter and coconut oil. Coconut oil is the only oil that will withstand high heat cooking. Save money by making your own salad dressings with delicious organic olive oils. Avoid trans fats that can clog your system, lead to inflammation and therefore physical pain.
Heal your relationship with food. Avoid what I refer to as “cookie therapy” – i.e., eating to try to solve your other problems. Choose to nourish your body with the healthiest foods you can buy at your local farmers market. Rather than depriving yourself of treats, think of choosing MORE healthy food.
For more information about how you can implement these ideas, we recommend you purchase the following radio shows at these links:
Sugar, Sugar, Sugar: How To Stop Sugar Cravings
The Benefits of Detoxing: Interview with Ann Louise Gittleman
How To Have A Healthy Relationship With Food And Overcome Eating Disorders: Interview with Julia Ross