As a young female living in a
media-driven society I know all about yo-yo dieting. It’s hard to lose those 5 lbs.
so that you can look like a million bucks. Losing them FAST is easy. There are
so many diets out there that cause you to restrict your calories and increase
your exercise so you lose about 4 lbs. a week. These diets are unhealthy and
unsustainable.
What happens in the end? All the
weight dropped was water weight.
1. All your muscles
released water that was stored from glucose molecules (most diets tend to be
low carb).
2. You get famished from your starvation diet, your body craves nutrients and because
you aren’t receiving them it tends to ask for more (in abundance).
3. You stop exercising; your body did not have enough time to adjust itself to the new exercise regime because you started off too quick. You exhaust yourself and excuse yourself to a couch-potato lifestyle.
4. You go back to decadent fatty foods and gain weight. You blame the carbs.
5. You step on the scale only to figure out you regained the initial 5lbs that you
lost, with a bonus 4. What can I say; you have always been an overachiever.
6. You hate your body, think life sucks, and eat your weight in ice cream.
This whole process repeats itself
in life so many times because people are so uneducated about diets and healthy
lifestyle.
I have yo-yoed plenty of times in
life. Only to create a deadly obsession with weight loss and trying to keep it
off permanently.What have I learned?
I learned that no one should
"diet". A diet is a term that should be left for people who are
clinically ill in hospitals and NEED to restrict their calories for any reason.
Also, the second someone goes on a diet, is the second that they start to
over-indulge. They often eat the "last binge" which occurs more often
than people think. They then can't stop this endless cycle of eating and
restricting.
When individuals go through this,
their poor bodies are confused. They think they are in a famine; our bodies are
beautiful pieces of machinery that are biologically infused with
"adaptation". Our ancestors lived in unpredictable times, often food
was scarce and they ate what they could. Instead of starving one’s body and
dying. The body, which fought for life, went into a "starvation mode"
where it stored all the fat and carbs that were consumed. That way when the
body had ample food, it would store extra energy needed to survive these bought
of famine. Unfortunately, our bodies kept this adaptation process. We no longer
have to starve because we have access to a plethora of food year-round. Thus
the "starvation mode" process still plays a big role in people's
lives.
When people diet they tend to
pick high protein or a variation of a low carb diet. This creates chaos. Our
bodies are naturally wired to respond to fat and carbs. So when we cease
consuming these products, the second it taste something sweet or fatty-its
programed to keep eating. Haven't you ever gone a whole day without food or
enough food and the second someone offered you something like fried chicken,
cookies, cereal, pizza, pasta, etc. you kept eating and you literally couldn't
stop yourself. If you realize, all these items contain high amounts of fat or
high amounts of refined carbs. Your body needed instant energy as it was devoid
of anything. However, our bodies have a certain amount of nutrients it craves;
it also probably felt depleted from it. Because it was starved, it turned on a
switch that told it to keep eating until it fulfilled the gap.
Now what happens to you
emotionally? You are overwhelmed and shocked with what you just ate. You feel
disgusted that you spent such a long time trying to lose weight only to gain it
back rapidly. You are mad that you have no self-control. However, this whole
episode was not due to self-control. Your body knows how to regulate itself, it’s
the law of homeostasis (whether we gain weight from boredom eating or unhealthy
habits, is completely our own fault). The worst thing that happens in this
situation is that you end up depressed.
So how can we avoid all of this? I DON'T believe in calorie restriction. I also don't believe in the over consumption of fat and protein. I do believe that we should focus on a whole foods diet (whether it be raw or not). If you are not able to consume a pure raw diet that gets the majority of its calories from fruits. I do advocate depending on another carbs.
Steamed/boiled/baked potatoes
without added ingredients work best. However, I also encourage the consumption
of corn, yams, and squash as the first alternative to fruit carbs. However if
you are finding it difficult to just consume pure fruits and vegetables you
might want to switch to grains such as rice, corn pasta, quinoa, whole wheat
cous cous or wheat (last result as it causes inflammation of the belly
"wheat belly" http://spiritualityhealth.com/articles/wheat-belly)
I highly recommend that people
fill up on high quality carbohydrates because our bodies run predominately on
glucose. We store copious amounts of glucose in the form of glycogen; if our
brain lacks glycogen then we are not able to function properly. Our body also
has a limited amount of glycogen storage, but unlimited fat storage. That’s why
when people eat a Twinkie and gain weight they blame the carbs instead of the
actual culprit: fat. When you eat less fat, your body burns off the extra fat
because you are relying purely on carbs. If you are trying to lose weight it
takes about 1700 calories LESS to lose weight when basing your diet on carbs
than on fat
(http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&cites=15049098259192400432&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=Dg5FUZe1LpCxqQHZ-IGIBg&ved=0CFcQzgIwAg).
So, to cut this down to the point. Eat a healthy amount of food to promote health and weight loss. A healthy amount of food means eating until you are full and feel good, not starving when you feel mood swings. When you eat enough carbs your body should have the desire to participate in physical activity-walking, dancing, etc. Also, base your diet around carbs. It is healthier and more
sustainable to lose weight slowly. Hence you don't end up feeling fatigue or famished at the same time.
Remember, the faster you lose the weight, the faster you regain it.
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