"Eating
for Health, Happiness and Successful Weight Control."
By Dr. William Parsons
Don't diet, just eat and lose weight!
First, the following "diet" is really
not a diet, in the conventional sense, but a natural way of eating.
It allows one to eat essentially anything one wishes, while attaining
weight loss or weight control goals and consuming the necessary
nutrients for a long and healthful life. The term "diet"
implies restrictions by either eliminating or radically reducing
the intake of certain foods or food groups. Most diets are inappropriate,
unhealthful (some are even dangerous) and ultimately doomed to
fail.
The most important objective of eating any food
is to provide the body with all the essential nutrients for a
long and healthful life. Almost every food provides some element
needed by your body. If you do not care about being healthy, avoiding
sickness and disease and living a long life, then this natural
way of eating is not for you. The second most important reason
for eating any food is because you enjoy it and it makes you happy.
It is highly unlikely that you will consistently, and for long
term, eat foods that you do not enjoy. Similarly, it is extremely
unlikely that you will be able to completely eliminate foods that
you do enjoy from your diet.
Many diets and dieticians expect a person to
continually keep count of every calorie, carbohydrate and/or gram
of fat that enters your mouth! Again, what is likelihood of being
able to maintain this tedious ritual for any meaningful length
of time? Nothing could be more depressing and stress-inducing
as the constant monitoring of calories, carbs or fat. Therefore,
if enjoying your meals is not important to you, then this natural
way of eating is probably not for you.
Finally, you should eat food to maintain an appropriate
weight for your height and frame. Being over-weight or under-weight
is not conducive to a long, healthful life nor does it promote
a positive self image. If being too heavy or too thin is not important
to you, than this natural way of eating may not be for you.
Tips for Successful Weight Control
Lose or gain weight because you want to and not
to please others.Otherwise, you will not be sufficiently motivated
to change your bad eating habits. In fact, when the inevitable
happens and you fail to achieve you goal, it will reinforce and,
most probably, escalate the inappropriate behavior (i.e. over-eating,
exclusively eating junk food, bulimia, etc.)
You must begin this natural way of eating with
a positive outlook and the belief that you can achieve your goals
with a minimal amount of effort. If you lack the self-confidence
and motivation, or you do not believe that you can lose or gain
weight, you will not!
It is extremely important for you to learn about
the nutrients contained in the foods you eat. This is the only
part of this natural way of eating that requires some effort on
your part. The only way to accomplish this is to read. The internet
is probably the best and easiest venue for obtaining this type
of information. The following are excellent sources of health
and nutrition-related information:
1) Medline Plus -
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/foodnutritionandmetabolism.html
2) Food and Nutrition Information Center -
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/
3) McKinley Health Center -
http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/
4) USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory -
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/
Remember, the key to weight control is to be
healthy, happy and fit. You must understand which foods will provide
these three, all-important elements. Believe it or not, there
are foods which you enjoy that are actually good for you!
Incredibly, many overweight people actually do
not eat enough! Listen to your body, not your mind. Your body
knows when it has had the appropriate amount of food and, more
importantly, the appropriate amount of nutrition. Because many
people do not understand nutrition, they eat food that does not
supply sufficient nutrients to the body. They will feel hungry
even after a large meal because theirs bodies are "starving"
for proper nutrition. For this reason, most diets do not work
or the individual cannot stay with the diet because it is an unnatural
way of eating. Your body literally believes it is starving; therefore,
it will take actions to survive the famine. It is a self-preservation
mechanism, if you will. The body begins drawing off your muscles
and stores the fat for later use in the event that it does not
receive the necessary nourishment for an extended period of time.
When a person finally falls off the diet (which is inevitable),
they gain back all the lost weight and, in many cases, even more!
The reason is because it takes the body sometime to adjust from
its self-preservation mode, so all the food that is consumed is
stored as fat while your body continues to draw from muscle.
There is no such thing as losing weight fast.
It will take 3 to 6 months (or more depending on the amount of
weight loss needed),to lose a significant amount of weight. The
good news is that once you have lost the weight, you should not
gain it back because you will have learned about the food you
eat.
Yes, you have heard it before and you are now
going to hear it again - exercise! Even a small amount of exercise
(1/2 hour per day, 3 days per week) will greatly accelerate weight
control.
If you feel like having a snack or something
sweet, have it. Your body is telling you it needs something. Of
coarse, it would be better to eat a piece of fruit rather than
a candy bar. However, either is preferable to over-eating at your
next meal or agonizing over the decision to indulge the urge.
Dr. Parsons reveals the keys to successful weight
loss in the remainder of this article, which you can receive absolutely
FREE,by visiting Health Products USA (http://www.healthproductsusa.net)
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