My Least Favorite Word: DIET

This week I stumbled across a lot of folks talking about their diets. In my 40 years, I have never met a person that successfully kept off the extra pounds, when they called their food changes a diet.

There are two LARGE (elephant in the damn room) reasons that the word diet is never the answer to a healthy weight loss (for life):

1. In case you missed it, there are 100s of studies that show negative words (and actions) beget negative results (or behaviors). This link is just one of 100s of papers on the subject: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4727455/

2. The idea that someone can “diet” for two weeks is absurd as it takes 30 days to form a new habit. Permanent (and healthy) weight loss requires a minimum of 5 new habits.

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Change Your Habits And You Change Your World

Do you want more energy? Do you want to develop a better body image? Weight loss is normally about health and self-esteem in tandem. Then start simple and reshape the way you look at weigh loss.

First, toss out the word diet. It has to go. You can call this anything you want, but it has to have a positive vibe to it. You can choose to call it being healthy, treating myself right -- whatever you choose to call it, make sure it brings a smile to your face.

This is the list of the habit changes – over the next few days, I will expand upon the remaining four as they really do make a huge difference in having a good life versus a so-so life.

1. No fake sugars
2. No trans fats (this is hardest in the US)
3. Exercise
4. Smaller “meals” 6 a day
5. Hobby

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WHAT? Cold Turkey On Fake Sugars???

No. There is not a single person in this world that can just stop doing something – if they tell you this, not only are they lying to you, but they are being quite dishonest to the state of their own wellbeing.

How does one change a yucky habit into a better one? Slowly and with positive feedback. First, you have to set yourself up for success by going to the grocery store and preparing for the change with real sugar items.

You are going to have to read (A LOT) – if the word is not sugar or cane sugar, then the item does not belong in the house. It is best to start simple, by buying real fruit (can be frozen to save money), cane sugar (avoid bleached white sugar), and keep walking past the bakery counter for now.

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Cane sugar can seem expensive, but over the next 30 days, take the time to decrease the amount you use in your coffee and tea, as it is sweeter than bleached sugar. Another item to switch out is soda – there are cane sugar sodas. You can use these as a treat every few days, but it is best to never drink more than one a day.

If you are diabetic, diet coke is not the answer either and fake sugared items are not helping as much as folks think. Most fake sugars make you hungry and then you end up eating more to compensate and still end up with a high A1C and atrocious blood sugar levels.

The true secret to switching from fake sugars to real sugars is having access to easy recipes and things that are appealing to eat:

Iowa State University has great recipes with all these concepts in mind…

https://spendsmart.extension.iastate.edu/recipes/

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You Have The Real Stuff – Now What?

Take a few hours to go through your kitchen and your home. You are looking for all items with fake sugars. This is everything from juices to the mints or bubblegum in the desk drawer (they make you hungry – anti-productive).

If items are opened, throw them away – YES – You read that correctly. Throw out the fake sugars while telling yourself the truth. “I want to be healthy. I want to have more energy and not mindlessly consume food because these fake things make me hungry all the time.”

Now for a bit of sad reality, there are people out there without enough to eat. Pack up the fake stuff and take it to your local food drop off. Some food is better than no food.

This is a societal issue…If you can afford to donate “real food” – then toss out this bad stuff and donate good food to the local food pantry. If not, then be thankful you are financially secure enough to donate something (which is always better than a big fat nothing).

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30 Days – Start Your Engines

This is not about starving yourself – BUT it is about moderation. No, you cannot eat the whole damn real sugar pie. Yes, you can still have ONE serving of pie for desert.

There are more changes to come, but the true “secret” is taking it one habit at a time. How do I know? Because this is how I successfully lost 60 pounds and to this day, my only slip up is a high fructose Icee a few times during summer.

When I make my sweet tea, I use about 4 tablespoons of cane sugar or less. I have a cane sugar soda, daily. And I love cookies. The key to all of this is that I took the 30 days to change these habits into real sugars and moderation (this needs its own post).

Oh, and those Iowa State University Recipes are a great way to save money on your food budget too!!!

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