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Lifestye
Your right, eat less and exercise more. I’m sorry; there is no easy answer, pill, gimmick, or quick fix that will allow you to sit in front of the TV with a bag of potato chips and a beer. I’m not that cold-hearted. I am going to help you get started, along with me. I will explain to you in great detail why you must do what you do. You will learn a healthy lifestyle that actually costs less than all the diet fads you are constantly bombarded with. In short, you will be in charge of your life.
If you just take this one page and adopt it you will have everything you need to take control. If you want more information, I know I do, then check out the nutrition section. The nutrition section is a well-written and informative collection of patient handouts from the Home Health Handbook. This was written in 1989 and so some of it obviously dated, but most of it is still true and extremely valuable to understanding nutrition. I present it in its original and unadulterated form so that you can compare what was state-of-the-art in 1989 to today.
Over the next several months I will be reviewing the current medical literature and provide you with up-to-date and reliable information about nutrition. We will learn to prevent and treat such degenerative diseases as blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and many others.
So, here it is, the top of our learning pyramid.
WEIGHT LOSS/MAINTENANCE |
LIFESTYLE |
A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. 100 calories of fat = 100 calories of protein = 100 calories of carbohydrates. In future articles I will show you the scientific literature, but at this stage just trust me. IF your only desire is to lose weight, then you must eat fewer calories than you currently do.
As far as weight loss is concerned it does not matter if you eat all your calories as butter, Twinkies, steak, or soda. It doesn’t make any difference you eat several small meals a day or consume all your calories in one sitting. It doesn’t make a shred of difference if you consume the calories in the morning or just before you go to sleep at night.
All you have to do is figure out how many calories you are consuming now and then consume less. A pound is 3,500 calories. So, if you want to lose 2 pounds a week you need to consume 7,000 few calories every week.
Off course, you could do some exercise in lieu of eating less. If you exercise 300 calories a day then you could keep roughly 2,000 of your food/beverage calories. Now you only have to eliminate 5,000 calories weekly from your diet. |
For weight loss it doesn’t matter what you eat. But, for optimal health the food you eat makes a tremendous difference. A diet high in saturated or trans fat is a receipt for heart disease and cancer. A diet low in fiber is guaranteed to give you constipation and likely to lead to diabetes and colon cancer. A lot of carbohydrates and starches are prone to diabetes. This is where the food comes into play.
Almost every disease I treat in my practice is somehow related to what we do or do not eat and the lack of exercise. Exercise has been proven to make bones stronger, reduce the risk of some cancers, allow us to recover from injuries easier and feel better.
For now, here is what I want you to do. Eat large amounts of fruits and vegetables, preferably raw or steamed. Limit animal meat to just a few times a week. Stop all sugars and processed starches. No fried foods.
Exercise for 30-60 minutes 3-4 times a week.
That’s it. I know this is a radical change and won’t be easy. But I promise that if you try it for 2 months you will not want to go back to what you are doing now.
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Take a sneak peak at what will be required of you to keep the weight off. Once you understand this Holy Grail, you will be better prepared to begin your journey.
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