Change Your Diet, Change Your Life

The new year brings an opportunity for transformation as men and women everywhere resolve to improve themselves in a variety of ways. If your New Year’s resolution involves losing weight or getting healthy, you’re certainly not alone; the initiative to drop excess pounds is consistently the most common resolution made. As individuals attempt to tackle this feat they often get caught up in the fad diets circulating in today’s media, each one claiming to hold the key to successful weight loss. But with gurus telling resolution-makers to go low-carb or gluten-free, to eat like our Stone Age ancestors or like the French, to juice everything before consuming it, or to detox with a lemon and maple syrup concoction, how are you supposed to choose the best way to lose weight and get healthy? The answer is actually rather simple—don’t diet. Don’t give into whatever magical strategy celebrities are endorsing this month, because ultimately, these methods just don’t support overall wellness. It is time to make dieting a thing of the past. While the diet regimens currently on the market may result in initial weight loss, they also result in decreased energy and a miserable outlook on food. Additionally, the rules are often so strict that it becomes incredibly difficult for followers to partake in everyday activities, such as eating out with friends. Then after the diet period is up, it is quite common (understandably so) to devour everything in sight, immediately erasing any weight loss you managed. Most dieters end up gaining back all the weight they lost during the diet; in fact, two-thirds of American dieters regain all the weight lost within a year. This doesn’t mean that dieters are merely lacking self-control; dieters are essentially practicing deprivation by shunning nutrient-dense food groups and consuming too few calories. Eating 1,000 calories a day simply isn’t practical, nor is it safe. Along with failing to produce lasting weight loss, dieting often leads to nutritional deficiencies and puts incredible strain on your body, your heart, and your vital organs. The only way to get weight to come off safely and stay off long-term is to adopt a maintainable healthy lifestyle. This change should encourage you to eat, to treat food as fuel for your body, and to treat nutrition and exercise together as tools for disease prevention. So how can you stop worrying about calories and start eating for your health? The first step is to adopt a diet high in fruits and vegetables, and using only food from nature, no refined or artificial foods. One of the best ways to do this is to begin a plant-based diet and to reduce meat and animal products from your recipes. It is not a difficult plan to begin, and the benefits are enormous. By loading up your diet with fiber from fruits and vegetables, along with healthful legumes and whole grains, you will feel fuller longer, and your digestion will improve. You never need to “cleanse” your body with a detox because your digestive system will be functioning properly. Reducing animal products keeps saturated fat and the cholesterol found in the diet in check, which effectively aids in weight loss and assists with disease prevention. More than anything, you will soon learn that removing sugar from your diet is the biggest gift you can give yourself. “Dieting” becomes irrelevant, as there is no need to count calories when eating foods from nature. Hunger cues will be sufficient to indicate when to eat and when to stop. You will have tons more energy. And making regular exercise a part of your resolution will keep your metabolism and your spirits high and will further help to prevent disease.  There truly is no downside to beginning the year with this new lifestyle. If you’re interested in making a change, or even if you’re hesitant about taking on this food from nature eating style, just give it a shot for 21 days and see how your body changes and how your cravings disappear.  So as you usher in the New Year, instead of picking up that lemon-water concoction or trying to contract a tapeworm to remove your extra pounds, make it a priority to start something that you can maintain. Make a resolution to stop dieting forever, to stop worrying about the calories you consume, and to stop fighting with food. Just start living healthfully; the pounds will fall off without any effort, your energy will pick up in no time, and your body will thank you! ~Thanks to PCRM