Food & Nutrition

lewisfresh.com

I am always fascinated when I see a magazine article with something like "Lose 15 pounds in 2 weeks." I can never resist the urge to pick and read, so I do.

And every time I laugh at how insane the diets are.  I have noted that I don't know a lot about nutrition, but I can tell you that if you starve yourself with lemon, cinnamon, and maple water for two weeks, you will FOR SURE lose weight.  It is inevitable.

But what happens when those two weeks are over? You feel good for about 2 days and then you eat and gain 15+ lbs back.

The body is an incredible devise.  It knows when you are starving yourself and so what does it do? Reserves your longest lasting energy source, FAT!


Let's talk about diets, and how stupid they are...

Low carbs: When we deplete the body of carbs, and I mean completely deplete like the Atkins diet, our body has to come up with an alternate energy source.  Our body runs on glucose (energy source  form carbs), so when it is gone it takes energy from other sources.  So what are these sources?  Muscle and Fat.  So your thinking oooohh good all my fat will be burned away. Not so fast.  So you burn fat? Who cares, the only reason you are losing weight is because your losing muscle.  And as we all know muscle weighs more than fat.  So with low carb or no carb, your body will tear apart your muscle and make your weight decrease, but you usually don't look any different.


Moral of the story: Stop being crazy, start eating normal, just eat less.

The rule we live by in my house:
"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Micheal Pollan


Here are some simple steps to do this.

1. Begin first by tracking your calories. There are so many APPS that do this. Myfitnesspal, Livestrong, ect. ****When you begin doing this try really hard NOT to change your diet so that you look like you eat less than you normally do. If you normally eat 3 bowls of ice cream (like me) then put that down. Try this for one week just to see how much you typically consume.

2. Do not follow the guidelines for calories recommended for "most" women.  This is usually 2000 calories a day.  Figure out your recommended amount using a Calorie Calculator.

3. After finding out how many calories you eat then try to cut them down by 200-500 depending on your weight loss goals (200 for 1 lb about every 2.5 weeks, 500 for 1 lb a week)

4. Start adding more fruits and veggies. Eat a pack of carrots or an apple with your lunch instead of a granola bar. Make a smoothie in the morning with spinach in it, they are amazing.

5. Try being a vegetarian a few nights a week. My husband and I are vegetarians about 3-4 nights a week and it has really helped us with eating more produce.

6.  Remember the most important thing: weight loss is all about calories in vs. calories out, NOT about the type of calories you are consuming!

7. Let yourself splurge.  Whether it works for you to do it only once a week (tried this myself lasted 2 weeks), or eating a small treat daily don't deprive yourself too much or you'll end up going buck-wild when you finally allow yourself an indulgence.

If you are interested in learning about vegetarian of vegan diets, Scott Jurek had a fascinating article on Runners World, especially good read for runners.

If I had the self control I would definitely be all vegetarian, maybe even vegan, but I love my dairy, my sugars, my time, and my money!