Dieting really doesn't work
To some, who have tried every diet there is, this will not come as a surprise. The word "diet" gives the impression of various calorie restricted, low fat, low carb, low something or other!!! However the actual word "diet" is used incorrectly in many situations, we all have a "diet", it is the food we choose to eat regardless of whether it is good or bad. The phrase "going on a diet" is wrong because we already have a diet.
Anyway now I have destroyed the title and first line of this article, let me explain why we should become nutritionally "responsible" instead of "going on a diet"
Because of the bad press that diets get, when you decide to start a new diet plan, you immediately feel the stress of cutting out the products you love, and being forced to eat the stuff that you don't particularly like. The process of cutting out alcohol, sweets and fried foods makes you want them even more, because you are not allowed them. Going cold turkey just makes you irritable, hungry and ultimately you fail to stick to your plan long term.
Lets face it, you know that once you have followed Weight watchers or Jenny Craig for the 3 or 6 month period, you'll eventually revert back to your old habits. Long term success is so rare on many diet plans that it makes the authors and owners of these diets very rich as we try to rekindle the initial short term success every 12 months or so.
Nutritional responsibility is a very simple process that is a very different mindset that works on adopting life long eating habits, rather than short term quick fixes. By not expecting you to become a monk, never to touch the forbidden fruit ever again, your chances of adherence to this approach are massively increased. The philosophy of nutritional responsibility is to eat foods that are nutritionally sound MOST of the time, this means eating the cleanest, freshest, unprocessed foods you can get your hands on.
Our food supply has changed enormously over the last 10-15 years to a point that most of the aisles in the supermarket are packed to ceiling with heavily processed foods. The basic raw produce such as fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, fish and basic diary products have been pushed into a small corner. Processed foods are more convenient and less time consuming to prepare, but if living a healthy, illness free life is your goal, then taking that little extra time is certainly in line with this goal?
As a fitness professional who truly loves his food, I always expect my clients to approach their eating habits in the following way. For 90% of your week eat food responsibly, don't worry about counting calories or points, fat grams or any of that craziness, just eat fresh, clean produce that has NOT been processed in any way. For the remaining 10% of the week you can consume what you like, but remembering to be responsible for how much you eat. By all means keep a record to make sure you are not using up more than 10%, but try not to get worked up over the details.
Yes it is really obvious, a lot of common sense... Now lets start making it common!
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