Monday, January 2, 2012

Out for 2012: FAD Diets. IN for 2012: HEALTHY Eating!

     Welcome to 2012 and if you made a resolution for this new year, all the best to sticking with it!  The good folks often ask me about the latest brand-'X' diet they're thinking about trying - Atkins, Zone, Paleo, SouthBeach, BiggestLoser, etc - and I wonder what new, trendy diet 2012 will bring.  While many have had lasting weight-loss success with these commercial, mass-marketed diets, hopefully what they also end up taking away is how to simply eat HEALTHY and make independent smart food choices.  Once you discover the concept of healthy eating and to think for your self, you realize that it becomes a lifestyle and that becoming leaner & healthier is not an exact science or one-size-fits-all plan.

     Learning to eat HEALTHY is an ever-evolving journey.  No single person or 'diet' can possibly have all the answers or 'secrets' as there is nearly an infinite amount of food choices on our planet.  More than likely somebody is selling you a diet and trying to capitalize on the weight-loss market.  Instead of always seeking out the next gimmicky, trendy diet use your resources to educate your self.  When eating healthy becomes your lifestyle it is enjoyable and not rigid with extreme rules and forbidden foods.  And perhaps most importantly, eating HEALTHY is not complicated.  In fact using whatever nutritional knowledge base you have right now, simply applying an extra 10 seconds of consideration when making your next meal choice combined with a little discipline could be as effective as any store bought diet.  After all you're probably not a caveman, a skinnybitch, a clinically-obese person, a type-2 diabetic, a Vegan, a Hollywood celebrity, a bodybuilder, or a nutritionist, so why follow some diet plan that is trying to categorize you into some tiny box?  Nobody knows YOU like you, so educate your self and discover all the delicious & healthy whole-foods out there!  Eating healthy should be simple and enjoyable!  Any diet that claims you need to totally eliminate certain foods or entire food-groups should immediately raise a red flag.
     Lastly, be wary of all the extreme cleansing & detox plans out there.  Our bodies do a fantastic job of detoxing on their own all day long, every day.  All we have to do is provide clean, whole-foods, pure water, maybe some herbs & teas and our bodies will take care of the rest.  Most of these so-called cleanses are really fasting, weight-loss efforts in disguise.  Perhaps the most effective detox technique of all is high-intensity exercise that produces a good sweat, circulates the lymphatic & moves blood & oxygen, followed by pure water.  Guess what?...its FREE too:)

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