Your Weight! Your Health! Your Skin!

There seems to be some of confusion and a lot of differing views surrounding which diet is ‘best’. Just go to some of the forums to see all the debate regarding which diet is superior. High protein low carb, high fat zero carb, vegan or raw. Everyone seems to have a version and some show a degree of hostility to those that aren’t like-minded.

Some quote studies showing the Inuit people living off whale blubber and seal meat with very little fruit and vegetables to validate their version of a high fat diet.

Or studies that show the Katavans who eat a high carbohydrate diet and who are passionate about smoking, show remarkably low incidents of cardiovascular disease and strokes to endorse a low protein way of eating. Both groups though, despite being poles apart in their eating habits, are equally healthy. How can this be?

I believe that it’s because both diets are heavily weighted towards natural un-refined foods and both groups avoid refined carbohydrates and denatured foods. They often have some form of fermented ‘soured’ food to get beneficial gut bacteria.

There’s not the huge reliance on white flour, white sugar and fructose syrup we see in the standard American diet.

So whichever way of eating you choose make sure it a high percentage of it comes from real whole foods. Try do get a portion of homemade fermented food daily. Whether it is a good quality commercial yogurt, homemade sauerkraut or kefir.

Presently I’m trying to make a yogurt from sunflower seeds and sea salt. I’ll let you know how that goes in a later post.

When it comes to dieting you will find all kinds of crazy and faddish diets on the market today. In addition to the many diets there seems to be every kind of diet aid you can imagine. From shakes the diet industry has evolved to include everything from candy bars and pudding to pills and patches. Each item makes the claim that it can help you drop those unwanted pounds quickly and easily.

Well I can tell you for a fact there is very little easy for must of us about dropping a few pounds. If you would like a few tips that should make your weight loss goals a little easier to achieve then perhaps the following tips will help you out.

• Drink Plenty of Water. There really isn’t enough that can be said about the importance of drinking water in an effort to reach your fitness goals. Water hydrates the body first and foremost but water is also an important way of tricking your body into believing it is full. Other drinks do not work nearly as well as water in this endeavor and many drinks, even fruit juices, contain empty calories that you can ill afford when dieting. Another great thing about drinking a lot of water while dieting is that it helps your skin retain its elasticity so you can avoid some of the ‘loose skin’ look that often accompanies massive weight loss. As an added bonus drinking plenty of water will have your skin looking radiant and beautiful as well.

• Set Goals. Having goals is one of the most important things you can do when working to loose weight. Try to make sure that your goals are aggressive but can be achieved. If you are frustrated early in the dieting process by unrealistic goals you are much more likely to give up. However, challenges are always going to inspire us to achieve greater things in life. If you can find a ‘weight loss partner’ in order to have a little friendly competition for the weight loss totals for a week or a month then you are going to be far more likely to accomplish your goals than if you keep them quietly to yourself.

• Eat More. Did you read that twice? Yes, eat more healthy foods that are high in fiber. Eat more vegetables and fruits-fill up on these foods that are good for you and you will not be inclined to binge on calorie laden junk food.

• Move! While this seems a little too simply stated for most, getting up and moving is one of, if not the absolute best way to burn calories. The simple truth is that you are not going to lose weight unless you use more calories than you consume. The more activities you enjoy that burn calories, the more likely you are to shed those unwanted pounds and meet your weight loss goals. Some great activities that actually burn calories include the following: gardening, golf, dancing, playing volleyball, walking, jumping rope, playing hop scotch with your little ones, and playing tennis. I mention these activities because you can trick yourself into believing that you aren’t really exercising while burning calories. Even cleaning house requires movement and energy and if you dance around a little to some good music in the process you might burn a few extra calories.

Dieting, when successful can help restore self image and self-esteem in people who are otherwise beautiful people inside and out. The steps above are not the only things that are involved in the dieting process but they can help you reach your weight loss goals particularly when combined with a diet plan that you feel confident you can follow. Be sure that on those days when will power is non-existent that you do not derail your diet efforts all together by giving up. The most important thing you can do when dieting is to go back to dieting once you’ve strayed.

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