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14 Days to Wellness : The Easy, Effective, and Fun Way to
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Wellness
Where
Diets Go Wrong
Diets
go wrong by being too restrictive. Many conventional diets demand a fairly
low calorie intake in order to lose weight. They are based on a fairly
simple concept: in order to lose weight one must eat less. Although
true, for people who have a large amount of weight to lose, reducing
their usual daily intake by 1000 - 2000 calories a day is a depressing
task. Such dieters feel deprived before even starting a new diet. Even for people with small amounts to
lose, cutting their usual intake from 2200 or 2500 to 1200 calories,
can be a shock to the system. A quick glance at any women’s magazine
reveals at least one sample menu for weight loss. Upon comparison, the
amounts of food seem very small and usually include uninteresting
foods such as yogurt, cottage cheese and chicken breasts. Diets
go wrong by requiring the dieter to change the type of food eaten.
Humans are creatures of habit and
usually eat the same foods over and over. Granted, overweight folks
are eating too much of the wrong foods. But, in an effort to promote
eating a variety of healthy foods, conventional diets suggest new
dishes which often include exotic and hard to find foods or just plain
boring foods. Using a sample week’s menu of meals can result in
buying unusual ingredients, using a small amount for one recipe, then
often wasting the rest. Diets
go wrong by making it difficult to eat. Most diets suggest using fresh foods,
cooked from scratch at home. This requires more meal planning,
shopping and preparation time. It’s easier and quicker to rely on
fast food or convenience foods. The drawback with fast food is in
controlling exactly what is eaten since the ingredients are not easily
known. Even with the new improved labeling on convenience foods,
there’s no guarantee the totals at the end of the day will be within
healthy ranges. And who has the time to keep track? But trying to eat less and prepare
strange new dishes can be discouraging. New recipes can take longer to
prepare, making it tempting to revert to old eating patterns and
simply give up. Eating at a favorite restaurant or at social
gatherings is difficult at best. The required food is not available
and making substitutions is tricky. Diets
go wrong by feeling like a punishment. Diets require the reduced intake of
food, cutting out favorite foods, learning to like new foods, spending
more time planning and preparing food. All these changes can make the
dieter feel punished by the very process which is supposed to improve
life. However, people usually approach a diet
with the attitude: ‘this is just until I lose x number pounds.’
This is where people fail diets. Any change required to lose weight
will need to continue after the pounds are gone. When dieters revert
to old habits, the weight creeps back on. Diets
go wrong by creating a repeated failure record. Every time a dieter fails at a diet,
stops trying and returns to old eating habits, the chances of
succeeding at the next attempt is reduced. The dieter becomes
fatalistic about the possibility of ever losing weight. How
to win the ‘diet’ battle? The real answer to the shortcomings of
diets seems to be: eat the foods you are accustomed to, but reduce the
amount of everything eaten. Rather than learning new ways of cooking,
suffering through painful shopping trips for food you don’t like,
spending hours cooking and tracking the amounts eaten, simply fill
your plate as usual, put part of it back and eat the rest with a clear
conscience. A reduction of only 500 calories a day
will result in a weight loss of one pound a week which adds up over
time. (When was the last time you lost 52 pounds a year?) This
approach automatically cuts the amount of fat consumed as well as
reducing the intake of sodium, sugar and concentrated calories such as
meat and carbohydrates. So, rather than put yourself on a
‘diet,' make moderate changes. Omit one large snack or dessert, and
all second helpings each day. Eat a little less meat and high fat
foods. Add a salad or extra serving of ‘skinny’ vegetables every
day, (you know which ones.) Go for a walk after supper. Give it time. And, never say ‘diet’ again. Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet - <http://certificate.net/wwio/>, your only source of FREEWare Content online. Nora Penia is an educator and writer. She has written one novel, as yet unpublished, and for over two years has written for her own online magazine entitled At the Fence, Relationships and Parenting. This article may be used in any online media. Please contact Nora if you wish to publish this article in traditional print media. The Wellness Book : The Comprehensive Guide to
Maintaining Health and Treating Stress-Related Illness
Gentle
Fitness
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