The Folly of Diet Recipes
Have you ever wondered why diet books always seem to have a section of recipes?
Apart from the desire to make the book look larger and therefore more worthwhile, why should we be so interested in studying foods and ways to serve it when we are trying to avoid it as much as possible?
It is inconceivable that we have reached adulthood without the basic skills to boil, bake, steam, or roast our food.
We all know that these are the only low fat methods we should be using on any diet. And whatever we eat, plainer is better to control calories.
So what are all these recipes doing in a book that is supposed to be redirecting our attention away from food?
Is it a case of mutual fool-yourself-time?
The diet authors know that unless their menus have taste, and enticing pictures or detailed ingredient lists, no one will select their plan and they’ll lose money. In their real diet plan outline, they identify what is allowed and what is forbidden. Their recipe section might have been written by someone else. Certainly there are substitutions made to qualify as diet food but desserts, dips, and brunches?
We bury our heads in the sand, keep taunting ourselves with those addictive sweet flavors, and crow about the minimal number of calories in a serving of the dish (a thimbleful size – check the small print on how many people this little dish is supposed to serve).
Admit it, the only reason we crave recipes is to spice something up, to increase our pleasure and make the whole dieting task less painful. We can eat food plain without any fancy recipes but that would be no fun.
So we convince ourselves that all the stuff we are adding to our basics: low fat gravy, liquid margarine instead of butter, lemon and capers in place of tartar sauce, vinegar and oil rather than creamy Ranch, and a variety of sugar substitutes are all allowed in our plan so we might as well enjoy.
And then we are surprised and disappointed when the weight loss stops.
It must be my glands!
Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker’s Edge, she recently published a psychologically-based weight control e-workbook, “Diet with an Attitude” which develops mental skills towards the goal of permanent weight control. She can be reached at DietWithAnAttitude.com. She provides support and guidance in use of the workbook through her regular blog, http://dietwithanattitude.blogspot.com
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Revolutionary, Safe, and Clinically Proven Natural Weight Loss
America is in a health care crisis. More than 60 percent of US adults are overweight and 25% are considered obese. One in four children are overweight and are headed for a lifetime of chronic illness. These numbers have nearly doubled in the last twenty years.
Excess body weight has been linked to many common conditions affecting Americans. These include: heart disease, high blood pressure, back pain, certain cancers, hormonal imbalances, fatigue, stroke, high cholesterol, diabetes, gall bladder disorders, sleep apnea, Syndrome X (insulin resistance), and others. Health care costs directly related to obesity are second only to smoking and are increasing at an alarming rate.
Consistent weight loss can be accomplished by understanding and implementing some simple truths. Total caloric intake must be less than the amount of calories a person burns. This is known as the base metabolic rate (BMR). Low calorie high glycemic (carbohydrate) diets cause an increase in insulin which will virtually lock up fat making it impossible to burn. High insulin levels will lead muscle wasting when eating less than the BMR.
Moderate resistance training exercise is also required to insure lean muscle is retained. Maintaining muscle mass while burning fat improves body composition (increases lean muscle and decreases fat) and maintains or increases the BMR. Long term weight loss and/or maintenance is very difficult if a person has an uncontrolled appetite and/or problem with emotional eating.
These concepts are simple to understand but often difficult or impossible for the overweight person to implement. Another little known fact further explains why so many people are overweight. Ninety percent of overweight people are deficient in serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and/or epinephrine. These are important brain and nervous system chemical messengers called neurotransmitters (NTs) that affect every system in the body including the appetite and satiety centers in the brain. Most people have heard of serotonin because those suffering from depression and/or anxiety disorders are commonly prescribed selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) class drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Welbutrin, etc.
Although these drugs sometimes provide temporary symptomatic relief, they DO NOT add a single molecule of serotonin to the system. In fact, SSRI drugs cause an increased rate of excretion of serotonin which further depletes a NT deficient person. The solution is to evaluate NT levels with a simple urine test and then optimize the NT by providing amino acid therapy. The amino acids provide the building blocks to rebuild the neurotransmitters. Serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine are appetite suppressors.
In addition to their emotional/psychological functions, serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine are also natural appetite supressors. When a person has therapeutic levels of these NTs in their system, they go into a state of safe appetite control. This allows them to follow their reduced-calorie diet while eliminating emotional eating and carbohydrate and chocolate cravings.
Another benefit of this elegant approach is that not only are there no side effects, but there are significant side benefits. Optimizing NT levels can help with many other symptoms of low neurotransmitters such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic fatigue, panic disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, pms, fibromyalgia, migraines, hormonal dysfunction, adrenal fatigue, digestive disorders, and many others.
The clinical results using this approach are very promising. In a Minnesota clinic with a patient base of 690 patients, the results are as follows. Average starting weight: 211 pounds. Average total weight loss: 62.6 pounds. Average loss during first month: 16.9 pounds. Average loss during active loss program: 8.4 pounds/month. Average goal weight: 149 pounds. Percentage of active patients reaching their goal: 90 percent.
William Nelson, NMD is a naturopathic medical doctor that specializes in the treatment of thyroid disease and most chronic illnesses using a combination of natural medicine and the latest advances in medical science. theelementsofhealth.com 7500 E. Pinnacle Peak Rd. A207, Scottsdale, AZ 85255 (480) 563-4256.
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