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The human body is
designed first and foremost for survival.
Our body is remarkably able to adapt in
which ever way is necessary to accomplish
this. For example, if we deprive ourselves
of the calories our body needs for energy
and strength, our bodies respond biologically
to counteract this event. Our body thinks
famine and will slow down our metabolism
and preserve fat for energy to insure survival
over the long term of this manufactured
famine. To make matters worse, like a bear
coming out of hibernation, our bodies will
begin to crave highly fatty foods making
most dieters lives miserable as they try
to fight off uncontrollable cravings.
Another huge negative
to diets focusing on starving your body
thin is that, our bodies needing energy,
will resort to burning protein supplies
such as your lean muscle mass for energy
since it is preserving your fat. Though
this indeed gives the appearance of weight
loss, particularly because muscle weighs
more than fat, you aren't necessarily
achieving your goal of "fat loss". Most
frustrating to dieters engaged in this
type of dieting
is that when you go off your diet, not
only has your metabolism slowed down, but
you now also have less lean muscle mass
in which to help burn fat. This results
in the "Yo-Yo" effect of fat gain all too
common with most unsuccessful dieting attempts.
It?s important to
understand that weight loss doesn?t necessarily
equate to fat loss. Since muscle weighs
approximately 3 times more than fat, it
may be more appropriate to gage your fat
loss by taking body measurements.
The ineffectiveness
of calorie restrictive diets is nothing
new and is becoming apparent by the rising
popularity of high protein, low carbohydrate
diets. When the body is not going through
a self-induced famine, metabolically your
body will first burn carbohydrates, then
fat and then protein in that precise order.
What is disastrous for most dieters consuming
a high carbohydrate diet is that they are
unable to burn enough carbs, which then
turns into fat. So not only does your body
never get a chance to burn fat for energy
in the first place, but the excess carbs
turn into excess fat making matters worse.
This isn?t to say that you should avoid
carbs at all cost, but you should make
an effort to avoid the unhealthy ones.
Unhealthy carbs include
items such as sugar, white flour, white
rice, processed and refined foods of all
kinds, junk foods, etc. You've all seen
the aisles in the supermarket crammed with
cookies and crackers, ice cream, t.v. dinners,
soft drinks, and junk white breads so repugnant
to the metabolism that many forms of rodents
won?t even eat them except as a last resort.
This is not real food; it?s manufactured,
fake food. It?s filled with sugar, highly
refined carbohydrates and fat, not to mention
the countless chemical additives and preservatives.
For thousands of years, human beings lived
with out these incredibly profitable and
widely distributed items passing for food.
And as the years pass, and "convenience
foods" have gained in popularity, it should
come as no surprise that problems like
child obesity is becoming such a prevalent
topic these days. A sign for things to
come!
Another important
thing to keep in mind when it comes to
what you decide to eat is it?s nutritional
value. After all, why does the body crave
food? Besides for the energy and building
requirements, our cells need proper nutrition
to function properly. Over 121 nutrients
are needed everyday to maintain optimum
health. In order for our body to get these
nutrients, the majority originally came
from our diet. These cravings for nutrients
show up in the form of cravings for food.
Unfortunately since our diets are becoming
increasingly void of the necessary nutrition
our bodies crave, our bodies are too increasing
our consumption of the wrong kinds of food
in an effort to compensate for these lost
nutrients. It?s no wonder too many of us
feel our health and weight is spiraling
out of control. A proper nutritional program
added to your diet is the most natural
way to insure your body is getting the
proper nutrition it is craving which will
translate into lessening your cravings
for the wrong types of foods.
The word "diet" comes
from the Latin diaeta and the Greek diaita,
meaning "way of life" or "regimen." Not
something one does for two or three months
and then stops, but the way one eats always.
When you decide to get serious about losing
weight, it needs to be a life choice, not
just hoping from one fad diet to the next.
Choose a diet that will work with your
body and not force your body to fight back.
You will find that if you feed your body
what it wants, proper nutrition, and avoid
the high carbohydrate convenience foods
which provide nothing but empty calories,
along regular exercise, your body will
reward you by operating the way it was
designed to run. Feed
your body thin and
enjoy the benefits of good health along
the way!
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