The most important part of any weight loss program is the diet. Whether you spend an hour a day at the gym, have a great metabolism (in which case I hate you), burn an extra 500 calories a day, etc, you will not succeed eating garbage. I use the word garbage, because that is exactly what you are eating. If your diet were as easy as calories in and calories out, there would be very few fat people. Why is it that every year the obesity rate goes up, yet we spend more money on the weight loss industry than in history. Think about that. Think about all the books, pills, infomercials for abs-this’ and diets that allow you to eat anything you want and still lose weight. (Really? I can eat pizza and drink beer and lose weight?) The industry is exploding, and so are the people. Guess what? It is not your fault. The food industry has made you fat by making you eat things you should not be eating, and you had no idea you were eating. Bastards!
According to the CDC, in 1995 15.9 percent of the population was Obese. In 2008, 26.7 percent of the population is considered obese. I am not talking about the 36.5 percent of the population that is over-weight; I am talking about nearly 1/3 of the population being obese! How can that be? We spend more money than ever on diet foods, gyms, etc. We read the literature, go on the newest diets, etc. How is it that things are getting worse when the tools we have seem to be more prevalent?
In 1985, Coke and other products decided to make a cheaper product. They took the pure cane sugar out of their products, and replaced it with the less expensive High Fructose Corn Syrup. The initial result, aside from the fact that the product tasted like crap (try the throwback Pepsi ((made with real sugar)) and compare it to regular Pepsi) was that it was cheap enough to start offering free refills, huge 48 oz containers, etc. What did this mean to the consumer? It meant that instead of drinking 150 calories (12 oz can), people were drinking three times that amount. The long-term results were far worse. You see, our bodies treat HFCS differently than it treats sugar. HFCS goes straight to the liver, and then releases enzymes that tell the body to store fat. It is a fake sweetener! It is unnatural! Our bodies were not built to eat it, nor were they meant to eat the fat-free, overly processed diet foods on the market today.
That’s right, diet foods make you fat. You are eating unnatural products that your body does not know how to process. For example, when you drink a Diet Soda, you will notice it contains no carbs, and no calories, yet lots of artificial ingredients. How can something with that many ingredients have 0 calories? Because it is fake food! When your body tastes the artificial sweeteners in a Diet Soda, it prepares the body for the extra calories by increasing or speeding up your metabolism. It prepares for calories that never come. Over time, your body gets wise to your tricks and stops ramping up the metabolism when it senses sugar being digested. So, the next time you eat real sugar, what happens? Your body thinks you are tricking it with the fake stuff, and treats that piece of cake like a calorie free snack. Not good! This is why we are fat.
Don’t get me wrong, calories do count! If you go eat 3000 calories of all natural anything, you will probably gain weight. That having been said, eating a balanced diet, the same diet you ate when you were a kid, is the way to go. It is time to get back to the basics. Grass Fed Beef, Fresh Organic Vegetables, and a good balance of Carbs, Protein, and Fat. On my next blog, I will get into some specific meal plans.
As of Monday, I have lost 4 pounds, bringing my weight down to 207. I am still a fat tub, but I feel a little better about myself. Going to the gym gets easier every day, but is the least important part of my transformation. As I have said, Diet is more important than exercise. If you are going to cheat, skip the gym!
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