Fruit Lover Veggie Hugger : Yo-Yo Dieting

As a young female living in a media-driven society I know all about yo-yo dieting. It’s hard to lose those 5 lbs. so that you can look like a million bucks. Losing them FAST is easy. There are so many diets out there that cause you to restrict your calories and increase your exercise so you lose about 4 lbs. a week. These diets are unhealthy and unsustainable.

What happens in the end? All the weight dropped was water weight.

1. All your muscles released water that was stored from glucose molecules (most diets tend to be low carb).

2. You get famished from your starvation diet, your body craves nutrients and because you aren’t receiving them it tends to ask for more (in abundance).

3. You stop exercising; your body did not have enough time to adjust itself to the new exercise regime because you started off too quick. You exhaust yourself and excuse yourself to a couch-potato lifestyle.

4. You go back to decadent fatty foods and gain weight. You blame the carbs.

5. You step on the scale only to figure out you regained the initial 5lbs that you lost, with a bonus 4. What can I say; you have always been an overachiever.

6. You hate your body, think life sucks, and eat your weight in ice cream.

This whole process repeats itself in life so many times because people are so uneducated about diets and healthy lifestyle.

I have yo-yoed plenty of times in life. Only to create a deadly obsession with weight loss and trying to keep it off permanently.What have I learned?

I learned that no one should "diet". A diet is a term that should be left for people who are clinically ill in hospitals and NEED to restrict their calories for any reason. Also, the second someone goes on a diet, is the second that they start to over-indulge. They often eat the "last binge" which occurs more often than people think. They then can't stop this endless cycle of eating and restricting.

When individuals go through this, their poor bodies are confused. They think they are in a famine; our bodies are beautiful pieces of machinery that are biologically infused with "adaptation". Our ancestors lived in unpredictable times, often food was scarce and they ate what they could. Instead of starving one’s body and dying. The body, which fought for life, went into a "starvation mode" where it stored all the fat and carbs that were consumed. That way when the body had ample food, it would store extra energy needed to survive these bought of famine. Unfortunately, our bodies kept this adaptation process. We no longer have to starve because we have access to a plethora of food year-round. Thus the "starvation mode" process still plays a big role in people's lives.

When people diet they tend to pick high protein or a variation of a low carb diet. This creates chaos. Our bodies are naturally wired to respond to fat and carbs. So when we cease consuming these products, the second it taste something sweet or fatty-its programed to keep eating. Haven't you ever gone a whole day without food or enough food and the second someone offered you something like fried chicken, cookies, cereal, pizza, pasta, etc. you kept eating and you literally couldn't stop yourself. If you realize, all these items contain high amounts of fat or high amounts of refined carbs. Your body needed instant energy as it was devoid of anything. However, our bodies have a certain amount of nutrients it craves; it also probably felt depleted from it. Because it was starved, it turned on a switch that told it to keep eating until it fulfilled the gap.

Now what happens to you emotionally? You are overwhelmed and shocked with what you just ate. You feel disgusted that you spent such a long time trying to lose weight only to gain it back rapidly. You are mad that you have no self-control. However, this whole episode was not due to self-control. Your body knows how to regulate itself, it’s the law of homeostasis (whether we gain weight from boredom eating or unhealthy habits, is completely our own fault). The worst thing that happens in this situation is that you end up depressed.

So how can we avoid all of this? I DON'T believe in calorie restriction. I also don't believe in the over consumption of fat and protein. I do believe that we should focus on a whole foods diet (whether it be raw or not). If you are not able to consume a pure raw diet that gets the majority of its calories from fruits. I do advocate depending on another carbs.

Steamed/boiled/baked potatoes without added ingredients work best. However, I also encourage the consumption of corn, yams, and squash as the first alternative to fruit carbs. However if you are finding it difficult to just consume pure fruits and vegetables you might want to switch to grains such as rice, corn pasta, quinoa, whole wheat cous cous or wheat (last result as it causes inflammation of the belly "wheatbelly".

I highly recommend that people fill up on high quality carbohydrates because our bodies run predominately on glucose. We store copious amounts of glucose in the form of glycogen; if our brain lacks glycogen then we are not able to function properly. Our body also has a limited amount of glycogen storage, but unlimited fat storage. That’s why when people eat a Twinkie and gain weight they blame the carbs instead of the actual culprit: fat. When you eat less fat, your body burns off the extra fat because you are relying purely on carbs. If you are trying to lose weight it takes about 1700 calories LESS to lose weight when basing your diet on carbs than on fat

So, to cut this down to the point. Eat a healthy amount of food to promote health and weight loss. A healthy amount of food means eating until you are full and feel good, not starving when you feel mood swings. When you eat enough carbs your body should have the desire to participate in physical activity-walking, dancing, etc. Also, base your diet around carbs. It is healthier and more

sustainable to lose weight slowly. Hence you don't end up feeling fatigue or famished at the same time.