The Magic Bullet for Weight Loss - Nutrition

Ok. So here is the part you have been waiting for right? The magic nutrition formula. Hmmm.

Nutrition is supposed to be 80% of the solution to obesity.

At the beginning of my weight loss journey "Be patient" I was told. I was to watch portion size and just do not eat CRAP. This is apparently a PT nutrition term. Keep a journal. Oh yeah - sitting on my @$$ writing a journal is going to help me keep my goals and lose weight.

Funny thing happened. I soon realized the journal was not for the trainer to later scold me on my eating habits. It was for me. The "Hawthorn Effect" was alive and well! There was a study which resulted in a conclusion that when people are studied or observed, they change their behaviour.

There was no point in lying in my own journal - that would just be ridiculous. I did not want my trainer to think I was eating garbage - so I started making better food choices. (The Hawthorne Effect). The most important thing was that instead of mindlessly eating on the run, I paid attention to everything going into my mouth. It was quite the awakening. I also wasn't eating because I was hungry or because I enjoyed the food I was eating. I was eating without much thought.

Once I submitted my journal - I found that although I was now making better choices, I was not eating often enough, not eating breakfast and not realizing the hidden salt, sugar and fats and chemicals.

I advised the PT that if I needed to follow a special meal plan I would not have time to cook two different meals - one for JFK (my husband - junk food Kevin) and one for me - what about I sign up for one of those preplanned pre-packaged weight loss program food plans. NOT! He pointed out, why would you want to change your life to become healthy and fit and pour CRAP into it. Those meals are able to stay on the shelves a long time for good reason - preservatives and chemicals. Basically it does nothing either to retrain you to a better nutrition plan. Although it probably gives guidance on portion sizes - tiny little amounts of food though for big bucks.

As I was using this excuse I had an epiphany. My husband is a mature adult who choses his own lifestyle. We both work full time and why is it up to me to feed him? Well he had never asked me to. I just had assumed the responsibility. It was time to un-assume the responsibility. After all, anyone can cook ahemm....crap.

I was struggling quite a bit with what on earth to eat. Although this new eating style was great, I was so ingrained (literally) in the old diet that I was at a loss on what to eat. Luckily through reading Oxygen Magazine I learned about Tosca Reno and the Eat Clean Diet Book. I liked it so much that I bought it over and over for friends.

So.. when you are including others who have not yet found the god of nutrition you can often make a healthier version of the recipe for you and separate ½ for the other person to add their poison.

Sometimes just following a very simple meal plan that repeats itself often enough to make it efficient is not really that much different than how you used to eat. Just less starch and more fibrous and complex vegetables and leaner protein. Generally we eat the same cycle of foods anyway.

The most important thing I learned during weight loss was PLANNING.

Tosca is big on prep and planning as well as always being prepared. I picked Sunday which worked well for me to shop, prep and plan meals for the following week with a freshen up day on Wednesday. The other thing I quickly practiced was carrying one of those padded coolers with a shoulder strap everywhere including work - I always have a healthy snack at my finger tips to avoid drive-through and other non nutritious eating habits when I am hungry and there are limited healthy food choices available.

I guess books have to have the term‘diet’ in them to find them in a bookstore but I really don't think of it as a diet. Diets set you up for failure. It is a slow steady education to change your nutritional habits to long term healthy ones. If you go on a restrictive short term diet - you lose weight briefly then pack it back on because the 'diet' is impossible to maintain over the long term. Or it is so restrictive that you binge. Or most of all because in your mind it is 'temporary' and was not a lifestyle change. Dieting particularly yo yo diets mess up your metabolism.

You will find that slowly educating yourself and making small changes and adopting them as permanent over time, watching portions sizes, avoiding obvious garbage, and eating 6 times per day (3 smaller meals and 3 snacks) you will no longer be dieting but chosing a long term eating habit. Your metabolism will fire up. Yes that is right - eating often keeps your metabolism working better. BUT don't graze - I mean don't eat all day long - have meals and be done with it till the next meal which is soon enough. You will never be hungry. You will never get bored - the options are endless.

You will feel terrific. You will look terrific. Your skin will glow; your hair and nails will be strong and healthy. You will look sexy and shapely so why would you go off it? You will find that as soon as you eat badly - you will self correct immediately. After eating clean the impact of bad foods is so immediate and obvious in how you feel that you will mentally associate it with bad and not want to do it. Trust me. I am not saying you never will eat crap. Sometimes I get cocky and I think I'll bet this little bit won't hurt - I do it - feel horrible and then don't do it again for a long time because it makes me feel so terrible. Soon the short term satisfaction will be overcome by the preference to feel well.

I see lots of people who binge then just do a lot of cardio to wear it off. I even used to work with a diabetic nurse who binged on forbidden foods and just took more insulin to counteract it. Is this a good idea? Never. Although you can burn off the calories from the bad foods with cardio, the long term accumulative effect to your organs, blood vessels, cholesterol levels, blood sugar/insulin mechanism and general health won't be reversed with exercise if you continue to make bad food choices.

You can pretty much start right away with better eating habits:

-Drink plenty of water.
-Always eat breakfast.
-Eat 6 smaller meals a day. Three meals and 2-3 snacks. At first you might want to try cutting your meal in half and eating the second half in 2-3 hours.
-Make sure each meal includes: a lean source of protein, a complex carb, a fibrous carb and a healthy source of fat.

I limit starchy carbs to before 2 pm. For dinner I just have protein and fibrous carb - e.g. grilled fish and salad and spinach or asparagus. I eat raw cabbage often as well as add it to soups and salads - I really believe it has weight loss properties. Not to mention how much fiber it adds. My last snack of the day may be celery with natural peanut butter; humus and veggies; low fat cottage cheese and veggies, almonds; low fat yogurt with berries; granny smith apple with natural peanut butter or almond butter etc.

I don't really care for starchy foods anymore and the fatigue and bloating that results - so I have to eat a lot more fibrous ones to get my calorie intake up. Or eat only a bit and for sure with protein. THIS IS NOT THE AT---S DIET. AT---S is high in fat (not good fat -it almost encourages putting butter on your bacon) - it does not stress quality protein - e.g the highest yield of protein for the least amount of calories and healthiest level of fat per gram of protein.

BEST FRUITS in my mind from a fiber and antioxidant perspective hands down, are berries. But do some research on insulin resistance and glycemic indexes etc. If you are having berries, or any other fruit - have it with protein to avoid the blood sugar surge. The only other fruit I eat on a regular basis is granny smith apples or sometimes pomegranites.

DONT DRINK FRUIT JUICE - it is just a concentrated form of the fruit including sugar and you miss out on the fiber and who knows what other components of the fruit is lost in processing - eat the damn fruit - a little more work but worth it.

FRUIT/PROTEIN SNACKS. My favourites:
1/2 cup probiotic low fat vanilla yogurt and 1/2 berries - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries etc.

Granny smith apple - core then slice into 6 equal pieces - make 3 sandwiches with a total of 1 1/2 tbsp of organic natural (no sugar or salt added) peanut butter. For some reason tastes like a candy apple. MMMM.

Humus and anything - celery, yam chips, veggies.

You can also eat 10 nuts such as almonds (unsalted natural) when you have a piece of fruit.

I do carry protein bars for emergencies on rare occasions - I use the Myoplex light and I don't eat a whole one - I eat 1/2 with lots of water. You can get them at GNC. Ok for once in awhile and a tasty sub for a chocolate craving.

I only use PROTEIN DRINKS sometimes to feed muscles after doing a heavy workout - remember beverages can contain a lot of calories without satisfying hunger for long.


DONT EAT ANYTHING WHITE. Ok maybe a little probiotic yogurt, low fat cottage cheese and some milk in your coffee - substitute brown rice for white, yams for potatoes, either avoid bread altogether - or have a small amount of 'ancient grain' whole grain bread. Eliminating bread tho even for awhile as well as pasta will make a great impact on your weight loss. (Try slicing zucchini into ribbons and only very lightly steaming them so they are still crisp and make your own plum tomato sauce and try to aleviate your pasta urge this way - don't forget to add a low fat cheese for protein - or some other form of protein - you can also make zucchini lasagna or use eggplant).

EAT GOOD FATS BUT STILL IN MODERATION. My favourites: fish (for omegas), avocado, flax oil, olive oil, safflower oil, walnuts. I am not a fan of canola oil - I believe it is a man engineered plant - I heard it is insiduous and acts like a weed choking other plants - but it seems to cause IBS in me - so I use olive oil and safflower oil and occasionally peanut oil. I am pretty sure canola is widely used in restaurants. Both JFK and I race for the bathroom when we come home from restaurants and I have always wondered if this is the culprit. It isn't the garlic because I use tons of that at home and that doesn't bother me. There is a book called the Thrive Diet that a niece introduced me to. I really enjoy reading it - especially the research the author has done but I don't follow it because I find the recipes too complicated and the ingredients too exotic for me right now - as I mentioned I enjoyed reading some of the theories including how we have engineered wheat for flour etc for better yield, better gluten etc and basically our bodies have not adapted well which may explain the number of people who suffer from IBS from consuming it.

May be right.

You may want to read Tosca Reno's Eating Clean Diet. I can't say it any better than she can that is for sure. She provides some meal plans and recipes. She also addresses eating clean for those on a budget.

Interestingly after eating clean for while, I am now instantly tuned to what foods really make me sick, feel tired or cause IBS.

DIET POP. I may have had 4 diet colas in a year - used to drink 2-3 per day. It is full of garbage. How else do you think something with one calorie can taste so good? Not to mention I have clearly identified aspartame as one cause of my IBS. The sodium! - on the rare occasion I have had a diet cola - within hours I have ankle edema (swelling). Dont drink diet pop. You will retain lots of water weight. Drink water - flavour it with a lemon or lime slice. Citrus helps with cleansing and weight loss.

The IBS triggers for me are anything wheat, aspartame, some dairy products, msg, cannola oil. Relieving triggers of IBS have given me the flattest stomach ever. So it wasn't just fat but a lot of bloating as well. Eat clean and then slowly add back some of the eliminated stuff and see what really is not healthy for you.

Complex carbs - yams, brown rice, quinoa (high in protein), whole grains etc - you can make a very tasty brown rice pilaf with a vegetarian or low salt no msg chicken broth, nuts, onions, peppers, celery, garlic and spices.

OATMEAL is an essential complex carb for me. I have a mix of oats, nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, protein powder. By using vanilla protein powder, dried fruit and cinnamon I don't need either a sweetener or milk and I just add water. I preprepare and put in a zip lock bag and cook up as needed. It is a great form of fibre, and is cholesterol lowering as well as filling.

Use your imagination to change your favourite recipes to a healthier version. I have a few recipes here in the recipe section and will add more as I get around to it.

Take your glasses to the supermarket and ALWAYS CAREFULLY READ LABELS (the print is so small). Often prepared, canned or packaged foods contain salt or sugar or fat or msg so it tastes good or why would you buy it again? Remember the first ingredient is usually the highest content.

Try to always cook from scratch. But if you make my lentil soup from canned beans/lentils - buy Eden or other low sodium product and rinse them prior to adding to the recipe. Raw lentils cook up quickly so you don't really need to buy the canned - no soaking involved.

Spice it up - I will cover that later - very briefly spice reduces the need for salt and often spices have health benefits. Some of the hot spices are thought to increase metabolism and burn more calories. Cinnamon and other similar spices reduce the need for sugar in many recipes.

Lastly - watch those fad diet ads disguised as news articles. Anything that promises huge benefits over a very short period should be thoroughly investigated. In some cases all you have to lose is your money. In other cases it may affect your health. Research pros and cons or better yet don't go there! A lifestyle change with good nutrition and physical activity wins every time.

My basic groceries necessities: whole eggs, egg whites, quinoa, oats, cinnamon, dried cranberries, berries (fresh or frozen, oregano, thyme, cumin, nuts (natural unsalted), seeds, sage, onions, garlic, spinach, asparagus, yams, fish, tomatoes, low salt canned plum tomatoes, avocado, zucchini, cabbage, low fat vanila yogurt (probiotic) as well as low fat plain yogurt, protein powder, glutamine, celery, low fat cottage cheese, low fat low sodium feta, parmesan cheese, romaine lettuce, cukes, any colourful veggies particularly those in season, beans (all kinds), low sodium, msg free vegetable and/or chicken broth, healthy oils, organic no added sugar or salt-peanut butter, lemons/limes and lemon juice. Occasionally ancient bread, spelt bread. I stay away from flours but I am exploring other types such as rice, almond. Lean meats.