The Single Best Way to Lose Weight

This entry is for those who are overweight and sincere about wanting to achieve their ideal body weight.

Here’s your chance for the healthiest and most natural method to lose weight.

Why listen to me? Well, you're really not listening "to me". I'm just the messenger- a reporter. The following information comes directly from the best nutrition experts in the world- medical doctors basing their findings on science. The books that this information comes from are listed at the end of this entry.

Let's get serious.

If you are overweight, you are playing with fire with your life. You are forcing your heart to work harder. Your extra weight is hard on your bones, muscles, and organs. Any extra weight you carry on your body, the more chance to develop disease- cancer, heart disease, diabetes II, and others. With your unhealthy lifestyle you may be shortening your life. If you’re not already, you may need to someday take expensive medication. Keep in mind taking medication for a diet related disease, ie: diabetes II, does not heal the disease; It’s like putting a band-aid on a cut that never heals, not to mention the unhealthy side affects of the pills.

If you are overweight you are dangerously playing with your longevity, risking dying at an earlier age than need be.

If you are overweight your unhealthy lifestyle/unhealthy dietary habits are a poor influence on those around you. Do you have children?

If you are overweight, it is not because you don't exercise enough. Overweight people in wheel chairs who turn to a healthy diet achieve their ideal weight.

If you are overweight, you need to make some lifestyle changes- primarily what you eat and drink.

Nutrisystem, Weightwatchers, Jenny Craig - all the methods of weight loss that are out there- are unsustainable and unhealthy. These flawed methods for weight loss may help you lose weight in the short term, but why go hungry and at the same time put unhealthy foods through your organs? Many people trying these systems do lose weight temporarily, but most go off the program and eventually gain the weight back and then some. Save your money and organs- stay away from these ineffective, unhealthy, profit making programs. Why not give up the yo-yo dieting and adopt a permanent, healthy lifestyle where you don't have to count calories? -one in which you can eat as much healthy food as you want and maintain your ideal weight for the rest of your life?

Here is what you need to do:

Become a nutritarian. Coined by Joel Fuhrman, MD, a nutritarian is a person who strives to eat a diet containing highly nutritious foods. Paramount is for you to learn what food and drink is healthy, and what is not. The healthiest food on the earth is organic plant foods: vegetables, fruit, beans (legumes), seeds and nuts. The healthiest drink on the earth is good, clean water.
Freshly squeezed juice from a juicer is also very healthy.

With a nutritarian lifestyle, there's no need to limit portions. You can eat all the healthy plant foods you want without gaining weight, without ever going hungry. You can eat all the healthy food you want and actually lose weight. That’s right- you'll lose weight!
Try it! It works!

You don’t have to be concerned about portions or calories if you make the foundation of your diet plant foods that are nutrient rich. If the plant foods are cooked, cook them in a healthy way- which means either steamed or boiled in a soup. Use water, not oil to cook your foods. The fat you eat is the fat you wear. Take out/minimize unhealthy fat and oil from your diet and watch the pounds melt away! Look at what you eat now. Read the food labels. If it contains oil/fat, take it out of your diet, or at the least, minimize it. If you can take the majority of foods out of your diet that contain oil/fat you will be amazed at how fast you'll shed pounds.
If you are overweight take it easy on animal fat AND plant fat as well- all cooking oils (olive oil too! -it's just fat!), avocados, nuts, etc., anything with oil/fat.

Healthy Diet + Regular Exercise= Healthy Lifestyle.

You’ll need to supplement your healthy eating with regular exercise. Turn into a walker. Walking is the healthiest exercise there is, for your body, for your mind. Start slowly. Gradually increase the lengths of your walks. It is recommended you walk as briskly as you can 3-5 times a week, 1-2 miles or longer- whatever works for you. Exercise creates endorphins- “feel good” chemicals in your brain. You’ll eventually crave your walks as they make you feel so much better mentally and physically throughout your day, and you’ll sleep better too.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Read the first chapter of Dr. McDougall’s upcoming book called The Starch Solution- centering your meals around starches: sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, grains, corn, and rice. You don't need meat!

Here's "The Solution". It's imperative that you read this, in its entirety:

http://greg-foodforthought.blogspot.com/2010/03/solution_18.html

Try thinking of it this way:

Meat and potatoes anyone? We’ve grown up centering our meals around meat. We became conditioned and addicted to food from animals. (There's addictive chemicals in all food from animals.) When meal planning, we first think of what “meat” to have. Then we think of what else to have besides the meat dish. For example, “I think we’ll have roast beef for supper“, then you think add some type of potatoes, etc.
For one who’s grown up with making meat the center of your meals, it’s quite different to think of meal planning in any other way. It was hard for me- at first. Then I read Dr. McDougall’s Starch Solution, and since then it’s been much easier, because I’ve trained my mind to think in a different way. I turned off one switch, and turned on another. Now the logic of centering one’s meals around starches makes perfect, healthy sense to me. I don't need meat!

When meal planning now I first think of what starch to make as the center of my meal- either sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, grains, corn, or rice, and sometimes I combine more than one. For example beans and rice with a little salsa or guacamole, combined with a good size salad and a steamed vegetable make a wonderfully satisfying meal. You don't need meat! OK, that's the last time I'll say that. (But it's true!)

Effort will need to be put into your new meal planning. Since you’ve taken so many foods out of your diet, at first it may seem like you don‘t have that many foods to choose from- that your diet may seem mundane. Blame this on unhealthy food withdrawal that will go away with time. It is quite the contrary- you will have plenty of healthy foods and recipes to choose from.
Look at it this way: With your new healthy diet regimen, you will be depriving yourself of disease promoting food and drink. Instead you will be giving yourself the gift of health through health promoting food and drink.
With a little creativity and effort you can turn into a healthy meal planner. There are great cookbooks out there. Both Dr. McDougall and Dr. Fuhrman offer them. There is a plethora of dishes and foods to choose from with your new nutritarian lifestyle.

The most important, healthiest part of your meal?
Have a good size salad with as many lunches and suppers as you can, with a minimum of dressing. Raw veggies contain so many more nutrients than cooked- that’s why your salad is the healthiest part of your meal. Combine as many different types of raw vegetables in your salad as you can.
Most salad dressings are unhealthy- full of oil/fat and sugar. Try eating your salads without dressing, or only adding a small amount, or learn to make your own healthier dressings. There's lots of recipes out there. Sometimes my wife Bev and I have a mixture of plain raw veggie sticks instead of a salad i.e. carrot sticks, red or green bell pepper strips, cucumber sticks, cabbage wedges, pieces of cauliflower, broccoli, etc. that we dip in hummus or some other healthy veggie dip.

If you do not like salads, it may be all in your head. You maybe are not used to eating them. Keep giving them a try, in small amounts at first.
If you were on a desert island and all you had to eat were salads, most likely you would come to love them. Getting rid of excess sugar, oil, and salt in your diet will help you to fall in love with salads. As your taste buds recover from being used to the strong tastes of sugar, oil, and salt, you will start to appreciate the wonderful, subtle tastes of what you put in your salads. Raw red bell peppers for example add a great taste. Cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, fruit, nuts, berries, the list goes on and on. After awhile you will crave your salads. Just knowing that plant foods are healthiest for you will feel good mentally when you eat them, as well as physically.

Processed sugar and salt addiction has been compared to major drug addiction, like cocaine and heroin. If you succeed at giving up the majority of sugar and salt in your diet, only then will you know the incredibly wonderful tastes of real, whole, natural food and drink. Fruits, dates, melons, and berries will taste like nature’s candy and provide you with all the “sweet treats” you need.

I offer you a challenge: Try to take as much processed sugar and salt out of your diet that you can- for one month. Sugar and salt are strong tastes which deaden your taste buds. Processed sugar and salt in any form is unhealthy. By taking them out of your diet you’ll be amazed at the difference how healthy foods taste. It’s nearly impossible to not have any sugar and salt. I’m talking about making a concerted effort to not eat junk food- candy, pastries, chips, cookies, ice cream, etc. Don’t add any extra sugar or salt to your food or drink, for one month. Then see how sweet your favorite fruits and vegetables taste. You will be amazed!

After you switch to a plant foods diet you will start to lose weight naturally and start to feel better. You’ll have more energy.
You will be happier!

The milk from a cow:
The milk from a mother cow is intended for its calf, not a person. Goat’s milk, same thing- for a baby goat. Animal milk intended for their young is not healthy for people! Use a non-dairy drink like rice or soy "milk" on your oatmeal or cereal. It'll take a little time to get used to because you've been conditioned to use the milk from a cow. Soon it'll taste just fine.
Instead of adding butter to your foods, use a non-dairy alternative, ie Earth Balance or Nature’s Balance. It tastes great but take it easy on it- it contains oil/fat with lots of calories, but at least it doesn’t come from a cow. Dr. Fuhrman says the two most dangerous dairy foods are cheese and butter because of their high levels of saturated fat and cholesterol.

An egg is intended to hatch a baby bird, not to feed a person. Don’t eat bird’s eggs- they’re not intended for you, not healthy. Others say eggs are healthy because of all the protein. (There's a myth that we need all this protein. If you eat a well rounded plant based diet you get all the protein you need.) Some people eat only the egg whites for this purpose. The excess protein actually taxes your kidneys. There is lots of misinformation out there. Who do you believe? Believe Fuhrman, McDougall, and the countless other nutrition experts who believe: don’t eat eggs. The lobbyists for the million dollar egg industry will keep trying to convince you otherwise.

The healthiest nuts and seeds are those that are eaten raw, unsalted, and unroasted: walnuts, almonds, pecans, brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and flax seeds are among the best. Eat with raisins or other dried fruit- tastes great. For those who need to lose weight, besides taking it easy on nuts and seeds, also take it easy on dried fruits- lots of calories and concentrated sweetener. After you’ve achieved your ideal weight you can start incorporating more of these plant foods that are higher in saturated plant fat back into your diet.

It is advised that for insurance sake nutritarians take a vitamin B supplement. Dr. Fuhrman and Dr. McDougall both advise this.

Food is a drug. If you are overweight, you are addicted to your unhealthy drugs- your food and drink. You must eventually take all or most unhealthy food and drink out of your diet if you are sincere about losing weight the fastest and most healthy way possible. You can do it in stages, or all at once. The more unhealthy food and drink you take out the faster your weight loss.

Healthy eating is not for anyone. It takes a strong willed person.
You must WANT to do it. You CAN do it.
When you start to see yourself losing weight, feeling better, coming off those past unhealthy food and drink addictions, you will be so happy! You will be ecstatic to look in the mirror and see the difference. You will love the smiles and feedback from those who love you.
Keep in mind, this will not happen overnight. Compared to someone who has an alcohol or drug addiction, it will take some time before the old cravings go away. Everywhere you look will be temptations- on TV, at fast food drive-ups, on billboards, the unhealthy food and drink others eat at family get-togethers and parties. You will most likely go through uncomfortable withdrawal from the unhealthy food and drink you’ve grown to love. Again, that will go away with time. Who’s the boss, your mind or your taste buds? Your mind must take control over your taste buds. You can make it happen. You must. If you give it a concerted effort, soon you will be given the opportunity to fall in love with the wonderful tastes of healthy food and drink. "Get addicted" to healthy food and drink! This is your life we are talking about!

Make a nutritarian, starch based diet your lifelong goal.

If you try this healthy lifestyle, and fall off the wagon/go back to unhealthy habits/binge, it happens. It’s happened to me. Sometimes you have to slip back into old, bad habits to be again reminded of better health that’s waiting for you. Pull yourself up, go right back to eating and drinking healthy. A person who’s given up smoking cigarettes can’t stand being around the smell of cigarette smoke. With time, the same will happen to you regarding unhealthy tastes.

Food from plants is definitely the answer to good health. You must stop or wean yourself from eating animal foods, or at the very least minimize the animal foods in your diet. By the way, there is no cholesterol in plant foods- only in food from animals. There is only fiber in plants foods, none in animal foods. In every food from an animal there is a percentage of unhealthy, disease promoting ingredients.

If you do decide to give these ideas a try, not only will you look and feel better, you’ll sleep better knowing you are adding years to your life. You’ll be a wonderful influence to those around you.

Another reason to turn to a healthier lifestyle is your love life.
The healthier the food and drink you put in your body the more
"running on all cylinders”. ;)

Many people, even though armed with the correct information about what is healthy and what is not, still choose to make their same unhealthy food and drink choices. Taste, habit, and addiction win out over the science and logic of eating and drinking healthy. Will you continue to be a conventional, unhealthy eater, like the great majority who are on the road to disease? Or will you try to go against the norm and do what’s best for you?

I’ve laid out the major points for good health that come right from doctors, nutrition experts. Now it’s up to you what you do with this information. There’s a whole new world out there, just waiting for you to embrace it.

*If you need further validation for this healthiest of lifestyles, you can order Dr. Fuhrman’s book set Eat For Health; One book is a nutrition primer, and the other book is a cookbook. Or another choice would be Dr. Fuhrman’s earlier book Eat To Live (which is he revising), at drfuhrman.com.
Another great choice would be any of John McDougall’s wonderful books or DVDs at drmcdougall.com. I will be looking forward to Dr. McDougall's new book The Starch Solution.

Both doctors have such a logical, easy to read way of putting things in layman‘s terms.

In conclusion, each of us makes choices, good and bad. It's your choice what you eat and drink. Diet and lifestyle can be looked at in a spiritual way. I'm not used to talking in religious terms, but it is right for you to be a good steward, to the earth and to yourself. It is right for you to want to be healthy, to take care of your mind and body, and to be a good influence on your family, your children, your friends, your work mates, to everyone you come in contact with.

I wish you good choices and good health.