I’m going to talk about a different aspect of diet pills that perhaps you haven’t thought about before. I don’t like diet pills in general because they have side effects that your body doesn’t need. But there are other downsides of diet pills that aren’t generally covered in most literature.
The Leading Diseases in America are Diseases of Malnutrition
Think of malnutrition in the exact terms of the origin of the word. Normally we think of malnutrition as starvation, but that’s not what the word really means. The word really means BAD nutrition. Unhealthy nutrition. Obese people are every bit as malnourished as any starving African child with a skeletal frame and protruding tummy. You don’t have to starve to be malnourished. Living on the chemical diets of sodas, toxic oils and industrially prepared foods can lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, fibromialgia, arthritis, certain cancers and Alzheimers, to name a few of the diseases that are associated with malnutrition.
One of the things that I have learned in my Positive Changes Hypnosis practice is that most people who need to lose weight haven’t a clue how to eat for losing weight and for health; not even half a clue. AND they are not going to learn how to eat to keep the weight off by taking a pill, so while they may lose weight on diet pills, they won’t keep it off, or they will yo-yo. If you are the kind of person who has been on every diet under the sun, who has taken weight off and put it back on countless times, then learning to eat the foods that support weight loss and weight maintenance is something you need to do.
You might also access hypnosis to help you lose weight, but that’s a different article. Here’s what to do to eat right for weight loss.
Drink Water
At Positive Changes Hypnosis the first thing we teach our clients is to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day (that’s 8-ounce glasses not Dixie Cups). The justifications for that are numerous but the first one might interest you. It has to do with replacing soda with water. If you drink one glass of soda a day, you will probably gain 27 pounds in a year. Diet soda doesn’t add to your calorie count, but it does contribute to problems with your hormones. The hormone Insulin will be released when you have a sweetened drink even if it doesn’t contain sugar, so for four hours after a diet soda your body will be unable to burn fat because that’s one of the things that insulin does. Indeed your body will be storing fat. If you have a diet soda before breakfast, a diet soda at lunch and a diet soda at dinner you will be storing fat for 12 hours out of your day. If you have one in the evening, that’s 16 hours out of the day in which you will not be burning fat. Drinking water is the fastest way to change that. Instead of a soda, a lemonade, iced tea or any sweetened drink, have a glass of water. You can’t drink too much water.
Additionally, if you feel hungry, you might actually be thirsty. The body isn’t all that great at sending out signals from your digestive tract. So, when you feel hungry, drink a glass of water and see what happens. The hunger may go away.
And finally, you never want to sit down at a meal when you feel ravenous because you will eat fast and probably overeat before your body has figured out that it has had enough. To reduce your hunger before you eat, drink a glass of water. Then wait a few minutes.
Eat Enough Protein
Protein is hugely important in losing weight because most diets deprive your body of sufficient amounts of protein so the body supplies its protein needs (for repair of vital organs) by cannibalizing it’s own muscles. Since muscles burn fat, losing muscle makes losing weight more difficult, and gaining weight easier. With every fad diet you have gone on, you have probably lost muscle mass. Not body mass. Muscle mass. Even if you go on a pill, you need to eat 23 grams of protein (three eggs) for breakfast, 28 grams of protein for lunch and dinner. 28 grams of protein is the equivalent of a pack of playing cards.
Eat Healthy Fats
Next to protein, the kind of fat you eat is second in importance. To figure this out you have to start reading labels. Here’s the rule. NOTHING hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated. That means no margarine, no mayonnaise, no supermarket fats like corn oil or safflower oil. ONLY use virgin olive oil or flax oil. If you do use them, don’t cook with them. Cook with butter. Use butter. Your cell walls are made from the oils you eat and when you eat hydrogenated oils instead of being pliable and semi-permeable, your cell walls become rigid and develop holes. This is particularly important when it comes to brain cells which are 67% fat. Flax seed is high in Omega 3 essential fatty acid (which is almost non-existent in the American diet) – notice it is called essential because ultimately you will develop disease without it. Freshly ground flax seed is the best source for this oil. If you add it to a vegetable juice, that’s a good way to have it at every meal. There are two sources of omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids. One us galled Golden Omega Omega and it is available on my website. The other is called Udo’s Perfected Blend which is available in good health food stores like Whole Foods. Do not buy it at places like Trader Joes because they don’t refrigerate it and it can go rancid fairly quickly without refrigeration. 1 tablespoon of freshly ground flax seed at every meal is GREAT.
Eat Fiber
It took me ages to get this down. It’s not a low carb or a high carb diet. It’s a low starch, high fiber diet. Fully 40% of what you eat should be high fiber. Colored vegetables either raw or slightly steamed. Served with a home made salad dressing (they use toxic oils and sugar in commercial dressings so avoid them). Top with butter or sour cream or cheese (unless it’s hydrogenated). It’s amazing what you can eat and what you can’t. Avoid anything white except onion and cauliflower. If you want an excellent mashed potato substitute, mash cauliflower and top it with butter.
Ground flax seed is a wonderful source of fiber. Sprinkle it over salad and steamed vegetables or stir it into a smoothie or a glass of vegetable juice and you will be amazed at the results. The first thing you will notice is how smooth you skin becomes. Since the cells of your skin are the last thing to get oiled, when your skin is smooth and well oiled you will know that your vital organs are getting well oiled.
That’s it. Or course you can make it more complicated, but if you start shopping for fresh (unprocessed) foods, change your oils, make sure you get enough protein and above all drink 8-10 glasses of water a day, you won’t need diet pills.
On Thursday, May 19, 2005 I will be interviewing Hyla Cass, M.D., author of “8 Weeks to Vibrant Health. To listen go to www.suzyprudden.com and sign up for the teleseminar. You can also download past seminars.