Is My Attitude Towards Weight Loss Important?

CLICK HERE : Know How This Person Lost 2 Kg In Just One Week

Healthy Weight Loss Q & As

need enough energy-rich foods to give us the caloric energy for our “get up and go,” and we need enough nutrient-rich foods to support our metabolism while we’re on the move.

I can make it easy for you to lock into an optimal mix of energyrich and nutrient-rich! Actually, I don’t have to do much at all, because the world of natural, whole foods has done it for me. The World’s Healthiest Foods approach is not only nutrient-rich, but it balances out energy-richness by including energy-rich foods (like nuts and seeds and olive oil) in your regular meal plan, but also watching out for the overall amount included, especially in recipes and stovetop cooking (since I don’t recommend cooking with oil).

I don’t let energy-richness get out of hand—but I don’t forbid myself to use energy-rich foods in any of my recipes or meals. At the same time, I focus heavily on the nutrient-rich foods that are lower energy in terms of calories—most importantly, fresh vegetables. I use these foods generously in my weight loss approach, and they are a key component for balancing out your overall weight loss.

Q&A 7:

Is My Attitude Towards Weight Loss Important?

The aspect of weight loss that many fad diets overlook does not typically involve food selection, but rather, weight loss attitudes and approaches to the experience of weight loss itself. Although weight loss attitudes and weight loss approaches may not seem nearly as important as food selections during weight loss, scientific research tells us otherwise.

Put most simply, weight loss only seems to work when we treat it like part of our everyday lives. Over and over, studies show that when we step out of our lives to lose weight our success is temporary at best. Our weight loss under these circumstances may last for months, but never for years and years.

207

CLICK HERE : Know How This Person Lost 2 Kg In Just One Week

Healthy Weight Loss— Without Dieting

What does it mean, to “step out of our lives?” On many weight loss diets, it means giving up one of the most natural of human pleasures— the pleasure of eating! It means giving up the delicious tastes and aromas of food, giving up the pleasures of robust, shared meals with family and friends, and giving up our very self-determination with respect to food choices and food portion sizes. Many weight loss diets ask us to temporarily step out of our lives and to turn our lives completely over to a predetermined script not of our making. We are often asked to build our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners around prepackaged foods that we didn’t select, cook, or even choose from a list of favorites. By letting someone else make all of these decisions for us, and by stepping out of our normal role as human beings whose everyday lives include the joys of eating, we are told that our chances of losing weight will improve.

Research studies repeatedly show that weight loss works best when we practice self-determination and self-regulation in our everyday food choices, when we enjoy the foods we eat, and when we make healthy lifestyle choices at every step along the way during weight loss. Here is one very specific but telling example from a fascinating study that compared intake of solid versus liquid foods in obese and non-obese individuals.

In this study, risk of excess calorie intake was studied in forty participants who alternated between consumption of a variety of foods in both solid and liquid form. On the solid side were foods like watermelon, cheese, and coconut meat. On the liquid side were foods like watermelon juice, cow’s milk, and coconut milk. In this study, half of the participants were obese and half were healthy in body weight. Interestingly, the risk of consuming excess calories was only modestly greater in the obese versus healthy weight participants. What overshadowed the role of body weight in this study was the role of food texture and food form (liquid versus solid). Participants were most likely to overeat when consuming liquids versus solids—regardless of whether the food involved was a highcarb food (watermelon), a high-protein food (dairy), or high-fat food

208

CLICK HERE : Know How This Person Lost 2 Kg In Just One Week

Healthy Weight Loss Q&As

(coconut). From my perspective, it’s not surprising that liquids left these participants wanting more; the crunchy and chewy and indescribable textures of food are part of our eating enjoyment! Without these amazing textures and without the relaxed savoring of our food through chewing, we feel like we’ve been robbed.

It’s difficult to overstate the benefits of normal, everyday life circumstances for healthy and successful weight loss. We’ve reviewed studies that look at “the family index,” studies that examine social support groups, and studies that focus on “flexibility in dietary restraint.” All of these studies point to one inescapable conclusion: the more we bring our everyday lives—including family, friends, and social networks—into our weight loss strategy, the better our chances of success. And when we give ourselves permission to be human and to make some mistakes while enjoying the natural pleasures of food, we optimize our weight loss chances.

There is actually one new approach to weight loss called the HAES approach (Health at Every Size) that has evolved to capture some aspects of the attitude described above. In the HAES approach to weight loss, individuals become “health-centered” rather than “weight-centered.” Instead of stepping out of their lives to follow some temporary and unfamiliar diet plan, individuals step further into their lives by focusing on long-term lifestyle habits. They also insist on being healthy and living a healthy lifestyle regardless of their body size on any given day. This is resonant with my perspectives related to the Healthy Weight Loss – Without Dieting; it’s not a diet but a way of life where you enjoy delicious tasting nutrient-rich foods.

As you can see from all of the examples described above, our weight loss attitudes are just as important as the foods we choose to eat. While making a place for low-calorie, nutrient-rich foods in our weight loss diet, we must also make room for ourselves!

209