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"Diet" is a Four Letter Word!
What does the word "diet" mean to you? Do you immediately think about your favorite foods that you must give up? Do you feel tired with that carpet-crawling type of exhaustion? Here's what some of my clients respond when I ask them: The true definition of diet should imply health, vitality and nutrition but most popular diets are anything but healthy and balanced. In fact, many can be down right unhealthy if followed for a period of time. For most of us, diet truly is a four-letter word. Why? Because the typical diet doesn't represent realistic lifestyle change. Regardless of what the supermarket tabloids promise, two weeks of deprivation dieting cannot make up for years of out-of-control eating, poor nutrition and zero exercise. One of my past students said, "diet describes how I feel...drop the 't' and I feel like I'm going to die." No wonder statistics show over and over that the success rate of diets is barely five percent.

95 percent of diets don't work.
Why the relapse after dieting? Some claim it's your body's inclination to return to its natural set point weight, most say it's impossible to stay with diet plans, and others blame fat genes. Traditional low calorie dieting can break down muscle mass, the metabolically active tissue. There is no quick fix for those years of diet abuse but the good news is that losing weight and controlling your weight are not about diet and deprivation. If your mouth is hanging open in disbelief, it's true. Experts agree that the winning combination is a healthy nutrition plan plus a fitness program full of exercise and activities. Eating a reasonable amount of calories paired with exercise is the key to unlock the door to successful weight loss that stays off. Start today by eliminating the word "diet" from your vocabulary totally and begin to focus on nutrition and eating real foods in realistic, enjoyable portions.    

How Can I Build My Own Meals? Here's help for the days you want to design your own menus...
Structures need a strong foundation to support the many ravages of daily life. It's no different for our bodies, says the American Dietetic Association in their March 2001 press releases for National Nutrition Month®. Think of your body as a structure with foundations and support beams. By supplying our body foundations with a healthy base of foods each day, we can be certain that they are getting the vitamins, minerals, energy, and other healthful substances from foods your body needs each day. Build a healthy base by making whole grain foods, fruits, and vegetables your foundation. "Build a nutrition coalition with nutritious foods according to the Food Guide Pyramid. You'll have so much more energy when it is given the nutrients it needs to enhance your life," says registered dietitian Jeff Hampl, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "I can't think of a better way to support the body's foundation than to include these foods for healthful eating."  We know that life is never on an even keel, so we'd like to give you the tools to construct your own base. Here, we'll give you the numbers of servings of foods from each food group, based on the calorie level we suggest for you. To make things as easy for you as possible, we also give you serving size guidelines. As we've said before, portion control is key to achieving and maintaining a life-long healthy weight. Do note our advice to take a vitamin/mineral supplement if you eat less than 1700 calories per day -- one supplying no more than 100% of the recommended intake for all nutrients will do just fine!

1300-Calorie Plan 1500-Calorie Plan 1700-Calorie Plan 1900-Calorie Plan 2100-Calorie Plan SERVING SIZE HELP Successful Weight Loss Methods.
According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ANY DIET that limits calorie intake to 1500 calories per day will result in weight loss. However, this groundbreaking report emphasizes that only a diet that is moderate in fat and high in complex carbohydrates will help you keep weight off permanently. "We basically tells you that you can loose weight on any of the diets, if you keep the calories down," says agriculture secretary Dan Glickman. "The trick is how you maintain that weight loss." Most experts agree with this sound approach including Xavier Pi-Sunyer, MD, Director of the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's Roosevelt hospital in New York: "based on the scientific knowledge we have this (a diet with no more than 30% of calories as fat and 20% of calories as protein daily) seems to be the most efficacious way to go and it is most likely the safest." This U.S. Department of Agriculture report frowns at unorthodox but yet popular weight loss programs such as the high protein Atkins diet and other similar dietary regimes. While high protein diets seem to produce a significant weight loss in a quick amount of time such diets produce a greater loss of body water than of fat. Other evidence against these high protein diets include the fact that there are no controlled, randomized studies which support the loss of body fat even over the long haul. One other strike against them: there is no evidence that such diets help to reduce blood cholesterol or improve blood sugar levels. This report is part of the government's attempt to help American's lose weight and keep it off. It comes in the wake of studies that show that at least half of adults are considered overweight or obese. Carrying excess body weight is a significant risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and other chronic health conditions. In addition to daily eating a moderate fat, high complex carbohydrate diet, regular exercise and social support are critical adjuncts in keeping weight off.

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