There is a lot of advisory plans about dieting, losing weight and getting slim to get that "perfect body".
A lot of the information is not practical - long term. First off - the main aim is to be healthy - losing weight and getting slim should be a by-product of a healthy lifestyle. Going on unrealistic diet plans that you can't sustain long term is pointless. Its a bit like going to the gym for one day - working yourself out to death - and not returning again - and expecting you're gonna look super hot for next Christmas.
How are you going to be healthy? Simple - adopt a healthy lifestyle. No, you don't have to turn into a vegan overnight. But there are simple steps towards this. Remember what food is. Food is stuff you eat that WILL make you healthy. Fresh Vegetables, fresh fruit, lean meat (personally I think a little bit of fat is OK), etc..
1. Drink 2 litres of water a day. Not in one gulp - drinking too much water at once can actually injure your brain. Drink it throughout the day. I keep a small waterbottle handy in the car or a cup on my desk. One thing I find that helps me is to drink a warm glass of water mixed with a freshly squeezed lemon in the morning. The fresh lemon juice seems to help me curb my cravings for sweet things.
2. Avoid sugar. Avoid Sugar. Avoid Sugar!!!! The sugar you eat is essentially tons and tons of sugarcane grounded down into sugar - with all the fibre and nutrients taken out. That handful of sugar you take would have taken kilograms of sugarcane to make. In reality you would never be able to consume 1kg of sugar cane in a meal - think about that for awhile. Sugar unfortunately is used everywhere. From soft drinks to that delicious Chinese steam fish. But at the very least you can avoid taking it directly.
The bad rap also extends by the same principle to fruit drinks - which is essentially the same principle as producing sugar from sugar cane- you remove the pulp and consume the sugar.
Of course you can't totally avoid it - but you can and should avoid all soft drinks. Probably the worst thing you can do for your health and waistline is to drink softdrinks - Coke, Fanta, Pepsi, lemonade etc.. If you can drink just water instead of soft drinks - the battle is half won already.
The other bad habit is eating the utter rubbish Breakfast companies make for breakfast cereal - its confectionery - its junk food. Try and eat rolled oats for breakfast. It takes a bit of effort - but it will lower your cholesterol and make you healthy.
Do all you can to stay clear away from sugar - reduce or stop the amount you put into your coffee or tea etc.. A journey of a thousand steps starts with one step. Start now.
3. Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. Think of your body as a sponge. Soak that sponge in shit and junk food - don't expect it to smell likes roses. The maxim you are what you eat is correct. Eat shit - look like shit - smell like shit. Try and think about your food choices - what are you eating? Are you sure its good for you? Whatever enters into you becomes a part of you. Drink contaminated water/food - and you suffer. Eat processed food - cooked in some factory with god knows what kind of ingredients and crap and you still wonder why so many people get cancer?
4. Avoid binge or mindless eating. A lot of the fat we store in our bodies comes from stupid eating habits - ie. "I'm bored I'm going to eat a packet of chips, suck on a lollipop, eat confectionery for no other reason other than I'm bored". Fat by Default. I'm not one for "NO!" diets - but people need to exercise great care and mindfulness in what they put in their mouths.
Most of this binge eating stems from bad parenting.
1. The kids is crying - make him stop by giving him sweets/chips/fast food.
2. You want to entertain or reward the kid? Give him sweets/chips.
3. The kid is bored? Give him sweets/chips/fast food
So from an early age we are conditioned to eat junk food as a form of reward or as a way to calm us down or make us happy.
OK. But now that we are adults with hopefully rational thinking minds - we can take a step back and say no.
And find some other way to make ourselves happy - like running, watching movies, walking, swimming or sex. :)
I want you to STOP and THINK. Most of the problems in this world are caused by people who don't think it through. On the plus side - thinking is also a form of exercise and you do burn calories doing that. :)
5. Avoid Fast Food joints - McDonalds, KFC, etc.. the food they serve is saturated with fat. If you think its too revolutionary try cutting back a bit. I actually love McDonalds. I love their Quarter Pounder, their special burgers like the New Yorker burger. So whenever I go there - I do not purchase the combo (burger+chips+soft drink). I buy the burger and a cup of black coffee. If I want the chips - I buy the chips but do not buy the burger or soft drink. And I make sure I chew and savor every horrible drop of their delicious fatty rubbish. Mmmmmm.... Make every fat count!!!
6. Avoid Processed food. They contain a lot of preservatives and goodness knows what else to keep them "fresh". This includes fruit juices sold in bottles. Its hard but be aware, be conscious, don't sleep walk into diabetes and obesity.
Remember you are what you eat. Eat shit rubbish food and you even smell like it.
I drink Early Grey Tea every morning infused with lavender flowers from my garden. You want to know what happens when I start drinking a lot of it? My farts smell like lavender flowers. :D
7. Push on. Its not easy trying to have a healthy lifestyle. But its like a journey - you have rainy days, bad days, sick days, your car breaks down, but still - push on. Keep at it. Reflect on what you've eaten. Make changes if you can. Don't let yourself be discouraged.
8. Be positive minded. All that negative thoughts are just going to lower your metabolism and screw with your system. The mind is a very powerful thing - You can worry yourself sick. You can build space ships. You can run complex machinery. You can change your body by just thinking well about it. If you don't love yourself - or have some appreciation for yourself - you're going to be forever prone to depression.
9.Don't sit down too long. Be active. Don't sit down all day.
10. Sleep. 8 hours a day. Maybe a catnap for 30 mins midday is beneficial too.
A lot of the information is not practical - long term. First off - the main aim is to be healthy - losing weight and getting slim should be a by-product of a healthy lifestyle. Going on unrealistic diet plans that you can't sustain long term is pointless. Its a bit like going to the gym for one day - working yourself out to death - and not returning again - and expecting you're gonna look super hot for next Christmas.
How are you going to be healthy? Simple - adopt a healthy lifestyle. No, you don't have to turn into a vegan overnight. But there are simple steps towards this. Remember what food is. Food is stuff you eat that WILL make you healthy. Fresh Vegetables, fresh fruit, lean meat (personally I think a little bit of fat is OK), etc..
1. Drink 2 litres of water a day. Not in one gulp - drinking too much water at once can actually injure your brain. Drink it throughout the day. I keep a small waterbottle handy in the car or a cup on my desk. One thing I find that helps me is to drink a warm glass of water mixed with a freshly squeezed lemon in the morning. The fresh lemon juice seems to help me curb my cravings for sweet things.
2. Avoid sugar. Avoid Sugar. Avoid Sugar!!!! The sugar you eat is essentially tons and tons of sugarcane grounded down into sugar - with all the fibre and nutrients taken out. That handful of sugar you take would have taken kilograms of sugarcane to make. In reality you would never be able to consume 1kg of sugar cane in a meal - think about that for awhile. Sugar unfortunately is used everywhere. From soft drinks to that delicious Chinese steam fish. But at the very least you can avoid taking it directly.
The bad rap also extends by the same principle to fruit drinks - which is essentially the same principle as producing sugar from sugar cane- you remove the pulp and consume the sugar.
Of course you can't totally avoid it - but you can and should avoid all soft drinks. Probably the worst thing you can do for your health and waistline is to drink softdrinks - Coke, Fanta, Pepsi, lemonade etc.. If you can drink just water instead of soft drinks - the battle is half won already.
The other bad habit is eating the utter rubbish Breakfast companies make for breakfast cereal - its confectionery - its junk food. Try and eat rolled oats for breakfast. It takes a bit of effort - but it will lower your cholesterol and make you healthy.
Do all you can to stay clear away from sugar - reduce or stop the amount you put into your coffee or tea etc.. A journey of a thousand steps starts with one step. Start now.
3. Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. Think of your body as a sponge. Soak that sponge in shit and junk food - don't expect it to smell likes roses. The maxim you are what you eat is correct. Eat shit - look like shit - smell like shit. Try and think about your food choices - what are you eating? Are you sure its good for you? Whatever enters into you becomes a part of you. Drink contaminated water/food - and you suffer. Eat processed food - cooked in some factory with god knows what kind of ingredients and crap and you still wonder why so many people get cancer?
4. Avoid binge or mindless eating. A lot of the fat we store in our bodies comes from stupid eating habits - ie. "I'm bored I'm going to eat a packet of chips, suck on a lollipop, eat confectionery for no other reason other than I'm bored". Fat by Default. I'm not one for "NO!" diets - but people need to exercise great care and mindfulness in what they put in their mouths.
Most of this binge eating stems from bad parenting.
1. The kids is crying - make him stop by giving him sweets/chips/fast food.
2. You want to entertain or reward the kid? Give him sweets/chips.
3. The kid is bored? Give him sweets/chips/fast food
So from an early age we are conditioned to eat junk food as a form of reward or as a way to calm us down or make us happy.
OK. But now that we are adults with hopefully rational thinking minds - we can take a step back and say no.
And find some other way to make ourselves happy - like running, watching movies, walking, swimming or sex. :)
I want you to STOP and THINK. Most of the problems in this world are caused by people who don't think it through. On the plus side - thinking is also a form of exercise and you do burn calories doing that. :)
5. Avoid Fast Food joints - McDonalds, KFC, etc.. the food they serve is saturated with fat. If you think its too revolutionary try cutting back a bit. I actually love McDonalds. I love their Quarter Pounder, their special burgers like the New Yorker burger. So whenever I go there - I do not purchase the combo (burger+chips+soft drink). I buy the burger and a cup of black coffee. If I want the chips - I buy the chips but do not buy the burger or soft drink. And I make sure I chew and savor every horrible drop of their delicious fatty rubbish. Mmmmmm.... Make every fat count!!!
6. Avoid Processed food. They contain a lot of preservatives and goodness knows what else to keep them "fresh". This includes fruit juices sold in bottles. Its hard but be aware, be conscious, don't sleep walk into diabetes and obesity.
Remember you are what you eat. Eat shit rubbish food and you even smell like it.
I drink Early Grey Tea every morning infused with lavender flowers from my garden. You want to know what happens when I start drinking a lot of it? My farts smell like lavender flowers. :D
7. Push on. Its not easy trying to have a healthy lifestyle. But its like a journey - you have rainy days, bad days, sick days, your car breaks down, but still - push on. Keep at it. Reflect on what you've eaten. Make changes if you can. Don't let yourself be discouraged.
8. Be positive minded. All that negative thoughts are just going to lower your metabolism and screw with your system. The mind is a very powerful thing - You can worry yourself sick. You can build space ships. You can run complex machinery. You can change your body by just thinking well about it. If you don't love yourself - or have some appreciation for yourself - you're going to be forever prone to depression.
9.Don't sit down too long. Be active. Don't sit down all day.
10. Sleep. 8 hours a day. Maybe a catnap for 30 mins midday is beneficial too.
