(and other actual food)
You’re overweight to the point of discomfort and/or disease. So was I (over 300 pounds by age 23). You have dieted by limiting portions, counting calories, or both. So did I. When you finally gave into your craving for more, you lost control and re-gained whatever weight you had lost and then some. So did I. You feel like losing excess, unhealthy stores of fat in a healthy way and keeping it off long-term is one of the biggest and most difficult challenges in your life. You sometimes feel like the food is running the show. I’m with you, Baby. Luckily for us both, there’s a solution[ref]Here’s where I state for the record that there are no guarantees in this life, most especially around addiction and weight loss. This program has been most effective over the longest term for the greatest number of people. It has resulted in reports from clients of elevated moods, deeper feelings of peace, increased energy, clearer skin, sounder sleep, higher mental clarity, better decision-making and hotter sex (which is to say, more sex, which is to say, in some cases, any sex at all). Will it work for everyone? If adopted in full and without reservation, probably.[/ref].
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In order for many obese folks to have a chance at reaching and maintaining a healthy weight and freedom from compulsive overeating, we need to disarm our biological cravings for the foods that make and keep us fat. Only then are we capable of turning our attention to the habits, circumstances and mental gymnastics that contribute to our weight problem. We do this first by abstaining from the foods that, for so many of us, trigger addictive behaviors, the same foods that trigger the release of insulin into the bloodstream. On a biochemical level, insulin = craving. To this end, we free ourselves of foods that contain:
- Grain, especially wheat, including pasta and cereal
- Sugar, including fruit, honey, and maple syrup
- Various and sundry simple starches, including rice, all varieties of potatoes, and popcorn
Even if looking better is your primary motivation, this plan makes people healthy and bodies happy. The body undergoes a radical house-cleaning, reparation, and rebuilding when it’s fed…wait for it…actual food. So we bid farewell to faux-foods and imitation anything.
Au revoir:
- Frankenfood, including anything concocted in a factory, and almost anything you buy in a box or bag
- Substitutions, doppelgangers or stunt doubles, including artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors and anything else artificial (though you may still devour your partner, even if parts of them are fabricated, embellished or synthetic)
The final nutritional excisions were the hardest to arrive at because their insidiousness was less glaring. After much trial and error, after watching countless clients struggle, or not, to lose excess fat, I recommend abstaining from:
- Nuts, including seeds, and all nut butters
- Beans, dried or otherwise, and peanuts (yeah, weird, they’re legumes)
- Alcohol, including homespun cold remedies involving whisky and good wine
First, nuts: Nuts and nut butters trigger addictive patterns in in many food addicts. I’ll wax poetic with some theories why my post about nuts (heh). Also, nuts contain a tremendous lot of fat. In order to burn the fat we’ve overstored, we are well advised to not eat them. Beans have a low protein/carbohydrate ratio (essentially a satiety/craving ratio), so they’re out. Alcohol, even just a touch during a meal, inspires bad decisions regardless of good intentions. Out.
So what’s in?:
- Meat, any and all un-or minimally-processed meat, including eggs, BACON, and (especially) fish
Meat is the foundation of every meal. It provides satiety without inspiring craving in 99% of food addicts and non-addicts alike. It can provide a boatload of protein without a ton of unnecessary energy. Meat, Baby. Meat.
Finally, to provide the full spectrum of remaining micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, fiber and beneficial fats:
- Vegetables, the greater the variety, the better
- Oils, the good ones, herbs and spices
- Milk, whole, 1-2% or skim, as you see fit, and cheese as a condiment, assuming it doesn’t trigger addictive behavior
There is the nutritional blueprint I followed as I renovated my body and built a healthier life. If you’re obese and identify as one who has addictive behaviors around food, I strongly recommend mapping our your own blueprint based on what’s true for you, and then following it to the letter.