**** The Diet Preparation Guide is located under
The header "Re-Stack The Deck."
How I came to create the guide is directly below.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, You're Right.
-Henry Ford
To all my fellow readers- Dieters, Health Enthusiasts, Body Builders, those who just want to live a longer and more physically fit life, and whomever else happens to pick up this little piece of cyber info.
This letter could be the most important piece of dieting info you read this year. So, without further ado- The Content.
My father is overweight by about 75 lbs. From time to time he will find a fad diet to quickly lose the weight, and while it may work for a short time, quickly the weight is regained as he loses focus and discipline and begins to go back to his old eating habits.
Sound familiar? At the height of my weight I was 190 lbs and 23.2% body fat. I have never been "obese" (though I was borderline "overweight"- 24% body fat is overweight for males).
My fathers situation is familiar in that I had the same problems while trying to attain the body I've always wanted. Guess what? My mother had the same experience.
So did my friends mark and rob, some other friends I've met through them, a huge amount of people I talk to at the gym (not to mention the people whom I see bust their butt in the gym but then an hour later they're at the "Life Cafe`" drinking their healthy smoothie... while eating a snickers bar.
How many people do you know wake up every morning and say to themselves, "I want to be overweight today"? I don't know any either. So why does this happen? Two reasons:
Reason One: The individual doesn't know how to eat healthy.
I didn't really quite understand this growing up. I come
from a well to do family, and my mother made balanced meals for
my sister and I every day. I was encouraged to "eat my greens"
and "stay away from red meats-- your father has high cholesterol."
It wasn't until I was in my late teens and joined the Army, thus being taken out of my comfort zone and into parts of the country that were not as affluent as I was accustomed to that I saw how so many people really ate.
Worst of all was when my buddies would complain about being overweight while eating a whopper. Boy did I learn a lot in those four years.
Reason Two: The individual isn't disciplined enough to diet.
**Before you start telling me how discipline isn't the problem
What is discipline? It is the mental fortitude to perform an action even though we don't want to do it.
What can affect a person's "wanting" to stay away from certain foods?
One word you may have heard associated with food before.
Our bodies release serotonin and dopamine when we do something it wants us to do again. Serotonin and Dopamine are the "feel good" drugs.
We store fat as a barrier to the famine that never comes, but our bodies haven't caught up to the civilization yet.
In order to promote this storage for lean times, a chemical called Oxytocin (NOT Oxycontin) is released in the brain while eating our food, essentially creating a chemical addiction to certain foods-- and specifically to the fat in them.
In order to deal with the pain of my injuries in Iraq I was given
extremely high doses of Oxycontin (NOT Oxytocin) and Percocet.
Once I decided to take myself off of these medications.
Bad Idea.
Dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, disorientation, sweating--
I only had to do it once before I started listening to the doc.
When it was finally time to get off these medications I went from my max dosage to 75%, 50%, 25%, then to 10% and then nothing.
Now You may have noticed the two chemicals I mentioned in this addiction section. Oxycontin and Oxytocin. Their chemical makeup is remarkably similar even though one is produced in our body and one is produced in a factory.
I realized this and began doing research on the subject.
Oxytocin has one purpose only: To create addiction. It is released in extremely high levels in women AND men during pregnancy, elevated levels are detected in individuals in the presence of their significant other. This chemical is responsible for women dying to save their week old baby and has been known to be the determining factor in a man choosing his wife over heroine.
And it is released every single time, and in direct proportion to, the amount of fat in a particular food. This chemical beats out heroine... and you're wondering why you have issues sticking to a diet? Maybe now you know...
--- Patrick if the cards are stacked against me, how will I *ever* lose weight?
Glad You Asked!
I'm a winner. I refuse to lose at anything, and I can't recall the last time I have. So this is what I do.
When the cards are stacked against me I
Tying it all together.
Here's where this whole rambling letter all begins to make sense.
Lets Review.
Remember that Oxytocin beats Heroin, and we get higher doses of Oxytocin directly proportional to the amount of fat in foods.
Remember that Oxycontin and Oxytocin are chemically similar.
Remember how I got off Oxycontin without dying? By slowly Reducing the amount I took in over time?
DING DING DING! Time to shuffle the cards.
By now you should know what is a good diet and what is not. If you don't then, by god! I know a GREAT site that reviews diets! (Shameless in my promotions, no? haha)
www.TheDiet-Review.comThink about what you ate today. How many sodas did you drink. How many pieces of pizza or hot dogs or snickers bars did you eat.
Now this is what you will do to start breaking your addiction to these high calorie foods.
Choose the worst item in your diet this week and cut your intake in half next week. If you had 4 pieces of pizza this week then next week eat 2 pieces. If you're still hungry drink an 8 oz glass of water before and after eating (it helps with digestion too.)
HOT TIP: Water is good for you :)
So you're on week 3. Good job, you're only eating one fourth of that original bad thing you were eating. Don't small victories feel *so* good?
Next Item: Whatever your 2nd worst thing is, cut that in half this week. Then cut it in half again.
Understand the cycle? Keep going through it until you feel ready to begin a formal, healthy diet. If you fall off the diet it's OK! E-mail me if you need to. Hell, leave me your phone number and I'll call and give you encouragement. The point is
***** If you have ever failed at a diet the KEY is to Go slowly and take pride in small accomplishments. Base Your Success on how far you've come mentally and physically, not where you are at that point in time.
Brought to you by
www.TheDiet-Review.com
Back to Main