It's THAT time of year! If you aren't sure what I am talking about, go to your local supermarket and let the magazine covers tell the story: Us Weekly will tell you which celebrity diets really work and People will inspire you with stories of average Americans who lost "half their size." If you, like so many Americans, are contemplating how you are going to lose those extra pounds come January 2nd, I hope you might find the following guidelines helpful when choosing a diet plan or coming up with your own plan for a healthier 2011.
* DO make this the year that healthy eating and exercise become habits, not just brief phases that mark the two weeks after New Year and/or the 2 weeks before your bikini vacation in the summer.
* DO make this the year that you eat more fruits and vegetables to increase your life expectancy, not just the year you starve yourself to get into a particular dress.
* DO make this the year you throw away the meal replacement bars and buy a cookbook instead. Go for comprehensive titles like Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything or How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (I asked for these for Christmas and can't wait to dig in).
* DO let 2011 be the year you stop thinking about what you can't eat and start thinking about what you should eat (i.e grains, greens, good fats, etc!).
* DO make 2011 the year you change your life, not just your weight.
Now for what NOT to do:
1) Don't go on a diet that involves mixing any kind of powder with water and calls that a "meal replacement."
2) Don't follow a diet that encourages you to "satisfy your sweet tooth" with non-foods like fat-free cool whip or sugar-free jello.
3) Don't do a diet that requires you to carry a Ziploc bag of supplements in your purse or gym bag.
4) Don't follow a diet that forbids you to eat fruit. Did you put on weight because you ate too much fruit over the holidays? Of course not.
5) Don't follow a diet that never once asks you to actually cook or prepare anything yourself. In other words, if it starts with 1-800-(fill in the diet) and requires you to unwrap and microwave all your meals, put the phone down!
Research shows that people can lose weight on any and every diet if they stick to it. No matter what theory it's based on, every diet on the market involves some form of calorie restriction even if it never mentions the word calorie. When you take in less calories, you lose weight. However, research also shows that 90% of diets fail in the long-term because nearly everyone who loses weight on a diet eventually gains it back. This is why any successful diet must involve or at least spur an actual lifestyle change that is maintainable once the glory of the weight-loss high wears off.
In my experience (both personal and professional) plans that emphasize the consumption of fruits, vegetables, lean protein, healthy fats and unrefined carbohydrates (think nuts, beans and whole grains like steel cut oats, quinoa and brown rice) and encourage you to cook your own meals have the best chance for success. Diets based around cooking and eating real food (as opposed to counting grams of fat or calculating caloric intake) work because you will feel so good from cutting the processed junk that you will be encouraged to avoid it in the future, and you will learn how to prepare healthy meals so making good choices will become second nature. To find out more about my plans for helping people make good health a habit, visit my website www.inhabithealth.com.
Have a Happy, Healthy 2011!
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