Review of Two Healthy Diet Books for Weight Loss

Today we're discussing a couple of different books that can really help make a difference in your weight loss efforts. I strongly believe that most of today's "conventional wisdom" regarding weight loss is COMPLETELY wrong! If eating "low fat" foods were the answer, we'd all be skinny as can be since our country has increasingly replaced the natural fats in our food with sugar and other additives over the past 20 years or so. Obviously, this is not the case, and over a number of years of research and study, I have come to realize that this is because we are eating all the wrong foods (sugar, grain, artificially processed oils, etc.) - instead of the whole, natural, healthy foods that God created us to eat.

This week we share a few different tips for helping lose weight in a way that is natural and healthy, and incorporates whole, real foods - that you can actually enjoy eating! Today's post offers reviews of two different books that have proven quite helpful for many in losing weight and regaining a healthy body.

The Slow Down Diet: Eating for Pleasure, Energy, and Weight Loss
By Marc David

This is a revolutionary approach to dieting which explains how "relaxed eating" stimulates metabolic function, and how stress hormones encourage weight gain.  You'll learn how fully enjoying each meal in a slow, relaxed way is the optimal way to a healthy, trim body. When we eat fast, on the run, we are under stress, creating digestive upset, wreaking havoc on our metabolism. Many of us come to the end of a day feeling undernourished, uninspired, and overweight. This is a new way to understand our relationship to food, focusing on the pleasure of eating to transform and improve metabolism, lose weight, and enjoy better health.  



The Fat Fallacy: The French Diet Secrets to Permanent Weight Loss
By Dr. Will Clower

"Fat is not the enemy!" If that's the truth, why is it that croissants, brioche, and Brie are considered to American thinking to be “forbidden” foods for weight loss. Yet these foods are the regular staples of the French diet, a country with an obesity rate of less than 8% and fewer cases of stroke and heart disease than America. It’s clear that America’s obsession with low-fat and fat-free foods has ultimately failed. In this revolutionary work, Dr. Clower explains how highly processed “fake foods” are the real culprit in weight gain, and why it’s not just what you eat but how you eat that makes a difference in weight loss and maintenance. This plan cuts through the high-protein, low-fat, low-carb debate. This is a way of life, a way to enjoy food like never before, while being healthier and trimmer.  

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Healthy Diet Tips to Make Weight Loss Easier

Ask anyone who is starting a weight loss program and you'll hear a groan when the word “diet” comes into the conversation.  Taking time out to pick a diet, plan your food, and actually follow the plan can be exhausting and frustrating.  To avoid all this, many folks are tempted to skip all that and just shed those extra pounds by starving themselves for a couple weeks. However, all the experts agree that this quick starvation diet method just doesn't work.  Losing weight is a process, and like it or not, it takes planning. Here are some tips to make your dieting more effective, healthier, and something that will fit your lifestyle - and even become a natural part of it.

Make Eating Simple

Healthy European Diet - Look At All the Colors.... (Photo credit: epSos.de)

Instead of being overly concerned with counting calories, measuring portion sizes, or performing college algebra just to eat your lunch, try thinking of your food in simple terms. Looking at your plate, focus on color variety, for instance. If you make sure you have a plate filled with different colors, your diet will naturally be healthier and more satisfying. If everything on your plate is white or brown, your diet will suffer and your weight loss program will be jeopardized.  Rather than measure ounces and calories, just choose portions that are about the size of your fist.  Depending on your diet, you will want one or two “fist” size portions of protein, vegetables, fruit, dairy, and carbs.  Put away the scale, the calorie counter, and the list of foods allowed.  Keep it simple to stay on track without the frustration.

Don't Make an Off-Limits List

Try not to think of certain foods as “off-limits,” rather cut your portion sizes in half or allow a favorite food less often. This allows you to keep the foods you like while still making healthier choices. When you ban certain food groups, it can backfire.  You could end up craving those foods even more. Then when you give in to temptation, you feel like a failure and the downward spiral begins. If you over-do it, don't beat yourself up, just get up and make the next choice a healthy one.  If you can't resist that chocolate chip cookie, just follow it up with a large glass of cold water or milk, and make sure dinner consists of super-healthy choices with extra servings of crunchy vegetables.

Eat Socially

Whenever possible, eat with others. Eating in a group setting allows for healthy eating habits, such as eating slower and taking smaller bites.  Mindless over-eating tends to happen in front of a computer or television. Eating in groups creates conversation, which means you'll be taking breaks between bites.  This process over the course of a meal allows time to listen to your body, especially when it tells you it is full.

A restaurant placard, Santorini, Greece (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Take Your Time

When you do eat alone, remind yourself to slow down.  Rushing through a meal is never a good idea. It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that you're full. Plate up your food in an attractive way. Sit at the table, not in front of the television. Choose foods that take some time to chew and chew that food slowly and savor the flavors. With each slow bite, you are allowing your stomach and brain to catch up so you begin to feel full faster. Now your brain has a chance to tell you to stop eating when you no longer feel hungry. You'll also get to enjoy your food more!

Eat Breakfast

We've all heard that a good day starts with a good breakfast.  This is true for several reasons. The term “breakfast” does actually mean to “break” your “fast.”  During your sleeping hours, your body went into hibernation mode.  Think of a bear in a den during the winter.  A bear's metabolism slows down and their body stores fat for the long winter nap.  Your body is doing something similar each and every night; slowing down and storing fat.  In the morning, your body is “told” that it can stop storing fat when you give it some nutrition in the way of some healthy food.  Your breakfast jump-starts your metabolism by telling your body that it's time to burn some fat for energy.  Skipping breakfast keeps your body in hibernation mode.  It still thinks it has to store fat away for later.  It just makes sense to have some fruit, an egg, a glass of milk, some yogurt, a handful of nuts, a bowl of oatmeal, or a small muffin to wake up your metabolism.

Eat Several Smaller Meals and Snacks

We have also heard it's good to have “3 square meals” a day.  Unlike the breakfast anthem we just discussed, this one isn't considered a wise move anymore, especially when it comes to weight loss.  Rather than eating three large meals a day, having several smaller meals and interspersing healthy snacks throughout the day keeps your body's metabolism on a steady course which keeps blood sugar levels on an even keel.  Starting with breakfast, then midday snack, then a light lunch, then another snack, then dinner, then another snack; you get the picture.  Choose the schedule that works best with your day and just be sure to not allow yourself to get really hungry during the day.  That hungry feeling is a sign that your body is scared it won't get fed and it's gone into fat-storing mode.

To set yourself up for success rather than failure, think about your healthy diet in these smaller, more  manageable steps rather than one big drastic change. People often think of healthy eating as an all or nothing proposition, but a key foundation for any healthy diet is moderation. Your diet is about more than the food on your plate;  it is also about how you think about food and how your body reacts.  With just a few changes in your eating habits, you could be on your way to that ideal weight.

Eat Right For Your Blood Type? Letting Your DNA Define Your Diet

Your DNA controls how your body reacts to certain external factors. It determines your allergies, your physical build and how everything works together. So why would you not eat based on your DNA as well?

English: Codominant inheritance of the ABO blood groups. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although you most likely don't have a DNA analysis machine in their back pocket, you do know a basic component of your DNA that can closely group people based on how their bodies function;  your blood type – O, A, B, or AB.  That's how the Eat Right for Your Type diet explains and encourages people to eat based on your body's needs.

The Basics

Peter J. D'Adamo, ND, the author of Eat Right For Your Type, believes blood types affect the digestive system differently and that some foods, good for people of one type, are "dangerous" for another. Some critics claim that this diet only suits those who are looking for a program that doesn't involve tracking calories.  However, for D'Adamo, it is about using your blood type to determine your susceptibility to certain illnesses, as well as the types of exercise that will benefit you the most.

How the Diet Works

D'Adamo believes the right diet for your blood type comes down to lectins, food proteins each blood type digests differently. If you eat foods containing lectins incompatible with your blood type, you may experience inflammation, bloating, a slower metabolism, even diseases such as cancer. The best way to avoid these effects is to eat foods meant for your blood type.

All foods fall into three categories on the Eat Right for Your Type diet:

1. Beneficial – foods act like medicine
2. Neutral – foods act like food
3. Avoid – foods act like poison

What You Can Eat

Type O is for “old,” as this blood type is human's oldest tracked blood line. These people have a digestive tract which retains the memory of ancient diets, so your metabolism will benefit from lean proteins like poultry and fish. You're also advised to restrict grains, breads, and legumes, and to enjoy vigorous exercise.

Grain (Photo credit: Frapestaartje)

Type A is for “agrarian" people who depend on agriculture for their sustenance. These people should stick with vegetarian diets. The type A diet contains soy proteins, whole grains, and organic vegetables and encourages gentle exercise which can be seen in the more settled and less warlike farming ancestors.

Type B comes from our nomadic past and has a relatively tolerant digestive system. This blood type can enjoy low-fat dairy, meat, and produce but should avoid wheat, corn, and lentils. Moderate exercise should be the norm for these folks.

Type AB is a combination of Type A and B. The "modern" blood type AB has a sensitive digestive tract and should avoid chicken, beef, and pork but can enjoy seafood, tofu, dairy, and most produce.

While there is little research to back up the findings in the book, even critics will agree that the nutritional guidance in the diet is sound.  There are healthy eating tips in this diet, regardless of whether or not your blood-type is the angle you are considering.  But, as far as diets go, this is a very interesting way to look at the reasons some people gain weight and others don't eating the same foods.  Give it a try.  Learning how to eat right for your body type has been popular for years – maybe it's time to try to eat right according to your blood type.

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