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Eating
A Clean Diet For Permanent Weight Loss
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by:
Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP
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If
you want to lose some weight then following a healthy eating plan is a
good start, but allowing someone else to dictate exactly what, when and
how much you can eat is crazy making. Guidance is good but ultimately
you must learn to make better choices in your eating which leads to
your gaining the ability to maintain your new shape after the weight
has been lost. The Clean Diet is the answer.
What is the Clean Diet?
The Clean Diet means different things to different people. My version
is less strict than some because frankly I'm not a competitive body
builder and I don't have a modeling contract. Unless you must maintain
a specific body weight (as actors sometimes do for instance), you
probably are of the same mind as I; that being, I want to lead a
basically normal life. Eating out sometimes, enjoying parties
sometimes, and generally not feeling like I have to "watch what I eat"
or suffer the consequences. The way I eat is sometimes called the
non-dieting approach because I don't diet, but I do pay attention.
That's what the Clean Diet means: paying attention to what you're
eating.
What Can I Eat on The Clean Diet?
Vegetables: Enjoy unlimited raw, steam, baked. Go for it. I don't know
anyone who got fat because they ate too many vegetables and that
includes carrots, beans, corn and potatoes. Unless you are allergic,
there is no reason to shun fresh vegetables. Yes they contain
carbohydrates. Get over it. Wean yourself from sauces, and learn to
like them without added butter or salt. Vegetables like carrots and
beets for instance are very high in natural sugars (that's the point --
nature intended to give you sweet things whereby you'd WANT to eat them
and would consequently get adequate Vitamin C among other things).
Fruit: Try to eat at least one or two pieces a day. More is fine. There
is no reason to restrict yourself to one-quarter of a cantaloupe or 1
small apple. Who comes up with these rules anyway? An apple contains
less than 100 calories. That's not exactly going to break the diet
bank, is it? Eat all the fresh fruit you like, especially late at night
if you're working on learning to give up your chips or cookies habit.
Apples are great for snacking, as are grapes, bananas, kiwi or anything
else you like. Try to eat mostly fresh fruit, and saved canned fruits
for once in awhile.
Dried fruits such as raisins are a super concentrated food source and
should be treated with respect. A few thrown on your morning cereal or
in your trail mix is fine, but remember super concentrated food is also
high calorie food. You don't need a lot to get the nutrients. Learn the
difference between densely packed nutrients and loosely packed
nutrients. Fresh fruit is loosely packed, high in water content, and
dried fruit is dense with little or no water. Corn-on-the-cob is loose,
corn syrup is dense (and processed too).
An ounce of raisins contains 85 calories and 201 mg of Potassium, while
an ounce of fresh grapes is a mere 20 calories. You'd need four times
the fresh grapes to equal the dried.
Clean foods are as close to their natural state as possible without
being fanatical about it. There is a world of difference between a
baked potato and a bowlful of potato chips. One is a good source of
nutrients and one is a highly refined, richly saturated fat, greasy,
salty, modified source of nothing but smears on your napkin. One is
satisfying and one leaves you wanting more. Betcha can't eat just one
was more than a catch phrase for Lay's Potato Chips. It's a truism.
Grains & Beans: Whole grains like whole wheat, rice, millet,
barley, and others. Drop the habit to eat chips and crackers out of a
box. Once in awhile is okay, but if you eat them regularly, then you
need to make a modification. Cakes, crackers and the like are simply
not good for everyday fare, if you want to reach a healthy bodyweight.
Once in awhile, or special occasions is fine, just not every day. Not
even every other day. Once a week is plenty, and if you can't commit to
weaning yourself off those foods, then you need to adjust to living
with a higher body weight. It's not a character flaw, but it is a fact
you must face. What you eat, dictates how healthy you will be, both
mind and body.
Whole grain means whole grain. Bread that lists whole wheat is not 100%
whole grain. Watch out. Seeing Whole Wheat on the package means
nothing. You want to see either 100% Whole Wheat or 100% Whole Grain.
Brown bread is not always whole grain, but it may be brown because some
molasses was added to color it brown. Whole grain breads are heavier,
more dense, chewier. I think they are better. You might not share that
belief, especially if you're used to the light and fluffy white bread.
When I was a teenager I could easily eat 10 slices of white bread
french toast and still not feel satisfied. How ridiculous is that? I
could, on the other hand, eat about three pieces of whole grain bread
french toast and that was enough.
Many people think if it is brown it is healthier, but it is not true.
If it is whole grain it is better than refined, but that isn't licence
to eat lots of bread. A sandwich now and then is just fine, thank you.
The best breads are heavy. Think of being a peasant sitting around a
fire cooking a thick soup. What kind of bread would be best to sop it
up? Some lame white bread that would disintegrate if liquid touched it,
or a thick, hearty brown bread that could serve as a staple if need be?
I'll take the second.
My favorite thing to eat is brown rice with stuff. "Stuff" means any
vegetable concoction, or sauce, or just something to sort of mix in
there. Use a little oil, preferably olive or sesame for flavor. My
favorite quick vegetable is steamed sliced carrots and onions. Both
onions and carrots are naturally sweet and ultra delicious all by
themselves. Once you learn to simply eat foods the way nature presents
them, you'll find your appetite stays more in line with better health.
I didn't intend to create a food rule book. My intention is to point
out that you need not live on a skimpy portion of grains like 1/2 cup
of oatmeal with 1/4 cup skimmed milk and a half a slice of dry toast
for breakfast. Eat hearty. I'm an example of how hearty eating will
enhance your health, and bring your weight into line, not the opposite.
I'll have one or two cups of oatmeal with raisins and a sprinkle of
brown sugar (it won't kill you) or if you've grown used to it, no
sweetener at all. Use milk if you like, or soy milk.
Lean Meats, Chicken, Fish: Support your local butcher and farmer. When
you buy your meat from a local butcher you can be assured you are
getting the best available. Okay, it costs more than the grocery store
brand. If you want the best, buy the best. Avoid farm bred fish at all
costs. Simply ask your meat counter to stock fresh fish.
Desserts, treats, snacks: It's okay to eat these things, but practice
moderation. If you can't do that, and think you'll eat the whole bag,
then don't get them when you're alone. Share some with someone else.
Buy the smaller size package. Do whatever it takes, but don't tell
yourself you can never eat any certain food again, because that just
makes it all the more difficult to handle it when the time comes.
The Clean Diet is More a Way of Life than a Strict Set of Eating Rules
Most people will allow themselves one or more "cheat days" every week.
The best plan is simply to choose eating clean as your primary eating
style, and when you don't you don't but every meal stands alone. If you
over ate at breakfast, you just eat your usual lunch. You don't try to
"make up for it" by skimping on lunch. That's an equation that will
never work. Just eat normally, and when you occasionally overeat, so be
it. That way, rather than always thinking in terms of, "I'll start my
diet again next Monday," you just get right back on your plan. While no
foods are forbidden on a clean eating plan, common sense rules the day.
See if eating a Clean Diet might work for you. Start by adding more
fresh fruit, and a few vegetables. Buy frozen vegetables and add them
to your other foods, such as when you eat a frozen meal for instance.
If you want chips with your sandwich, take a handful (and a half, if
you want) and put it on your plate, rather than bringing the whole bag
of chips to the table. Decide in advance how many cookies you'll have.
Will four be enough, how about five? It's still better than half a bag.
Take it one day at a time, one meal at a time, and you'll find things
happening in no time.
About the Author
Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, author of
the free
e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight
Loss, and owner of http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com
Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and
NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss and Tackling any
Obstacles http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/getnews.html
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