A distillation of all diets

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

G. A. - 01 Feb 2009 19:29 GMT

I've been thinking a while on what all the successful dieting
strategies share (and even some of the less desireable ones). I
eventually distilled it to 5 guidlines to adopt. So I present to
everyone, with no ulterior motives and no bogus web links to
questionable diet sites, the EveryDiet diet.

FIVE SIMPLE RULES TO LIVE BY AND LOSE WEIGHT

I
EAT LESS
Spread your meals out through the day, from 5 to 6 meals, and eat less
calories. Keep portions smaller and only eat single servings (veggies
being the exception...see rule 3). Don't forget to reduce the amount
of fats you eat, and replace the fats you do with mono- and poly-
unsaturated (i.e. they stay liquid at room temperature)

II
MOVE
At least a half hour every day, you should walk briskly to start off
with (feel yourself breathing heavier). As you lose weight, you will
burn less calories at the same level of exercise, so increase the
walks or change the type of exercise. A good goal is to burn between
500 and 1000 calories a day through exercise.

III
EAT WHOLE GRAINS
Eat less white starches such as white bread and potatoes, and other
whole grains (just not too much...see rule 1)

IV
EAT
At least half of everything you eat should be vegetables (mind the
fats and sugars in the dressings), and have fruit for deserts and
snacks.

V
DON'T EAT TOO LATE
Try to eat no later than twelve hours before you wake up. Keep the
evening meal low in bread/rice/potatoes and stick to veggies and
protein. If you have a before bed snack/desert, avoid sugar, use
fruit, and have some protein like yogurt or cottage cheese.

The goal is to slowly adopt an additional rule each week, so by week
5, you'll be following all five rules. It's possible it may take
longer than a week to adopt a new rule as you maintain the previous
rule, so don't worry about taking longer to do so. Also, you do NOT
have to adopt the rules in the order listed, you can pick your
pattern. For example, you decide rule 5 would be a good rule to adopt
in week 1 as you tend to eat late at night, then perhaps rule 3 would
be added in week 2.

There, no need to buy another dieting book ever again. :-)

Gaby A.

Reply to this Message

James G - 01 Feb 2009 20:41 GMT

> I've been thinking a while on what all the successful dieting
> strategies share (and even some of the less desireable ones). I
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> FIVE SIMPLE RULES TO LIVE BY AND LOSE WEIGHT

> There, no need to buy another dieting book ever again. :-)
>
> Gaby A.

I'd say 1,3,4 are the essentials (and 3 is really a subrule of 4 if
you're counting veggies in 4 anyway). 2 is obviously advised, but not
really essential. It can be quite illuminating to see large weight
loss with just nutritional changes, and really sinks in the concepts.
5 is a common source of argument it seems, but certainly, one should
avoid eating immediately before going to rest.

I would also add the importance of PLANNING to this list. It seems
like so many honest efforts at dieting fail because of a lack of
planning. If you decide what you're going to eat for the entire day
before you walk out the door in the morning, you'll be less tempted by
impulsive decisions that will get you into hot water.

All in all, all the bases are covered though.

Reply to this Message

Doug Freyburger - 02 Feb 2009 15:47 GMT

> I've been thinking a while on what all the successful dieting
> strategies share (and even some of the less desireable ones). I
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> I
> ... Don't forget to reduce the amount of fats you eat,

Low fat is not the only workable type of plan. A focus on
low fat as the only acceptable approach has caused an
epidemic of obseity in the west.

> III
> EAT WHOLE GRAINS
> Eat less white starches such as white bread and potatoes, and other
> whole grains (just not too much...see rule 1)

There is no reason to eat grains unless you are so
poor you have no choice but to eat cattle fodder.
What does it matter that there are studies that
compare eating whole grain in comparison to sugar
and processed starchy grain where the studies say
one is "better" than the other? An honest comparison
study would compare grains at all with the real
competing food -

> IV
> EAT
> At least half of everything you eat should be vegetables

Bingo. Show me a study where they compare Sugar
Frosted Flakes with with steel cut oats with brocolli
that fails to conclude that brocolli is better for you than
any type of grain ...

> The goal is to slowly adopt an additional rule each week, so by week
> 5, you'll be following all five rules. It's possible it may take
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> in week 1 as you tend to eat late at night, then perhaps rule 3 would
> be added in week 2.

Reply to this Message

derchamp@gmail.com - 08 Feb 2009 21:26 GMT

May I add the following:

VI: Establish Good Eating Habits
For consistently good health and healthy weight, it's not enough to
simply follow some diet, after which you resume your old eating habits
which led you to become overweight in the first place. One must make
a lifetime commitment to eating well, and the best way to do that is
to make eating well just another habit. Most people can't change
their entire way of eating overnight, or even in a month. To
accomplish this, make small incremental changes to your diet. Change
one thing to begin with, eg resolve to always eat a healthy breakfast,
and soon it'll become a habit. Next, resolve to replace your lunch
with something healthy, until you form the habit. Eventually all your
meals will be healthy, and you won't even need to try.

> I've been thinking a while on what all the successful dieting

SNIP

--
A 100% free Artificial Intelligence nutritionist for generating
unlimited meal plans to suit:
Your needs (protein/fat/carbs/calories)
Your tastes
Your budget
Check it out at http://www.aidiets.com

Reply to this Message