Stop Chasing Diets—Start Chasing Health.

Today there’s a massive rush to the next diet fad—hoping to find the answer once and for all, to release weight.

I suggest we stop chasing the diet and start chasing health. All the diets under the sun come and go, new ones, and old ones, but at the end of the day, most are missing the solution, which is easier than one might think.

The answer is to eat real food, clean food, and chase after health.

Pick a Diet, Any Diet

There’s keto, vegetarian/vegan, Paleo and Atkins, to name a few. Take your pick, they promote something short of miraculous results. Diets are blasting the pages of how to get to where you need to go by following their simple steps towards skinny

My patients, like most of us, chase one diet after another, rather than get to the bottom of the problem, which often is as simple as looking at the core of the self.

Are You Hungry?

If you don’t feel good on the inside you won’t feel good on the outside. Stop dieting.

All the promises, all the swinging, this way and that way, sprinkled with hopes of the perfect, skinny body is roping us in for the miracle of weight loss.

Some diets promote eat as much as you want, while others focus on restriction.

The promises come and go; one replacing the other with another, this is the one right diet message.

Is it?

I’m not so sure. Again, what really matters is what’s going on in the inside so you can reach your optimal health on the outside.

When I say inside I mean mentally and physically. Do you feel your best? Are your thoughts clear? Can you stay focused? How’s your stamina? If any of the “hot” diets out there give you mental and physical clearance then by all means stick with it— you’ve found your jackpot.

Is Your Diet Sustainable?

Just remember, whatever you do to lose weight is what you need to keep doing to maintain your weight loss.

This is a very important concept and seems to be missed. If your way of eating to release weight is not sustainable, as most are not, due to structural restrictions, they fail.

So what do you do?

Stop chasing the diet.

Start chasing health.

Stop chasing this new plan, or that new plan, and get down to basics. No, I don’t mean calories in, calories out – I mean real food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a half meal.

I mean adding colorful vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, good sources of carbohydrates, good sources of fat, and dairy basics.

When the suggested way of eating says don’t eat this, or don’t eat that, it may be of value, but when it gets to the point you can barely go out, or leave your comfort zone, for fear of not getting your “right” foods, it’s most likely not a sustainable plan.

Choose Quality Food

The answer is to choose quality, real foods. Choose food that comes from the ground, and swims in the sea, grows off a tree, and roams the lands, and flies in the air. Yes, real food. Why can’t we eat a succulent apple, or a plate full of broccoli with some melted cheese and a dash of coconut oil, or a filet mignon? You can.

I think of Beatrice who jumped on the keto train, and lost a good amount of weight in a few short weeks, only to gain it again. Why? Beatrice doesn’t like to stand in the kitchen and chop this and that. She wants her foods made, all boxed up and prepared for her. So, she ordered such boxes and to her disappointment they were laced in salt and poor quality fats, only to replace all the weight she lost.

One of my most annoying sayings to patients is when I say, “Whatever you do to take the weight off is what you do to keep it off.” The eyes start rolling every time they hear me say this because they’re looking for the temporary magic bullet that fixes everything, so they can go back to what they were doing pre-diet.

No, sorry, that’s not how this works. Remember the saying: If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got. Or how about doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome, which I’m told is a sign of insanity.

Hello….

Stop that now. Take the healthy plunge for yourself and watch the magic unfold.

Keep it Simple.

Eat in moderation, and balance, and with the best quality food, and you’ll be well on your way.

So you say, “Fine, but I can’t afford that.” Yes you can. Start by shopping at big stores, like Sam’s Club, Costco, and BJ’s.

Buy in bulk.

If your freezer on your refrigerator doesn’t house your bulk finds then consider to purchase a little chest freezer to store additional foods. the key is to have these foods on hand so you don’t wander towards quick fix foods because you’re hungry. If you have foods ready you are more than half way there to success.

And what about Beatrice, what happened? Well, Beatrice learned to batch cook one day a week, storing her foods in her best investment ever: yep, a chest freezer.

Learn to make your food and save your food – i.e. batch cooking. It’s not that difficult once you get into the groove. Instead of being swayed by this diet and that diet, that’s promising you to get skinny – really skinny and really quick, I say jump off this merry-go-round.

I’m here to tell you there’s no such thing as really skinny, really quick that’s healthy for you on the inside, and yes, the outside too. Not if you want it to be sustainable. Make a new relationship with food. See it as nourishment to feed your brain, and your heart beat, and your belly. See it as food that will feed the cells.

It’s easier than you think.

Stop chasing the diet and start chasing health. And watch…you’ll morph into the size you’re meant to be.

Are you jumping on and off the diet bandwagon? How’s that working for you? What was your last diet? Did it work? Share your experience. And if you think this is not your experience at all—that you did find the perfect “diet” please share. We want to learn from you too…

Stay tuned…you never know where my mind will wander…

Hugs to you…I care,
Dr. Ortigara Crego