So why are people still fat and getting fatter all the time?
Well there are several reasons that people have so much trouble keeping a healthy weight and I think that there are five key reasons why and how people can lose weight successfully and for good.
1. Fast food – We have been happy to eat fast food for many years now. People still talk with pride of the first Canadian McDonalds going up down the road where I grew up in Richmond BC. The trouble with fast food is everywhere. Serving sizes are way too big, the fat level is too high, there are far too many bready carbs. And the real problem with fast food? It is getting bigger and the hold that the big fast food companies have on kids with free toys means that even parents don’t have as much say as they should have.
2. A departure from fresh fruits and veggies – I don’t want to sound like some sharecropping hippie but most people if they really had to think about it have some vegetables at dinner…if they are lucky and maybe an apple a day. Well an apple a day is not enough to keep the doctor away. Most healthy diets (except Atkins) say you should have six or more servings of fruits or vegetables in a day. How many do you have?
3. Reliance on starches – Hey I am as guilty of this as anyone. I have a bagel every morning for breakfast. But if you were serious about your diet do you think that you are taking in too much breads or rice or potatoes (fried or otherwise). There is a truth that the artificially low prices for grains in north America has led to the cheapest food being overprocessed grain based foods. Economics aside a healthy diet should not probably be base on 70% of our diet being crap carbs.
4. Lack of exercise – Exercise is as easy as walking to school or riding a bike to work but how many people do that anymore. Everyone has a couple of cars and the people that should walk don’t. The other problem is that there is now like never before a very rich supply of entertainment. 30 years ago there were no DVDs no video games, no TIVO and no HDTV to keeps us talking tomorrow about the great show on TV last night. 30 years ago people watched an few hours a week of TV at most and now that number is an average of a few hours of TV or internet a day. There is a really easy fix for this and that is to drive less and join clubs that allow us to exercise more, preferably in the morning. TV of course should always be optional…and yes I probably watch too much TV myself.
5. Bouncing from diet to diet – OK this one is the diet industries dream. Everyone that goes on a diet has a phase where they lose weight and then a phase where their body sort of shuts down, metabolism slows and the energy goes down as do the weight losses. Even on the best of longer term diets people lose weight and all of the above kick in as soon as the diet is over. “I’m not on a diet, I don’t need a daily workout and that muffin looks great!” Well we all need to realize that pop culture has become the weight losers enemy. The sooner that you realize what you can eat for the expenditure of energy the better.
This is not an exhaustive list but I get email every day and I see people complain every day that they can not lose weight or keep the weight off. It is easy to blame the hand that puts the food in the mouth but maybe we should think a little more about how outside influences can affect how we think and feel about food and exercise.
If you are interested in stopping this cycle of losing weight only to gain it back then you need to make sure that you are looking at the above list, not seeking magic bullets and realizing that a diet is something that you always need to live with. Change your habits and your lifestyle and weight loss will not turn back into weight gain.
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