By JJ Virgin
I recently read that British women spend tens of thousands of pounds on diets over the course of their lifetime and each diet lasts only 19 days on average. If you’ve seen or read Bridget Jones Diary, you probably weren’t surprised. Unfortunately, though, American women often have the same problems: yo-yo dieting and expensive eating plans that fizzle out quickly and fail to keep off the pounds long-term.
This is why I hate the word “diet.” Your body isn’t a bank account where you can simply deposit the correct number of calories each day and get the results you want. It’s a complex chemistry lab that requires a long-term approach to healthy eating, not a short-term, restrictive diet so you can drop ten pounds just in time for your high school reunion (and promptly gain it back afterwards).
In short, diets don’t work. But this does:
Eat within an hour of getting up in the morning.
Too many people skip breakfast, forcing their body to feast on precious muscle mass (after all you’ve just been fasting for a good eleven hours!). Breakfast gets your metabolism moving and triggers your hormones to burn off stored fat and build muscle. But skip the traditional, carb-loaded, sugary-sweet breakfast foods and focus on protein, non starchy veggies and healthy fats. For instance, try poached eggs and steel cut oatmeal. Or turkey and veggies on a whole wheat wrap.
Focus on clean foods.
So-called health foods like low fat microwave popcorn, “nutrition” bars, and sugar-laden smoothies aren’t so healthy after all. Instead, focus on eating as many non-starchy fruits and vegetables as possible. Eat from the rainbow, so that you’re incorporating a variety of colors into your diet. Also opt for lean protein like turkey or eggs instead of processed deli meats.
Skip the snacks.
Snack foods aren’t good for you, and constant snacking means your body doesn’t have to dig down into your stored body fat to use it as fuel. That’s why I recommend spacing out your meals to every 4-6 hours. But don’t go any longer than this or you could raise stress hormones and lower your metabolism.
By shifting the way you think about food, rather than following a strict “diet,” you’ll get greater results and be able to keep them longer term.
©2010 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity nutrition and wellness expert JJVirgin is a media personality, in-demand public speaker and best-selling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, The 5-Step Plan to Sleek, Strong and Sculpted Arms. Get her biweekly LEANzine chock full of tips to get you slim and sexy fast at http://www.jjvirgin.com.
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