Step 5 - How to Beat a Diet

There is generally no reason to have to drastically change your diet (Diet will ever be used in my blogs to denote an eating habit, not trend-eating), but there are a couple of rules to live by if over a period of time you decide you would like to be eating better.

1. Diversity!!!
Without a broad range of different healthy food choices with different flavors, you will always revert back to habit foods and familiarity.

2. Introductory period
is the time it takes for your body to purge useless matter and gear itself into efficiency when it realizes it's getting food it actually can use and digest easily. If you are making a drastic change to your eating habits, you will feel like crap for a couple of days. Suck it up, drink water 30 min before and 30 min after meals to help.

3. How to eat
Physically, you should be chewing a lot more than you do; this is the first step to avoid over-eating. Make yourself count to 20. The second step is to notice when you don't feel hungry (yeah, you might get hungry later, but that's what snacks are for), and as soon as you don't feel hungry anymore, STOP EATING. Americans like to binge every meal, and this causes digestive problems and sluggishness that is often solved with pills, antacids, and coffee.

4. Make a new habit food
out of something that you know is better for you. In my other blog (Frenchtoast and Existentialism) I discussed how I altered mac 'n' cheese to accomodate what I wanted to be eating, and also how I altered chips and salsa to do the same - those 2 items were my go-to comfort foods. Since I wrote that post, my new go-to's are Kefir (cuz it feels like it sticks to your ribs, but it really helps your digestion), Labne and celery or lox/german rye, and homemade chips/guacamole.

5. Add fruits and vegetables.
Eat whatever you want, and continue to eat whatever you want to boost morale, but start adding fruits and vegetables to what you're already eating EVERY MEAL. And I don't mean add canned/frozen fruit or vegetables covered in high-calorie/carb substances like dressing - just veggies lightly steamed/roasted, tossed in olive oil/salt/pepper, or preferably raw - great for SNACKS and busy/nervous eating (like baby carrots and green apples). You will start to notice a difference, and be surprised that you start to crave foods that are better for you.

6. Morale boosters.
If you really want to stick to a drastically changed diet, there are a number of things you can cheat with that won't compromise health goals. Primarily, anything that isn't a starch you can cheat with. Best morale boosters include:

• Bacon! if you need to be healthy hippy about it, get uncured/nitrite-free... it'll be easier to stop eating just bacon in the long run than to give up everything at once
• Dark chocolate! (70% cacao or better)
• Sweet potato fries fried in peanut/safflower/olive oil
• MEAT!!! no weird sauces, just slow roasted or seared/salt/pepper - noms! or nitrite-free deli meats
• Bacon cheese burgers without the bun, or double up the meat on half a bun, or use gluten/corn-free breads
• Cheese - technically diet-enthusiasts would tell you to avoid dairy because of the strain it puts on the digestive system and how it contributes to gaining fat, but I personnally advocate that if it's properly cultured (doesn't melt well in the microwave), then it's a step in the right direction, and can be a huge morale booster when staring down isles and menus of modern packaged food goodies.

So, to explain a little - this may seem Atkins/South Beach/Paleo/Food Lovers/Perfect Human Diet friendly for a reason: it is better to reduce the intake of starch/fast-burn carbs, and increase good carbohydrates (slow-burn carbs/non-starches). Not only is there a lot of research indicating the adverse effects of grains - the nutrients they rob from the body, the human body's inability to digest them, and illnesses that result - but starches cause the body to spike insulin (this includes whole-wheat products) which causes the body to create fat. Once the fast-burn carbs are done burning, the body's insulin plummets, which also causes the body to create fat. Therefore! eating good carbohydrates, found in fruits and vegetables, evens out the body's insulin and prevents fat from being produced. Also, did I mention that grains rob the body of nutrients? When the body reaches a deficit in nutrients, or is unable to absorb them to use them, it starts creating things like cholesterol to be a crutch to keep the body functioning.

Note: Whole fruits are preferable to bottled juices for 2 reasons:
1. The natural juice/pulp ratio that whole fruits contain even out the production of insulin when they are digested
2. Bottled juices are all pasteurized/ all concentrates are cooked - this kills vital nutrients and enzymes found in raw fruits which degrades the digestion and benefits of actually ingesting it.