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If you started off the new year resolving to lose weight, get healthy, and take better care of the ONLY body you have, good for you!
That’s a huge step forward, and your effort should not be underestimated.
And yes, that’s the case even if you have “cheated” on your diet (and your body). Or you want to cheat and your determination is draining more and more each day.
By this point in the year, it’s not uncommon to have gone off the rails completely on a diet started in January. In fact, it is estimated that by this time, the middle of February, 80-90% of resolutions are not being upheld.
Why? Is it a willpower problem?
I don’t think so. We all maintain the willpower to continue working at our jobs, to continue raising our children, and to continue to be good citizens.
So what makes a diet different and so easy to fail at?
Whether you’re doing Whole30, Paleo, Keto, or another trendy diet, the reason it’s so easy to go off the rails is that you’re living in a constant state of deprivation, and that’s NOT sustainable.
Deprivation NEVER works when it comes to changing a habit in your life – no matter what that change may be, but ESPECIALLY in regards to your health.
Diets based on deprivation are what lead to the yo-yo weight problem. Initially, you might drop several pounds – maybe you even reach your goal weight – but eventually, the deprivation can’t be sustained and you gain it all back plus a few additional pounds.
Psychological studies have shown that the reason for this phenomenon is that the dieters are focusing on what they can’t eat, the foods perceived to be unhealthy.
So if that doesn’t work, what does?
If focusing on what you cannot eat doesn’t work, research shows that a better approach is to focus on what you CAN eat – the foods that are going to aid in your weight loss. So in other words…
Quit the diet game altogether!
You shouldn’t be restricted to something you can “cheat” on in the first place. That’s the problem – not the fact that you feel like you want to cheat.
Your focus, instead, should be on maintaining a healthy lifestyle long term. And as you eat better, the weight will gradually – sustainably – come off.
So if one of your New Year’s goals were to quit sugar once and for all, how’s that going? As I mentioned above, the deprivation approach won’t work – sugar is too powerful. So lets change our approach, and go with ADD, not take away, and not only will this be easier on your body physically, it will also be better on your mindset, and your changes of WINNING, of SUSTAINING, will skyrocket!
Here are a few pillars of a healthy lifestyle that you can focus on adding in, rather than worrying about cheating on your diet.
- More Greens
No matter what nutrition philosophy, no matter what expert, the one thing that just about everyone can agree on when it comes to what you eat is that more greens are good for you.
They’re high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber, while being low in calories and sugar. That’s the formula for taking off weight.
Greens are also high in chlorophyll, which is often the missing ingredient for easier weight loss. The plant pigment that turns light into energy is a powerful superfood for humans that studies have found to aid your body’s hormones that signal when you’re full.
So how do you add in more greens if you’re looking to lose weight and get healthier?
- Drink smoothies and juices, always including greens like spinach or kale
- Eat salads, sautéed greens, and/or roasted green vegetables at least once every day.
- Take Alkamind Daily Greens every morning on an empty stomach. Along with Daily Minerals every night, it will boost your weight loss results by 50-70%.
Aim to have 7-10 daily servings of fresh vegetables – green and an array of other colors. But make sure you’re getting greens in there.
- More Exercise
This one is actually a bit controversial.
See, some people will tell you that exercise does not help you lose weight, especially if you are eating poorly, because you can NEVER exercise yourself out of a bad diet!
And in part, they’re correct. What often happens is that people eat more after they exercise because they’ve worked up a hunger, and then they wonder why they haven’t lost any weight. But it’s not so much about how MUCH you eat, but rather WHAT you are eating.
Exercise has the potential to help you lose fat if you go about it in the right way. If you’re dieting without working out, you’re likely to lose a combination of fat and muscle, which is not what you want.
In addition, exercise reduces your risk for just about every disease on the planet, so if your goal is to get healthier, there’s virtually no better way to do so. Working out improves your cardiovascular health and gets your lymphatic system moving to remove toxins and damaged cells.
Any exercise is helpful – remember, it’s all about progress, not perfection – but cardio is most effective when it comes to weight loss. So pick a cardio activity you enjoy, whether it’s running, walking, biking, swimming, spinning, HIIT, rebounding, or classes, and aim to do it 4-5 times per week for at least half an hour each time.
- More Fat Burning
I talk in my book, Get Off Your Acid, about how fats are a very clean source of energy, and the ideal and preferred source of fuel for your body. It’s kind of like switching from dirty coal (in this case, sugar) to clean hydroelectric power (for example, avocado). It leaves a lot less junk behind.
It also leads to burning body fat that you’ve had trouble getting rid of before.
As you naturally reduce the amount of sugar you’re consuming, which will happen as you eat more greens because you’re getting the minerals you’re really craving when you think you want sugar, replace the sugar and carbs with healthy fats:
- Nuts like raw almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts.
- Seeds like chia, flax, sunflower, and pumpkin
- Avocados
- Oils like coconut, MCT, extra virgin olive oil, avocado, macadamia nut, black cumin seed
- Fish like wild-caught salmon, trout, and tiny fish like anchovies and sardines
Aim to have 7-10 servings of healthy fats daily. For example, 1 tablespoon of the healthy oils I just mentioned equals 1 serving, so how about eating 1 tbsp. of coconut oil as soon as you get up, after your glass of Daily Greens of course 😊. In fact, I eat 1 tbsp. of coconut oil, 3 times every day (during meals). That’s THREE servings of healthy fat right there, and that keeps my body in its fat-burning state!
These servings may appear small, but they will take up quite a few of the calories you consume, and that’s okay.
Make sure you’re also getting enough Omega-3 fatty acids, which you’re probably not unless you eat salmon 3 meals a day. That’s why supplementing with a quality fish oil is so important.
Taking omega-3 fatty acids will not only make weight loss easier, it will improve your quality of life and health in all sorts of ways. It improves cardiovascular health, fights inflammation, improves mental health and brain function, and reduces the signs of aging. If you are not currently taking fish oil, you need to change that right away. It is one of the BIGGEST deficiency’s I see in most patients, and this deficiency is one of the prime reasons why you are inflamed.
Our Alkamind Daily Omega-3 is the best quality fish oil supplement on the planet. It’s the ONLY one with the ideal 2:1 ratio of EPA to DHA in a highly concentrated form. So you can take less and get more benefit from it. Plus it’s heavy metal free and guaranteed for potency and freshness, so no fishy taste.
Subscribe & Save 15% today!
GET OFF YOUR ACID,
Dr. Daryl
