I’m not obese or even overweight, but I diet all the time. Just ask my wife! I love experimenting with diets built on the latest and greatest scientific research about health. I try different diets because something fundamentally bothers me about the normal American diet… There are too many options, and it’s not sustainable in terms of personal health or environmental impact. This strikes me every time I come back from India where the lower class (majority of the population) is thin… not sickly thin but lentils and rice thin, the upper class is fit, and the middle class is… fat. The middle class is fat because they are westernized: they are consumers, and eat a diet that is really similar (to me at least) to the American diet.
I’ve tried nearly every diet you can think of (or some derivative of it). I’ve gone vegan, I’ve juiced, I’ve done South beach, I’ve done Atkins, I’ve done Slow Carb, I’ve done Glycemic Index, I’ve done Weightwatchers, I’ve gone Primal, just to name a few! All diets address at least one of three key issues:
- Quantity of Food (how much you eat… Calories)
- Quality of Food (what you eat… carbs, fats, or proteins, organic, non-GMO, etc…)
- When you eat (Intermittent Fasting)
The problem is that a healthy and sustainable diet must address all three issues! Counting calories alone won’t work for establishing long term health if you are eating the wrong food. Eating the right food won’t work for establishing long term health if you are eating the wrong amount of food. Recent research has suggested that when we eat is equally important! Confining your eating to an 8 hour period in a day (giving yourself a 16 hour fasting period) can help fight cancer and aging by slowing down cell division.
What do you get when you craft a diet that addresses all three issues? A sustainable, healthy diet, and a fit physique!
I diet because I got tired of the way we eat; I got tired of gaining weight in America and losing weight when travelling, I got tired of taking seconds or thirds with the rest of the fat Christians at the church potlucks, I got tired of having seasonal health issues related to weight cycle.
Being a preacher, people are happy to keep me fed and fat. When I’m not fat, people try to fatten me up! Seconds, thirds, etc… Gluttony is almost expected!!
I’ve read so many health and fitness books that they all sound the same to me! I’ve come to some firm conclusions about health and diet, and I will share those gems of wisdom with you in later posts. You’re welcome.
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