Diet (Caloric Deprivation)
First, let me explain to you what happens when you deprive your body of the calories it needs to thrive. We will keep nutrients out of the conversation for now. For the sake of argument, let's assume you are currently eating a typical american "My Plate" diet consisting of refined grains, dairy, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and occasional desserts to the tune of about 2000 calories a day. Right now, your body is just chugging along digesting the food you are giving it, burning the copious amount of energy you are giving it in the form of about 200-300 carbs (or more!), 25 grams of fat and 50-100 grams of protien. You think you have been eating healthy, but you can't seem to lose that "last" 15 pounds. So, you decide to "go on a diet" and drop about 500 calories from your caloric intake. In most cases, those calories are in the form of fat, because that is what you are told to avoid. Where do you get fat? Usually, it is in the meat you eat or what you cook your vegetables in. So, what do you do? You steam your veggies and swap your beef or pork for chicken or turkey breast and bake/grill it with no added fat. This is all assuming you are cooking your own food. If you don't cook your own food, you probably have a lot more weight to lose. For now, let's focus on the "final fifteen" of people who have tried everything!
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| This is what your supposed to eat for optimal health, right? |
In my experience, this is how the typical day goes when you diet:
7:30 AM
You eat a bowl of whole grain cereal (oats, bran, etc.) that tastes like cardboard with a light coating of "honey" that is sprayed on at the factory and a glass of OJ. You convince yourself that it tastes good because you are going to "stick to it" this time. If the powers of pursuasion aren't working on yourself today, you might put some strawberries or blueberries on this cereal and then pour some skim milk over top of it. This probably amounts to about 300 calories. Great start, right? You strap up your shoes feeling fulfilled, energetic and proud that you started the day in such a healthy manner!
9:00 AM
You rocked out some serious work this morning because you are feeling good about yourself. Your life is about to change, giving you more energy, motivation, and positivity! You promise that you will stay motivated all day and be the best employee this company has ever had. Wait, what's that feeling? "I'm kinda hungry", you think. "But, I only have 1200 calories to consume the rest of the day and I was planning some grilled chicken breasts, couscous and broccoli for dinner." So, you try to push it to lunchtime.
9:30 AM
Ok, now you are starving and feeling pretty run down. You pull out the box of Trisquits you brought for a healthy snack and pull out five crackers and place them on a napkin, again proud you didn't eat from the box. You eat those and go back to work feeling moderately satisfied. You are still able to convince yourself that you doing the right thing, so you try to distract yourself with some more work.
11:30 AM
You wanted to wait until noon, but if you do, nobody is safe from your ravenous hunger. You pull out your packed lunch from the fridge. It consists of a tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat bread made with light mayo, a bag of baked Veggie Crisps, a banana and a Diet Coke. You lay it out in front of you and think, "This ought to be just what I need to get through the rest of the day!"
You scarf the food down and almost instantly get a rush of energy and feel refreshed. At this point, you are at about 750 calories and you feel good because you still have 750 calories left for your delicious grilled chicken!
2:00 PM
It's still about three hours from the end of your day and you feel good because you knocked out an important task this afternoon. You start a new task and you start to feel a little tired again. Your stomach starts to rumble and you suddenly realize that you are getting hungry. Time for another handful of Trisquits!
4:30 PM
At this point, everything you see reminds you of food. Your focus is gone. You can't concentrate on any work whatsoever. The stale donuts that have been out since 8:00 AM are taunting you. You decide to just call it a day and head home.
5:30 PM
Made it! At this point, you are nervously opening and closing the refrigerator and pantry doors in sequence to find something you could eat. You are about 1000 calories into your day and basically only have room for dinner, but boy, those granola bars look tasty! This is your first day, so you fight it off and just wait until dinner.
6:00 PM
Dinner time! You sit down to a beautiful, juicy boneless/skinless chicken breast straight off the grill with a side of steamed broccoli, flavored couscous and a tall glass of skim milk. Finally, a nice big meal to fill you up for the rest of the day. You've reached paydirt and can give yourself a pat on the back for having willpower! Now it's time to enjoy your biggest meal of the day.
8:30 PM
The kids are in bed. You are getting ready to sit down for some primetime TV and you're starting to feel a little "snacky!" A handful of nuts and a Diet Coke won't kill me, right! So, you have that nightcap and sit down to count up the calories for the day. 1,547 calories! Sa-weet! You can't wait to step on the scale tomorrow morning!
Sound familiar?! This is the anecdotal description of what happens. Now, let's get into the biological reasons for this roller coaster and why it just isn't sustainable, thus impossible to maintain a healthy weight while doing it.
"I Just Got Sick of Being Tired/Hungry All The Time"
Most people who have dieted and failed to sustain a healthy weight in the past have said this in some form or another. The problem with the typical diet advice is that you are told to cut calories instead of refined, sugary, starchy carbs; but your body needs calories to function. If you deprive your body of the amount of calories it needs to help you through your daily activities, you will find that your body will just run out of gas. Think of it this way: If you plan to drive from Indianapolis to Chicago and you start with one gallon of gas in the tank, do you think you will make it to Chicago without having to stop for gas?
Quite simply, 1500 calories is not enough for a moderately active person to sustain a high energy level throughout the day. When those calories are primarily processed carbohydrates, that's just a double whammy! Did you know that your body can and will use fat as a source of energy if given the chance? The problem is that the process is highly inefficient. When you keep pumping your blood full of glucose, your body will burn off the glucose first, then give you a feeling of hunger while it tries to burn fat to sustain itself. It is highly likely that you will start eating more carbs to fulfill the cravings you are feeling as a result of the drop in blood glucose. The body wants a quick "fix" of sugar to keep going instead of getting off its lazy behind to use the fat. We don't let that happen because the body literally goes into withdrawal from the carbs and nobody is going to put up with symptoms of withdrawl if they don't have to. Eventually, you will cave and wolf down calories that are not on the approved 1500 calorie plan and gorge on some nasty stuff like a donut, granola bar, or cookies.
The Role of Insulin in Fat Loss/Gain
Insulin is released into the body in response to a number of things, most importantly is the entry of carbohydrates in the many forms of sugar. As you can see from my example day of someone eating "healthy" on the Standard American Diet (SAD), there are plenty of carbs being consumed by the typical person. Insulin in the system does one important thing that most people don't know. It causes you to store fat. Not just fat that you eat, but it actually causes you to store carbs as fat! Insulin wants so badly to reduce the blood sugar levels (since high blood sugar can kill you), it will do what it has to do to reduce those levels. First, you will use what you need to sustain energy levels. The rest gets converted to, you guessed it, FAT...fat in the form of Triglycerides, which is the most difficult to get rid of!
"I Want To Be Happy, So I Don't Diet"
I hear this from most detractors of the lifestyle I lead. Anyone who has failed on a diet has felt the subequent feeling of depression, shame, low energy, etc. that inevitably comes from such a failure. After all, it's all your fault for failing, right?!?! YOU were the one who couldn't stay away from the donuts. YOU were the one who couldn't finish the workouts or motivate yourself to go back to the gym. YOU were the one who ate too many calories and didn't exercies enough! No wonder you don't want to try. I have a secret for you: It's not your fault! You didn't fail your diet. Your diet failed you! Get it out of your head that eating healthy is miserable. To the contrary, it is quite liberating!
Conclusion (My Advice)
I'm not going to go into a whole diatribe of why I love what I have done. All I can tell you is that you need to give it a try. Start by cutting out all processed carbs and eating as many whole foods as possible. Do it for two weeks, at minimum. I'm not talking about half-assing it. I want you to give me two whole weeks of a strict whole food diet and tell me how you feel afterward. Sure, you will suffer through withdrawl as I mentioned in a previous post, but you have to push through and you will come out on the other side feeling better than you have in a very long time! The good news is that you don't have to count anything. That's right, I'm not even asking you to count carbs. Just switch to whole foods: fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, and small amounts of nuts/seeds. Don't even weigh yourself! Just eat until you are full of good wholesome foods. When you get hungry, eat again. It's that simple. When it is all said and done, you will not even miss the sugary, starchy, grainy stuff that has been causing you to store fat all these years! Give it a chance! Other than nasty jiggly fat, what do you have to lose?
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