Category: Lifestyle

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Why Dieting Almost Never Works

I have so many thoughts to share on the topic. Too many to write them all down. It’s something that angers me, the exploitation of natural, human behaviors. Craving sugary, salty and fatty foods are not always a conscious choice. We have evolved to crave these things. Maybe because millions of years ago food was scarce and we needed calories and to store fat.

Nowadays we do not. We have an abundance of food. We throw away fruits and vegetables grown by farmers because they don’t have the “perfect” shape to be places on the place of hour: the supermarket shelf. Fortunately this is slowly changing. It is slow but it’s progress nonetheless.

However, the thousands of ads we see daily encourage us to give into our cravings for sugary, fatty and salty foods, instead of the opposite.

Alongside this we have the dieting industry. Around the world dieting is a multi billion dollar industry. Britain’s diet industry is worth £2 billion. And that includes books, dvds, gym membership, supplements, special foods and so on.

 

 

Why do you think this industry is worth so much? It surely didn’t start here. It built up.

But the question is how is it possible to grow so much if you get results with the clients who come to you?

Surely after a person reaches the weight they wish, they will not continue the dieting, right?

So how come this industry keeps growing? Why do we still have obese adults and teenagers when we have so many solutions out there? Solutions that people around the world spend money one, in some cases a lot of money.

They don’t change their products. They are still lose weight through this diet and that diet (I don’t want to point any fingers).

The answer is simple. They don’t actually work.

If they don’t work, or work for a limited period of time (because people need to see some results at least), the same person will come over and over again to spend money in the industry. And that’s how they grow. You cannot cure obesity when you risk losing millions.

 

What’s missing?

As I said before we have evolved to crave and store fat. It is very difficult to bypass these unconscious urges. It is possible.

The dieting industry may change some of your behaviors but they never change your environment.

What you see, what you smell, where you go and what you do. The people you spend time with, your personal environment, office and so on.

Changing your environment supports your behavioral changes.

Without the 2 you cannot have lasting results. And please don’t be fooled by the hundreds of before and after pictures which show flat abs and six packs in a few weeks, without exercise or giving up processed, unhealthy foods. Look closely and be skeptical. It’s a multi billion dollar industry which is looking to grow more.

 

In conclusion, if dieting really worked they would all run out of business.

 

Focus on health first, be patient, address habits but also the environment and be skeptical when you see ads, celebrities and amazing pictures. Filter all this information and think before you act.

Lastly, “diet” is no something related to restrictions on eating. You have a diet and I have a diet, we all have diets. A diet can be healthy or unhealthy. But the industry has abused the term and turned it into something scary.

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The Common Cold, The Garlic Test And Placebo Effect

Just because someone says so doesn’t make it true. I would like to share a story with you.

For the second half of 2015 every time I’d feel my immunity drop a little I would take garlic. Small pieces of garlic, swallowed, so it doesn’t smell. And this seemed to help.

But I was no convinced. I needed to catch a real cold, not just signs of it. When I went to my parents’ to visit for New Year I stopped drinking my lemon with water, having garlic and, because I injured my food I didn’t go running either.

Luckily my immunity dropped and I caught a cold. That was my chance to see if the garlic actually worked.

In the past colds used to last for 2 weeks, 12-15 days. I used to take paracetamol and other stuff, pills for throat and everything else we usually take. Pills taken 2-3 times a day.

I decided to take small pieces garlic 3 times a day, morning, afternoon and evening. Have it with food as well. Since it’s garlic, and it was also from the countryside, it was good for me.

 

“Garlic improves blood circulation, healthier cholesterol levels and lowers blood pressure, all of which reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, current evidence does not support the use of garlic supplements to improve health.” – NHS

We’re not talking about garlic supplements. Why would you do that? Seriously. Have the real thing if you have it. Going through research papers, from what I have seen the research regarding garlic is unclear.

Anyway back to our story. The actual cold lasted 2-3 days, as opposed to 2 weeks. That was it. This proved to myself that my body can heal itself with a little outside help, which I am glad was something natural, even organic.

 

Placebo?

Maybe. But why is that wrong? Is is bad that the body can heal itself? I’d “take” placebo effect anytime instead of all the chemicals and other ways of curing. Wouldn’t you?

Doctors did fake knee meniscus surgery and both the patients who had the real surgery and those who had face surgery healed from meniscus damage.

There are many stories about doctors giving water pills to patients, and patients recovering from serious illnesses.

Are paracetamol, ibuprofen and other pills placebo? I believe they are. The body is capable of more than we believe. But this is only my opinion.

Bottom line, I’d rather recover from colds through placebo by taking garlic, lemon with water and water than by taking chemically manufactured pills. What do you prefer to believe in is your decision.

In fact why do we even need pills, garlic or anything else?

 

“Is there scientific proof we can heal ourselves?”

Over 3500 cases of patients who have gotten better from seemingly incurable illnesses. All compiled in the Spontaneous Remission Project.

Spontaneous remission – the disappearance, complete or incomplete, of a disease or cancer without medical treatment or treatment that is considered inadequate to produce the resulting disappearance of disease symptoms or tumor. – Caryle Hirshberg and the late Brendan O’Regan

I will leave you with the awesome Lissa Rankin, MD who talks about scientific proof that we can heal ourselves.

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How To Lose Weight Part Five

Let’s wrap this up. There are 3 reactions that take place in the body at any given time: Physical, Mental and Chemical. We talked about them in the first 4 parts of How to lose weight series.

Every body has an ideal weight. To reach that weight and keep it all the 3 systems must be in balance.

Your style of life is the way you live you life day by day. It can come in many shapes and colours, but it is your style of life. And it’s shaped by the choices you make every day. That’s not meant to scare you, but rather make you understand that you are in control.

Whether you struggle with weight to put it on or off it’s all about the lifestyle. But not your lifestyle today, or last year. No, it’s about your lifestyle in time, over the last 5, 6, 7 or more years. Your lifestyle today will impact your lifestyle years from now.

Weight gain starts inside our bodies, they are like injuries we cannot see, and they manifest at the surface a few years down the road. It is long terms habits that lead to weight gain, thus it is long term habits, of another kind, that will bring you back to your balanced weight.

 

Changing your lifestyle

A style of life is made up of many small elements, we call those habits. These habits are being built and they change change over the years. That’s good, every year we are different, we want and need different things so our choices and habits change. So does our style of life.

Because you have created this style of life over many years, you cannot expect now to make sustainable changes in a few weeks or even months. It may not take the same number of years it took you to put on the weight, but it won’t happen in a few months either, if you want it to be sustainable.

 

Don’t lose weight to be healthy, be healthy to lose weight

One of the biggest mistake I believe people make when they try to lose weight is to focus only on that: I HAVE TO LOSE WEIGHT.

The thing is weight will always go up and down. It’s a roller coaster. That is why many people give up after a few months. What’s the point, right? Over 2 months one may lose 3 kg and put on 4kg. Then lose 2kg and put on 1kg. But in there there’s 1kg less than when you started.

However, it is not fast enough for the fast paced world we live in. And so we get disappointed and frustrated, which doesn’t help with weight loss either. Focusing on health and giving the body the best fuel to work with will also lead to the weight loss you desire. And you can keep this over prolonged periods of time without feeling under pressure or a burden.

 

There is more to health than weight loss

If one’s focus is on health and being fit and strong physically and mentally, and less on weight loss (numbers on the scale are there as a guide and one should not put too much feelings into them) that’s when we create sustainable changes.

Counting calories, kilograms and days, waiting to see a notable change from one day to another, is not lasting change. Lansting change it taking each day at a time.

At the end of the day you go to bed with a smile on your face thinking “I gave my body the best fuel to work with. I am stronger and I feel excellent”. Rather than “The scale today showed 1 kg more than yesterday. Tomorrow. I have to eat less and run 1h to burn those calories”.

Which attitude do you think will make you stick to your new habits for years to come?

 

There is no perfect way

We are physically, psychologically and chemically different, and not everything will work for everyone. If you struggle to lose weight, you must patiently search until you find the way that works best for you.

The lifestyle, sustainable diet for you, the type of exercise or sport you love and gives you the results you seek, and the other activities that make you live with a positive attitude.

I wrote a lot about nutritional guidelines. If you want to read those articles give a shout and I will send you the links. Contact me.

Also read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of How to lose weight.

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Confusing Comfort For Well-being

Daniel Lieberman (The Story Of The Human Body) gave me the idea for this topic, which I am very passionate about.

There is no doubt that what we have created today enables us to live longer, healthier and we have cured many diseases. And comfort is sometimes good and healthy. Tight shoes aren’t good in any way, tight clothing either, and there are many other examples.

 

However, we have taken comfort to extreme. 

Our bodies, the stone-age bodies, are not adapted to the lifestyle, the modern world we have created. Our bodies are designed to move, walk, carry, bend, they need to eat fresh food, chew food to develop strong jaws and drink water.

Today we use the elevator instead of stairs, sit for hours to work, eat and socialize. Although we know soft mattresses are not good, the desire for comfort and short-term satisfaction takes over.

Same with cars. We know walking is better, yet we look at how fast and comfortable we travel now rather than how strong or weak our bodies will be 10 years from now. Chairs are no different. Yet I am writing this sitting on a very comfortable chair. And you are probably reading it sitting as well.

 

Technology is also weakening our jaw muscles and bones and changes how we look. To develop strong jaws, we need to stress the bone. Stress by chewing harder food. Not cracking walnut shells, but chewing carrots, celery, nuts, seeds, fruit etc when the skeleton develops (throughout childhood). Drinking the carrots instead of chewing them will, eventually lead to weak jaws.

Chew carrots for 5 min and you will see how your jaw muscles will start aching. They are not strong enough anymore.

Some would argue that the nutrients are best absorbed through drinking. I cannot deny that, as I haven’t done any research myself. By research I don’t mean reading what others write in research papers, but actually be in a lab and see for myself. They may be right.

 

However, I believe the body is capable of absorbing nutrients just fine. It’s been doing it for millions of years before modern technology. Our bodies are powerful machines, they are not as weak as we may think.

 

Finally, the development of strong, fit and powerful bodies doesn’t stop after you leave the gym. Everything you do throughout your life, how you use your body daily, determines how strong your body will be. Do stuff, don’t just go for comfort, walk, jump, run and do whatever kids do, they instinctively know.

 

Elevator vs stairs

Drinking vs chewing

Soft vs tough mattresses

Cars vs walking

Sitting vs standing

…where do you stand? Which is well-being and which is comfort? Give it a thought and look at your habits. I know I look at mine very often.