Goodbye Diets and Hello Size You Long to Be

Now there is a simple, common sense eating and food plan for life that not only promotes easy weight loss, but also jumpstarts your energy and builds up your fitness and health.

This health supporting and weight loss plan is not one of those latest and greatest yo-yo diets which boasts fast weight loss and hides the fact that once you resume your old eating habits, the weight returns and with a vengeance.

Contrary to what you may think or what you have experienced in the past, just because you have always been chubby doesn’t mean that you have to carry around those extra layers of fat for the rest of your life.

If you follow this daily food plan, you will not only fill up on those foods that promote healthy weight loss, but will also provide you with the best nutrition for human health.

What more could you want? Learn how to get down to your ideal weight while you nourish your body with the most power-packed foods that promote lifelong fitness and health and prevent life-threatening and life-robbing diseases.

Furthermore, instead of thinking about what you have to give up or sacrifice, you think about what you get to add to, not subtract from, your daily food plan and meals.

What foods do you get to add to your daily food plan?

You get to add:

10 fruits a day
10 vegetables a day
Whole grains, like whole oats and brown rice
Whole beans, like kidney beans, black beans, lentils, split peas, garbanzo beans
Raw, unsalted nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans) and seeds (sunflower and pumpkin)
Raw, fresh homemade fruit and vegetable juices

Do 10 pieces of fruit sound like a lot of fruit to eat in one day? It may be a new concept to you, but it is doable and enjoyable. Do you “have to” eat that much fruit? Of course not. This is your plan, your goals, and your life. These are merely guidelines from which to build an eating plan for you that is both nutritious, slimming, and tasty.

The fact is that on most days, I eat at least 10 pieces of fruit throughout the morning and stop eating fruit about 30 to 60 minutes before lunch. I also snack on fruit if I get hungry about 4:00 in the afternoon or in the evening a couple of hours after dinner if I eat dinner early enough. If I eat that much fruit in the morning, do I eat anything else for breakfast? Yes, you guessed it! How could I have room for anything else? I don’t, and that is exactly the point.

If you fill up on enough of the nutrient-dense, health-supporting foods, then you have no room for health-robbing foods that are high in fat, cholesterol, white sugar, white flour, chemicals, and are loaded with empty calories. With enough fruit in the morning, you are full and satisfied and lose your desire, and often times cravings, for anything else. If you get hungry in the later afternoon, reach for a piece or two of fruit instead of the usual snack food.

No deprivation. No sacrifice. No hunger. Just effortless good nutrition.

Lunch for me is almost always a very large, green, vegetable salad (the largest bowl in the stacked bowls of four) with a minimum of 10 different vegetables. And I actually count them just to make sure. It’s like a game to me.

See? There you have it. By 1:00, I have already eaten 10 fruits and 10 different vegetables, and I still have the rest of the day to fill up on more of the same good food. It is doable.

Remember, if you change your thinking, then you can change your habits.

Along with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, it is easy to add whole, cooked grains and beans to your daily diet. Fruit, nuts, and seeds make excellent snack foods.

And now that you are full with only the most nutritious foods, let’s explore which foods are not good for you and, in fact, deplete your body and your health.

Once you fill up on the good-for-you foods, it is easier to avoid:

All animal products (yes, all of them, whether they moo or baa or oink or cluck or flap their fins and tails)
All dairy products (cow’s milk, cheese, ice cream, butter, and yogurt)
The five deadly whites:

o White sugar
o White flour
o White salt
o White rice
o “White” oils (all processed oils such as canola, corn, vegetable, safflower, soybean, rapeseed, and even olive oil)

Refined, processed, canned, packaged, manmade, fast, and junk foods, snacks, and drinks

Hydrogenated and trans fats (found in fried foods, margarines, mayonnaise, candy, chocolate, peanut butter, salad dressings, baked goods, cookies, chips and many packaged foods)

Pop, coffee, and alcohol

Remember the principles of learning new eating habits:

Think addition, not subtraction.

Think “get to,” not “have to.”

Think daily deposits into your health account, not unlike deposits into your bank account.

Think building up and preserving your health account by avoiding withdrawals.

Think the gift of health, fitness, energy, inner joy, activity, fun, and purpose.

Think reward; not sacrifice.

Dr. Leslie Van Romer is a health motivational speaker, writer, and lifestyle coach. Visit http://www.DrLeslieVanRomer.com for more inspiration.

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