EAT RIGHT: Weight loss logic (TimesLiva - Lemon Diet)

The first chapter of Dr Luc Evenepoel's new book, Dr Luc's Promise: Lose the weight & keep it off, makes the claim that ''this is not just another weight-loss book". In fact, Evenepoel is an anaesthetist, not a dietician.

The book, he says, is not about dieting, nor is it about losing weight. It is about how to change your lifestyle, including your mind-set, to keep the weight off.
As a child in Belgium, Evenepoel suffered from terrible hayfever and attendant headaches.
Lemon Diet
''I couldn't be outdoors when the sun shone, and in Belgium, where it rains all the time, that's an impossible situation to be in."
His mother tried everything, but the only advice that showed results came from a naturopath. A naturopath looks at what you put into your body to treat ailments that typically affect the skin and eyes. He advised cutting out refined food.
''After a year I was almost completely recovered," says Evenepoel.
''After two years there were no longer any signs of the allergies. But, don't worry. I still have a chocolate every now and then for a treat. It's all about moderation."
There's a lot of unusual advice in the book that will pique your interest: diet drinks can make you gain weight, giving up gym may be the best thing for your weight loss, obesity can be contagious, slimming pills and diets don't work.?b>Lemon Diet
The secret, according to the Evenepoel, is that changes in behaviour, whether they be the amount or type of food consumed, or how much exercise you can fit into your week, will not be maintained if they steer you too far away from your personal situation.
''You'll soon stop, revert to old habits and regain the weight," he says.
Although much of what Evenepoel instructs is common sense - he freely admits that in his introductory chapter: ''Nothing in this book is revolutionary" - like any self-help book, it is instructive merely for the fact that it reminds you about how to reap the benefits of what you instinctively know to be true.
One of Evenepoel's most relevant observations is that weight loss is 80% proper eating, 20% exercise.
''Listen to your body's signals of hunger and satiety," he says.
''Water is the only thing you should drink against thirst. Your heaped meal should fit in your cupped hands. If you think you shouldn't eat it, don't eat it. Never skip breakfast and healthy food is the best preventative medicine there is," are vital points made by the doctor.
Evenepoel condenses his message into two points: ''Stay close to nature when deciding what to put in your body, and listen closely to your body. If you're not hungry, don't eat."?b>Lemon Diet
Eating is a very complex thing, admits the doctor. It's curiosity, social, emotional, pleasurable, as well as being nutritive.
''How we apply good eating habits in our lives is a very personal business. No strict diet, formulated by someone else with their own regime and lifestyle can dictate our own daily lives. That's why they fail," he says.
Evenepoel prefers to be logical in his book, giving practical reasons why the body reacts the way that it does. He falls back on the age- old advice: everything in moderation. But, he says, food is about pleasure, and like all pleasures, you shouldn't have too much.
''If you feel good in your skin, but don't look like a supermodel (only 0.0000001% of all people do), so what? Life is about happiness, not about how flat your tummy can get."

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