It’s not your fault

If you are overweight or obese, your risk of illness, disease and premature mortality are far greater that the population as a whole. A Harvard study in 2016 showed that every 5 units higher BMI above 25 was associated with about 31% higher risk of premature death.  We all would love to live a long, healthy and highly functional life—who wouldn’t want that?  But if you eat a western diet, western disease is waiting around the corner for you at some point.  So why do we keep doing this to ourselves?  Our foods are full of  salt, sugar or fat.  They are addictive and our brain tells us to eat more of these highly inflammatory and unhealthy foods.  It the same as—alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, gambling or anything else.  So, you buy more, eat more, want more, and that cycle goes on and on. When you diet, you are not just fighting your taste buds, you are fighting this high-powered signal from your brain.  When you diet, you are still eating many unhealthy foods, just less of them.  Or, you are doing something worse—you are eliminating an entire class of foods that your body needs to function normally.  The result of that drastic move is that eventually you can longer sustain such a restrictive diet, so you just break down and eat everything in sight! Okay, we agree--no diets.

It’s the WHAT and not the HOW MUCH

The single biggest change I implemented at THE WELLNESSS CLINIC 5 years ago was encouraging a diet not based on calories and portion sizes. NO weighing and measuring food, the emphasis is on the quality of the food.  Our success rates have gone much higher and it’s easier to follow.  Yes, there is a transition and learning period, but the results are well worth these couple of difficult weeks.  The results are steady and more permanent weight loss, but even before that manifests itself, we see client after client gaining energy, lowering blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.  We have seen in even more pronounced cases, actual disease reversal! So step one is to move far away from any highly processed food and cut animal proteins and dairy to minimal amounts. Include of a lot of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, lentils, and some nuts and seeds.  Nut butters, humus and tehina along with soy products like tofu, edamame and miso are also great.   When you eat these foods, you get amazing nutrition and you fill up as they are all high fiber.  And while they are nutritionally dense, they are calorie poor, so you can eat plenty of them and lose weight at the same time. So, how do I get myself to make the move?  You need to be on the right PATH—Plant strong foods, Accountability, Think positively, and Habit change.

P – Plant-strong foods

What’s the first decision to make when trying to lose weight and improve your health? It’s making adjustments on the food front. We need  something sustainable; a way of eating for life.  The foods that have proven to be beneficial to overall health and lead to weight loss are plant-based and whole-foods. Whole Food Plant Based eating (WFPB), is the only way of eating shown to absolutely reverse heart disease. It also is being used to lower blood pressure, reverse type 2 diabetes and reverse many symptoms of autoimmune diseases. WFPB eating is a sustainable and satisfying way to eat.  It will crowd out most of the highly detrimental processed foods in your diet, too.

A – Accountability

There is nothing wrong with getting help.  Find someone to help you stay accountable and hold yourself accountable to new behaviors. Work with a health coach or friend to increase your chance of success.

Include a comprehensive way of life to gain your health back. Remember that you should include all essential elements of lifestyle medicine in your program: good eating, good exercise, adequate sleep, good social integration, stress management and integrate behavior and habit change into your daily life.  At THE WELLNESS CLINIC, we take every individual’s uniqueness into account.

T – Think positively

Stay optimistic and have positive affirmations about your new way of life. This will bring greater and better success, especially when you make mistakes. We are all human.  We all have to make choices and sometimes we make mistakes—ALL OF US!  Handle mistakes without negativity. Take the positives, put the rest behind you, and stay on track.  When you make a mistake, take a minute and write yourself a short note about something positive will come from it.

H – Habits

At this stage you will also want to break some old habits and form some new ones. Understanding how habits are made will help you.  Contrary to popular belief, habits do not take 21 days to form. Habit formation varies greatly from person to person and can take as long as 66 days (Gardner, Lally & Wardle 2012). It’s a long process that requires consistent implementation. If you have an ambitious goal like losing 25 kilos, it’s important to “chunk” it into smaller, less daunting and more realistic outcomes. For example, instead of focusing on losing 25 kilo, a good first milestone is to lose 2.5 kilos in the first month by increasing daily walking and eating more fruits and vegetables and a little less junk.

The other things

There is no shortage of studies showing the importance of sleep.  People who don’t get enough sleep simply cannot be successful in losing weight.  In addition, their risk of every single disease increases.  7-9 hours is what we need.  There was a time that I looked at this as a side issue, but no more.  Sleep is incredibly important in a healthy lifestyle. And finally, activity and exercise are huge.  It’s not even a matter of burning a lot of calories as much as how exercise and activity change your metabolism and are as anti-inflammatory as eating a plant rich diet.  The two together, along with managing your stresses well, can lower your disease risk in many cases by as much as 80%--AND THERE IS NO PILL ON THE PLANET THAT CAN COME ANYWHERE CLOSE TO THAT.

So, here we are at that time of the year when we all resolve to get our health under control and to keep it that way.  We can do it if we do it the right way.  So don’t diet this time. Iif you need assistance, we will help you “add hours to your days, days to your years, and years to your life.” 

Alan Freishtat is a HEALTH and WELLNESS COACH and PERSONAL TRAINER with more than 25 years of professional experience. He is a graduate of the eCornell University Certificate course on Plant Based Nutrition and has recently been appointed to the Council of the True Health Initiative.  Alan is director of The Wellness Clinic. He can be reached at 02-651-8502 or 050-555-7175, or by email at alan@alanfitness.com www.alanfitness.com US Line: 516-568-5027