The Ideal Diet
One quick question before I dive into lesson 3 – How are you doing with your Journaling? If you haven’t started yet – make this Monday the start of your journey. Commit to printing this out and filling it in! You got this! If you have been doing it – send me a note – I love to hear transformation stories and I promise you will have them as you start planning and designing your best life. Ok- so now on with the lesson~ I absolutely hate the word DIET- but for purposes of this lesson, I will use it. There are many misconceptions about what you should or shouldn’t eat, and everyone seems to have a different opinion about what will keep you healthy and lean. Americans seem to get fatter and unhealthier every year and are a little too anxious to follow the newest “fad diet” that will magically melt their fat away. By changing your eating habits today and taking steps to make exercise a part of your daily life, you can dramatically improve your health, appearance, and energy. The first thing you must do is accept the fact that there are no magic diets, no magic pills, and no magic solutions. The answer, though, is not difficult, just a lifelong choice of eating healthy, without deprivation, and exercising at least moderately.
Carbohydrates are not the enemy if you understand which are good and which are not. There are two kinds of carbohydrates: simple and complex. Simple (lacking in soluble fiber) will be absorbed too quickly into the blood. This is because when you eat a lot of simple sugars, they get released into the system rapidly. This causes your blood sugar to raise up, which causes your pancreas to secrete more insulin. Insulin lowers your blood sugar but also helps to convert calories into fat.
Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, are naturally high in fiber, which slows their absorption, preventing a rapid rise in blood sugar. Fiber fills you up before you eat too many calories and contain at least 1,000 substances that have anti-cancer, anti-heart disease, and anti-aging properties. A diet lacking in fiber will reduce the efficiency of waste excretion. The longer wastes are in digestion, the greater the bodily absorption of these wastes, which contain bacteria, toxins, and carcinogens.
Whole grains can be eaten at every meal if and only if – you have done your investigation into how grains affect you. The same applies to vegetables and fruits. Beans and legumes are a good one to three times a day. If you eat a good assortment of fruits, vegetables, greens, and beans, supplemented with fish, poultry, and grass-fed beef you will be getting plenty of protein, but you won’t be getting many of the toxic substances such as cholesterol, saturated fat, and oxidants, which often lead to heart disease, cancer and other illnesses. This is a filling diet with lots of tasty selections and is designed to support optimum health for the rest of your life. So why are our choices so bad?
Advertising is probably the major culprit. Unhealthy snack promoters spend a lot of money to sell their products. McDonalds, for example, spends billions of dollars on advertising. It is up to us to ignore the over-processed junk-food hype and opt instead for whole-food healthy choices. Let’s face it. You won’t see much advertising for fresh vegetables and other healthy food.
Start today choosing healthier foods over processed fattening foods and soon it will be a habit. That means being prepared, as we mentioned in the last lesson. You have to have healthy, good food easily accessible or, under stress, you will cave and go back to your old habits. The concluding word is responsiveness. Be aware, conscious, and responsive in your choices. Be motivated by the fact that you will feel and look better, and benefit from long-term health advantages, such as lower coronary heart disease, less chance of diabetes, reduced cancer risks, and fewer degenerative diseases. Start today and you will reap the benefits tomorrow.
To summarize this lesson:
• Not all carbohydrates are created equal!
• If eating carbs at all try to ensure that they are Complex — Made of whole grains – i.e. No white bread!
• Start today by cutting out all simple sugars and processed foods from your diet.
• If you have a sweet tooth, use fruit to satisfy it- or adopt an 80/20 rule.
I can’t wait to hear about your success! Lastly – I would love to continue to grow my subscriber base so please share me~ I would be forever grateful.
My best for yours~
Leah
