I admit it I am over weight. Come January I plan to try some different things to drop the rest of this weight. It is not a New Years Resolution at all. I hate New Year’s Resolutions and do not have anything to do with them. It is simply because I did not have the funds or time to do it this month. Most of my regular readers know about my wife’s health condition and how I have been learning so much over the past 6 months. To those who know me always know I am on some new health kick. Yet I always have problems with my weight fluctuating. I learn more and more everyday why I struggle with my weight. I want to share some of my research and knowledge with you all so that anyone trying to lose weight this year can stick with the program, lose that weight and keep it off.
First things first! Do not make your weight loss a new years resolution! Make a healthy living life style change resolution that can begin any time of the year. Even though I am still big, my somewhat healthy lifestyle and the grace of God has permanently reversed my high blood pressure, diabetes, and candida. Weight loss is a side effect of healthy living. People who make weight loss the main goal without committing to a long term healthy lifestyle change are going to fail. That is why my first attempt I lost 140 pounds and then gained 100 pounds back. It can take up to 3 years of making a conscience decision to change one’s unhealthy lifestyle before the temptations of the old lifestyle are completely gone and the new healthily lifestyle becomes second nature like breathing. Each day those conscience choices are easier to make.
Second thing is educate yourself about truly health options. There is a wealth of information out there that can help you. One of my favorite websites is “natural news dot com” so please check it out and do research on how to be healthy before starting some fad diet or new exercise routine.
We have come to understand that I have a magnesium deficiency. I am not alone! In fact 80% of Americans and by some numbers the percentage is closer to 90% have a magnesium deficiency. This is caused by poor diet, processed foods, pharmaceuticals and irradiated foods. (Microwaves irradiate food sucking all nutritional value out of them). Ever wonder why America has an ever expanding waste line, that is why. I started looking for the cause of my magnesium deficiency and found some very interesting things. God led me to a bit of information about a dangerous transdermal chemical called tetrasodium. I got rid of that but my levels are still struggling to get up.
Then by mistake I discovered I had gallstones because I had been drinking apple cider vinegar and epsom salt trying to absorb magnesium. I did not realize that was for a liver and gallbladder cleanse and the end results would weaken me for a few days after my body began detoxing. Of course it was only a partial detox because I was not doing the full detox. After a long process of researching, and making phone calls I learned that gallstones do cause magnesium deficiency. From all of my other symptoms I have quite a few gallstones still left in my body. My upper back pain is from backed up gallstones. I hope I have not lost you the reader with my nasty little story.
I do have a point I need to make with this though. Gallstones are able to thrive when people have a high fat diet. Interestingly enough most of us here in America do have high fat diets and do not even realize it. Of course you don’t want to run out and start eating everything fat free because nothing is naturally fat free. Fat Free only happens when all nutrients are processed out of the food. Just because it says 0 grams of fat does not mean it does not have trace amounts of fat everything does. My jar of pickles and tabasco sauce for example has 0 grams of fat but is not fat free. If it says “fat free” it is processed garbage. That is not healthy for anyone. The only way to have a healthy diet is to count calories and fat intake of regular food. The ideal should be around 2000 calories a day and 70 grams of fat a day.
That number is subjective for weight, gender, and depending on if you are pregnant or nursing. I will include some links to help you find your ideal calorie intake needs and where to find good resources on stuff like fat content in food. You need roughly 35 grams of fat for every 1000 calories. Any more is too high and less is too low. Extremely low fat diets are not healthy for the body either. It has to be an exact science.
Find out how many calories you need to maintain a healthy weight or lose weight from this link:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
The next link provides a massive list of foods to give you a rough idea of what the fat content is in each food. The list is generic and cannot be 100% accurate. The only accurate way to tell is by reading the nutrition labels on the side of food products. Don’t forget to factor in serving sizes too.
http://www.fatsecret.com/Default.aspx?pa=toc&s=1
To read the rest of this blog please check out part 2 of “Don’t let your Weight Loss Resolution beat you!” from this link:
I have studied nutrition and health for over ten years… alot out there is crap… even natural news has dietary propaganda. Mercola has lots of fear mongering too. Most books have something your supposed to avoid, low carb, low fat, meditaranian, zero carb, low calorie, vegan, vegetarian, etc. etc.
I have tried all these diets, and they have all messed with my metabolism somehow. The best plan is to listen to your body, and eat real food…. yo yo dieting is not good…. lose some gain it back and then some… neverending fat loss and fat gain.
The best book and author out there right now is Matt Stone, and his book is called Eat For Heat, its on amazon kindle app. It gets things right about sugar, starch, and fat. I would want to give this book to anyone who is thinking about starting a new fad diet. HIs approach makes eating way more of the lifestyle and joy it should be!
I had never heard of Eat for Heat by Matt Stone but I researched it after I read your comment. I was quite impressed with what I read. Did you know that he is promoted on Natural News too. There is going to be no singular source you, I or anyone for that matter will agree with fully. I do feel that Natural News is one of the best sources of information out there regardless. What works for one person, does not work for another because that may not be what is wrong with that person. It takes a lot of time and resources and discernment to make a proper decision. I use more sources than just Natural News but they are the first place I look for information.
Thank you so much for your input.
Thanks for the like on my blog! Good luck on your journey to healthfulness and lifestyle change, even when progress is slow, it is still progress.
One of the best food (and not diet) books is “in defense of food” by Michael Pollan. Eat food that is ‘food’. I struggled with stomach issues, reflux, sleeplessness etc etc etc for so long and when I started eating FOOD my life changed. I was taking a variety of medications in order to feel good – and once I started eating food the stomach and reflux issues ebbed.
Food IS a drug that we put into our bodies all day, every day, so eating food that is food will make a world of difference. Good luck with the lifelong journey.
Also, in terms of a food philosophy I really like ‘eat real food, not too much, mostly plants’ and the theories behind volumetric eating – ie eat food that will keep you full for longer.