DIETS DON'T WORK
By
Raymond Francis
If you are more than five pounds over your normal weight, you need to
read my book Never Be Fat Again. A catastrophic epidemic of overweight
disease is sweeping America. More than two-thirds of all Americans are
overweight. This is not a cosmetic problem-it is a serious, chronic
and degenerative disease. Even a few extra pounds will accelerate
aging, increase susceptibility to cancer and other diseases, increase
disability and shorten life. Overweight is not a benign disease, and
no one should be or needs to be fat. Lean people live longer, have
less disease, less disability, more energy, and a higher quality of
life.
While millions spend billions trying to lose weight, this epidemic is
getting worse every year. More than one-third of our children are
overweight. Because of this, life expectancy is expected to turn down,
after two hundred years of increases.
When I looked at this problem, I wondered why, after all those diets
and all that money, time, effort, diet books, diet programs, gimmicks,
magic pills and exercise machines overweight is still increasing. I
soon found out. Diets don't work-so don't go on a diet! Diets are not
only ineffective; they are dangerous, even deadly. Besides that, who
wants to count calories, weigh out portions, be deprived, eat
unnaturally, and feel aggravated and starved? Perhaps it would be
worth it if it worked, but it doesn't, because most diets are
scientifically and nutritionally unsound. Their goal is weight loss
NOW at any price. They aim at losing weight, which is merely a symptom
of this disease. You cannot solve problems by attacking symptoms.
Almost anyone can lose 5 to 10 percent of their weight on any number
of diets. The weight may go away for a while, but the vast majority of
people gain everything back and more, packing on extra pounds. Studies
show that overweight people who diet gain more weight than those who
don't. Yet at any point in time, one in three Americans is on a diet.
It should be obvious that a slim body and vibrant health are not the
usual results of dieting. Many of these people end up doing dangerous
yo-yo dieting-cycles of gaining and losing weight-which actually
doubles the risk of dying from heart disease, damages immunity and
raises the risk of premature death from all causes. It is better to do
nothing than go on a diet-the benefits of dieting are too small and
the risks too big.
The reason I wrote my book Never Be Fat Again was to help overweight
people lose weight safely and permanently. But you don't do that with
a diet; you do it with a health-enhancing lifestyle that includes
nutritious food, avoiding toxins and regular physical activity.
Focusing on weight loss alone is the wrong thing to do, because
overweight is a disease. Fat is a symptom; you cannot cure a disease
by attacking symptoms. Permanent weight loss is possible only by
regaining health.
Always remember there is only one disease-malfunctioning cells-and
only two causes of disease-deficiency and toxicity. Overweight disease
is caused by deficiency and toxicity; it is reversed by addressing
these two causes. So how do deficiency and toxicity cause overweight?
When the body is deficient in nutrients, the appetite is turned on in
order to get what is needed. Nutrient deficiency stimulates appetite,
causes hunger and cravings and signals the body to store fat. The
problem is our processed-food diets do not contain the required
nutrients. So the appetite stays on and we eat more empty calories.
The Standard American Diet is deficient in nutrients while also being
loaded with more calories than we can use. Whenever we consume more
calories than necessary to maintain our current weight, we will store
fat.
Studies have found that calcium deficiency can turn on fat-storing
genes, while adequate calcium will speed fat burning. Similarly, a
deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids will activate fat-storing genes,
while adequate omega-3s will turn them off and speed up fat burning.
So guess what? Most Americans are deficient in both calcium and
omega-3s. The average American gets only a fraction of the nutrition
they require for optimal health. This is why we are operating at far
below our biological potential, resulting in our epidemic of chronic
disease and overweight. These deficiencies must be corrected if you
want to lose weight. As long as the body is not getting the nutrition
it needs, you will crave food even though you have just loaded up on
high calorie junk food.
As you seek to lose weight by consuming fewer calories and increasing
exercise, you must make sure the calories you do consume are loaded
with nutrition. You cannot simply eat smaller amounts of nutritionally
worthless foods. This means you need to eat organic, fresh, raw fruits
and vegetables, sprouts, beans and whole grains-foods that contain the
highest amount of nutrients and fiber per calorie. Because these real
foods are both nutrient-rich and fiber-rich, they will make you feel
fuller. This satisfies hunger, shuts off the appetite, and prevents
the consumption of too many calories. Empty-calorie, nutrient-poor,
fiber-less, make believe foods such as sugar, white flour and most
processed and fast foods are not options.
Supplements are essential. They help to solve the problem of cellular
deficiency, and they also support the body's detoxification system.
Here is a list of the supplements I recommend that work
synergistically to provide nutrition, minimize free-radical damage and
help the body detoxify:
Toxins in our food and environment play a surprisingly important role
in our overweight epidemic by impairing the body's appetite and fat
storage controls. Common food additives such as MSG and aspartame, can
make us feel hungry even when we do not need food. Fat burning can be
turned off and fat storage turned on.
Chemicals used in common plastics such as phthalates and bisphenyl-A,
as well as PCBs and solvents can cause weight gain. Animals exposed to
pesticides can experience huge weight gains without any increase in
caloric intake. Domesticated animals are fed growth promoters to
fatten them up, but when you eat their meat you ingest those growth
promoters, and they fatten you up. Even prescription drugs, including
antihistamines, antidepressants, anti-inflammatories and hormones, can
cause weight gain.
The effects of toxins are magnified when poor diets deprive us of the
essential nutrients that our detoxification systems need in order to
remove toxins from our bodies. A major source of dietary toxins is
processed junk food. Processed foods, from breakfast cereals to hot
dogs, to dinner helpers are loaded with toxic artificial
preservatives, colorings and flavorings, plus nitrites, MSG,
artificial sweeteners and many other toxins.
When toxins are included in your diet, it is difficult to lose weight
because your appetite and fat storage control systems will be out of
control. One can only wonder how many millions of people have failed
to achieve permanent weight loss because they included toxin-loaded
processed foods in their diet plan.
Overweight is a disease that causes a cascade of abnormal
biochemistry, resulting in a myriad of health problems and early
death. Excess fat is a biological disaster. If you are more than five
pounds overweight, it is already possible to measure biochemical
abnormalities. So if you have even a few extra pounds, you are not as
healthy as you think you are. In fact, you are sick.
Fortunately, this is simple to prevent and reverse. Get processed
foods out of your life. Replace them with organic, whole, unprocessed
plant-based foods. This is automatically a low calorie, low toxin,
high nutrient diet. Combine this with high quality supplements and
regular physical activity, and you have a program for permanent weight
control.
Most diseases, including overweight, are unknowingly self-inflicted
and they can be self-reversed with aggressive nutrition and
detoxification. Permanently reversing overweight requires long-term
responsible commitment. Any effort that does not include lifestyle
changes will fail. Without fundamental changes, the weight will come
back. For more specifics on how to do this, get yourself a copy of
Never Be Fat Again.
The key is to improve the quality of your food and your lifestyle
choices. Your new, beautiful, strong and lean body will mirror the
good health that will be yours to enjoy for a lifetime.
Raymond Francis is an MIT-trained scientist, a registered nutrition
consultant, author of Never Be Sick Again and Never Be Fat Again, host
of the Beyond Health Show, chairman of The Project to End Disease and
an internationally recognized leader in optimal health maintenance.
For more information visit www.beyondhealth.com, email
[email hidden], or call 800-250-3063.