This Ruins Most Resolutions

So it’s early February, and most people are going through the usual cycle of guilt, because they didn’t keep this year’s resolution to “die-it”, exercise, eat right, blah blah blah.

I’ll say it again–doing “die-its” just doesn’t work.

Maybe they’ll work temporarily…maybe, once in a great while, for a lifetime.

But for the vast majority of us, the only way to success when it comes to losing we ight is to change some of our eating habits while continuing to shop at the same store, make the same meals, live with the same family, work at the same job, visit the same restaurants, celebrate the same holidays…you get the idea.

I really, really get annoyed every New Year when “die-it” products are advertised. Cereal. Yogurt. Meal bars. Snack packs.

“Low-fat.” “Low-cal.” And so on.

Fact is, a lot of that stuff actually makes you GAIN weight.

Let me explain why.

Let’s take cereal. There’s a certain cereal that shall remain nameless, but there’s an entire “die-it” program centered around it. Let’s compare the nutritional info to my favorite cereal, Maple and Brown Sugar Mini-Wheats (which I eat nearly every day).

CEREAL “X”: 20 ingredients (including high-fructose corn syrup),
23g carbs, less than 1g fiber, 4g sugars

MINI-WHEATS: 7 ingredients, 44g carbs, 5g fiber, 13g sugar
(sugars include regular sugar and brown sugar)

My cereal is more natural, with fewer ingredients. It’s super-high in fiber, too. So even though the “other” cereal has 9g fewer sugars, the sugars it DOES contain are more artificial (and fat-generating).  The high fiber in my cereal more than offsets the sugar content.

My cereal’s main ingredient is whole wheat. Cereal “X”‘s main ingredient is white rice.

Not only that, the serving sizes being compared are nearly 2-to-1.  My cereal’s information is for 24 biscuits, around 2 cups, if not more.  Cereal “X” is just 1 cup of cereal; hardly satisfying.

Want another example?

Yogurt. Ah, the staple of “die-it”ers.

A certain brand’s “Light & Fit” blueberry yogurt contains 16g of carbs and 11g sugars. Eleven grams! That’s in one regular yogurt cup.

On top of that, the yogurt contains phenylketonurics, otherwise known as chemical sweeteners. It’s the stuff that Diet Coke is made of. It’s not good for you. (Just google it.)

The major benefit of yogurt is the acidophilus active cultures, known to reduce a yeast environment in the human digestive system and promote digestive health. But do you need yogurt to get it? Nope.

You can buy acidophilus at nearly any drugstore. It even comes in chewables for kids. Skip the sugar and chemicals, take acidophilus with your multivitamins, and get your calcium from broccoli or skim milk instead.

Just plain like yogurt? Then it eat it full-on…skip the fake sugar.  Consider it a dessert!

Smoothies? They’re made with yogurt, so guess what happens? Eat one every day and you’ll gain weight. That’s exactly what happened to me (see my book).

And you want to know what’s really crazy? Low-carb diet advocates tell people to stay away from veggies like peas and corn, because they’re “high in carbs”. Well, I just checked the package of peas in my freezer. It has 5g of carbs, with 2g of fiber (per serving). There’s also 2g of sugar in the same serving. What does that mean? I would say the fiber is at the very least canceling out the sugar. And 5g of carbs isn’t much to sacrifice in order to get the fiber, vitamin and antioxidant benefits of green vegetables.

So…lessons learned? Read food labels! And don’t always believe the advertising.

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Now, if you made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight by going on a “die-it”, STOP. Do something infinitely easier, and infinitely more satisfying, instead.

Learn how to eat the food you already enjoy and still lose weight.

Pick up a copy of “Real People Don’t Diet” here:

http://www.realpeopledontdiet.com

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Until next time…keep it “real”!