Now that we’ve talked about the foods you should eat, let’s talk about the foods you should avoid at all costs. These are foods that can really screw up your weight loss efforts, and it’s best to avoid most of them completely, or carefully restrict them.
For the most part, you should feel free to enjoy the foods you love, just in lesser quantities. Unfortunately, many of the foods you love will contain these “forbidden foods”.
Because I believe in indulging on occasion in order to keep yourself happily sticking to your weight loss plan, I don’t exactly advocate cutting these foods out completely.
What I do suggest is that you limit these foods very carefully, indulging in them only when you are having a desperate craving for them and you feel like you might go overboard and binge if you don’t have them at that moment.
Sugar
Sugar, specifically white sugar, is a very bad substance. I highly recommend avoiding it as much as possible. While it’s unrealistic to expect you to never eat anything that contains white sugar again, you should try to avoid it whenever possible.
Sugar is believed to be a major instigator of diabetes. It causes blood sugar levels to rise rapidly, and then they can cause an over-production of insulin.
When you have too much insulin in your body, it can cause your cells to hold on to fat. It can also cause your liver to create extra fat from the calories you consume. Excess insulin can cause blood clots that lead to stroke and heart attack, raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, and can cause plaque to form in the arteries. It can also raise your blood pressure by causing your kidneys to retain salt.
If your body continuously produces too much insulin, it can lead to a condition known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can lead to severe obesity, and it can make it extremely difficult to lose weight.
Sugar is one of the worst substances you can eat, and I highly recommend avoiding it. Remember, sugar isn’t found only in cookies, cakes, and sodas. It can be found hiding in places you wouldn’t expect it. Sugar is often found in salad dressings, gravies, sauces, condiments, cereal, and even bread and breaded meats!
White Flour
White flour is another substance that causes blood sugar levels to rise very rapidly. White flour is used in most baked products, as well as various types of breading, and even as a thickener in many sauces.
Like sugar, it is a substance that causes very severe blood sugar spikes, which can then lead to crashes. White flour is one of the worst culprits, so I highly recommend avoiding it as much as possible.
White flour is found in so many different things, it will be difficult to avoid them all. If you’re a huge fan of baked goods, it will be almost impossible to avoid it altogether.
If you aren’t going to cut out white flour completely, I urge you to cut down sharply on your consumption of it. White flour is one of the worst things you can consume, and second only to sugar, in my opinion.
Switch to whole grain products whenever possible. Limit white flour products, and only indulge in them on rare occasions. I like to have cake on birthdays, but for the most part I try to avoid white flour completely.
Potatoes
know potatoes are delicious. In fact, they are one of my favorite foods. But they spike blood sugar. Potatoes are very high in carbohydrates, and they are “bad carbs” – the kind that raise blood sugar very quickly.
Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, don’t raise blood sugar so quickly. Even though they are technically “sweet”, they just don’t have quite such an extreme effect on blood sugar levels.
If you’re going to eat potatoes, I do suggest eating sweet potatoes rather than other types of potatoes. Not only will they not spike your blood sugar, but sweet potatoes are also very high in vitamins, while white potatoes have very little nutritional value.
White Rice
White rice is another major cause of blood sugar spikes. It is consumed around the world, and people believe that because Asian people eat a lot of white rice and seem to be so thin and healthy, that white rice must be healthy.
The problem is, they aren’t looking at the other factors involved in the health of so many Asians. Asians tend to get a lot more exercise than Western people. They eat far less meat and junk food. They consume a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables. And they eat a lot of healthy seafood.
Because white rice causes these extreme blood sugar spikes, you should substitute brown rice for white whenever possible. The blood sugar spikes are mitigated by the fiber, which is left intact on the outside of the grains in brown rice. In most cases, high-fiber ingredients won’t cause the type of blood sugar spikes seen in their refined counterparts.
There aren’t a whole lot of foods that I would suggest avoiding completely. Basically, if a food has little or no nutritional value, it’s not worth eating and should be avoided.
You can indulge in these foods on occasion, but I would keep it to no more often than once per week. That doesn’t mean you can have white rice once per week, potatoes once per week, sugar once per week, and white flour once per week! It means you should have ONE item per week that contains one or more of these items.
And remember to control your portion. Just because you can have these items only once per week does not mean you should eat an entire cake at one sitting!
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Your body is an amazing machine. How your brain works. How the various systems work: endocrine, cardiovascular, nervous, digestive. How your body replaces cells. How it repairs and maintains tissue. It really is amazing. At the same time, if your body had its way, it would love to do... nothing. Even though your body can do some incredible things, it would just as soon just sit like a bump on a log - "the path of least resistance." Here are the most common "paths." 1. Dieting
We all know that diets fail. Why is that? Well, first of all, diets are short term.
When you deprive your body of calories and nutrients, ANYBODY is going to
lose weight. Then your body gets used to the little calories you're feeding it,
and the weight loss stops. However, the body realizes that the little calories it
gets is not enough to sustain energy, so it must go to its second source of
energy - MUSCLE. So, your body gets used to 800 calories (or less!), you don't
lose weight, and you get flabbier.
Wait, it gets better. There's only so long anyone can keep their sanity with so
few calories a day. We all know the end result: overeating or bingeing, the lost
weight comes back (and invites, without your permission, even MORE pounds of
fatty friends), you're still bankrupt of energy, and no muscle tone to speak of.
2. Strength Training
You're going strong with your weight training routine. You're getting stronger,
you're feeling tighter, and you don't fatigue doing vigorous tasks. But then, after
about several weeks, your body says, "I'm bored." The stimulus for muscle
development just isn't there. But you keep working hard at your routine, even
though there's no progress.
You may think increasing the weight is the answer. Nope.
You may think training longer is the answer. Nope.
You may think trying something new every time you step into the gym is the
answer. Nope.
You may think just working through the staleness is the answer. Nope.
You may get some results, but nothing to sneeze at. But then you begin to lose
whatever you've worked hard to get. That's why it's important to change up
your routine every 3 weeks. Change up rest periods, sets, reps, weight, and
length of workout.
3. Aerobic Conditioning
You've been walking faithfully, 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week. Your pace
makes you sweat. You're losing weight right out of the starting gate, and you're
feeling pretty good. Then, after several weeks (of doing the same broken-record
routine) progress halts. You’re still watching what you put in your mouth. But the
needle on the scale isn't budging. Your clothes aren't getting any looser.
Your body's bored again.
You go on another, determined 30 minute walk. "Ho hum," your body's telling
you. It knows what's coming, there's no stimulus. So your body burns only so
many calories, and no more. Doing just enough to get by.
Got to challenge that body. Bump it up to four, five, six times a week for 30
minutes. When that gets too easy, add a few minutes each workout. If you're
short on time, work in interval training a couple of times a week to get more
calorie-bang for your buck.
4. Skipping Meals
There are still too many people that do this. Breakfast especially. Balanced
meals fuel your body. Give you energy. Provide vital nutrients. Keep your
metabolism up.
When you eat, your metabolism increases. It takes energy to digest your
food. Heat, if you will. Heat in the form of calories. Your "thermostat" gets
jacked up when you eat. But when you skip a meal, you turn your thermostat is
turned way down, so you're burning little.
Your body says, "Hey, this is cool. I don't have to work at digesting this food. I
can slow down, thank goodness." So you have a slow metabolism and sapped
energy.
Then you end up so hungry, you're beside yourself. Your computer screen looks
appetizing. You end up overeating, and because your metabolism is stuck in first
gear, more of your food is going to get stored as FAT.
And then your body gets used to this routine. Most people who eat 1-3 times a
day are also overweight. See #1.
That's why eating 4-6 times a day is so effective in helping you lose weight,
burn fat, have more energy, boost metabolism, build muscle, etc.
5. Energy
"I have no energy." "I'm so tired." "I just can't get myself to do it." "I want to, but
my body's telling me 'No!'" "I wish I had more energy."
I've said this before: you are not going to be handed energy on a silver platter.
The only way you're going to HAVE energy is to MAKE energy. Do you
really believe that having more energy will just "happen?" (I KNOW you don't.)
Your body works hard at trying to do nothing. It just shuts down. Try to budge it,
it's going to yell at you, "I DON'T FEEL LIKE IT!"
Start moving. Even if you've been a couch potato for 30 years. You want
energy, so get the lead out! Even if your aerobic capacity is poor, you can still
make energy. In fact, you would experience the most dramatic improvements in
your cardiovascular health over someone in better condition.
Walk for a block. Then gradually add more time and/or distance. Want even
MORE energy, to do the things you really love to do? Lift weights. You'll do
MORE with less fatigue. Hire a trainer for a few sessions to make sure you're
doing everything safely and effectively. Keep your energy high by eating often
during the day and keep your metabolism sky-high. Add a vitamin formula and
anti-oxidants (to help you use the food you eat more effectively instead of storing
it).
But just get MOVING!
6. "Comfort Zone"
This is where many of us find ourselves today. I've been there, too. I've had
times where I would be stuck in a rut. Going nowhere. Business was slow.
Workouts were stale. Eating was boring. Get home, play with the kids, talk to
LeeAnn (my wife), go to sleep. Wake up, same thing.
You body LOVES this. You don't have to think much, you don't do much. Not
much energy expended to do anything. You're living inside a tiny box. Do you
want to be cooped up in this box for the rest of your life?
I can't think of one person who doesn't want to get better. But that means
taking some risks. Finding out what you REALLY want in life.
What ONE THING can you do every day to step outside this box? Make it
challenging; if one thing is too easy to do, then what 2, 3, or more things can you
do that will keep you out of this comfort zone and keep you moving toward
dynamic health, a great body, and a rewarding life?
7. The "Terror Barrier"
Let's say you have "X" idea. That idea generates a like "X" feeling. This leads to
"X" action, which gives you "X" results. This is the "Comfort Zone," talked about
in #6.
Then you get sick of this boring routine, and you start thinking about how
you're going to get out of it. This generates the "Y" idea.
But it's just a thought. You still have "X" feeling, "X" action, and "X" results.
But you keep thinking about "Y". Now you're feeling "X" and "Y". Doubt and fear
come in to play. You start to act upon the "Y", but your anxiety is so great
that you revert back to the "X" action. This is the "terror barrier."
It's also called "Rationalize." You're trying to justify staying in your comfort zone.
I call it "Rational Lies."
"I don't have time." "I have a slow metabolism." "I'm too old." "I have no
energy." "I'm not ambitious enough." "I'm too embarrassed." "I don't have that
kind of potential." "I can't lose weight."
See my point? You're lying to yourself just so you can stay where it's
"safe." But it's really not. You either create or disintegrate. No gray area here.
Once you break through your "terror barrier,” your "Y" idea turns into
understanding. Your "Y" feeling becomes faith, and your "Y" action results
in the health, body, wealth, and freedom that is yours for the taking.
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