Two Rules to Change the Way You Eat

Diet fads really come and go.  Today you have countless people trying to
lose weight with any of the following: Paleo, Intermittent Fasting, Carb Backloading, and
do I dare say Atkins?  Next you have all
the “carb dogmas” of low carb, no carb, or all carb – the latter being my
rebellion against all this uncommon sense.

While I’m someone that has never been classified
as obese (although oddly, am currently overweight on the BMI scale as it doesn’t
account for muscle mass), I can share my two tips that have helped me go from a
chunky 222 down to a sleek 196…

1) Does
this fit my goal?  2) Did man make it?

Does what you’re eating fit your goal?  If your goal is fat loss (the key here is fat
loss and not losing just weight), you
already know what you should be eating: less grains, more protein, few
processed foods, as well as plenty of fruits and vegetables (but more
vegetables than fruit).  On the other
hand, if you’re trying to gain weight or muscle, you know the key is complex
carbs, plenty of protein, and to eat often and plenty.

If you know your goal, ask yourself if what
you’re eating meets that goal every single time you pick something up. If it
doesn’t, why are you eating it?

Now that you know your goal, it’s time to steal
a quote from good ol’ Jack LaLanne, “if man made it, don’t eat it.”  I guarantee that when you look at a piece of
food, you can tell if it came from a field or a factory.  There are always exceptions, but the fewer
foods you consume that that were produced by machines, the better for you it
will be.

Using these two rules, let’s examine how you’d
look at breakfast.  If your goal is fat
loss, you know that eating a bagel or other processed food (cereal) fails to
pass both rules.  If you eat eggs and some
type of smoothie or a salad, you already know the answer is going to be two
thumbs up!

For dinner, using these rules will tell you that
some type of sandwich or frozen meal just won’t cut it, but some type of stir
fry with lean, organic chicken and lots of vegetables is an amazing option.

One of my favorite authors of all time, Dan
John, has a famous saying, “I said it was simple, not easy.”  There are no shortcuts to actual fat loss,
and using the two questions I stated above to govern your dietary choices can
be simple.

But sticking to it?  That may not be easy.