Two Rules to Change the Way You Eat

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

While I’m someone that has never been classifiedas obese (although oddly, am currently overweight on the BMI scale as it doesn’taccount for muscle mass), I can share my two tips that have helped me go from achunky 222 down to a sleek 196…

1) Doesthis 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 fatloss and not losing just weight), youalready know what you should be eating: less grains, more protein, fewprocessed foods, as well as plenty of fruits and vegetables (but morevegetables than fruit).  On the otherhand, if you’re trying to gain weight or muscle, you know the key is complexcarbs, plenty of protein, and to eat often and plenty.

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

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

Using these two rules, let’s examine how you’dlook at breakfast.  If your goal is fatloss, you know that eating a bagel or other processed food (cereal) fails topass both rules.  If you eat eggs and sometype of smoothie or a salad, you already know the answer is going to be twothumbs up!

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

One of my favorite authors of all time, DanJohn, 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 canbe simple.

But sticking to it?  That may not be easy.