Diets Don't Work!

[Guest guest]

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

info, or call 800-250-3063.