Marja's Weight Loss Rules (No, She's Not A Doctor, But She's Free!)

Marja's Weight Loss Rules

The thing about being an addict is that you don't push yourself when you're an addict. You feel sorry for yourself, because you think everyone else has it easy, and poor you, you just can't help eating this or drinking that and the cycle never ends. Well, I'm here to tell you that all of us, addicts or not, crave discipline. Discipline is especially key for me in my weight-loss journey because not only does it help me lose poundage, but by keeping myself in check, I cannot numb myself out. My mind and my body are friends, and they might not trust each other, but they have to. Here are the basic rules I've composed to lose weight; these suckers have helped me say "GOOD RIDDANCE" to the vanished 46.8lbs:

1. Water. Water, water, water. Water is awesome because it has no calories, and over half your body is made up of it! I like to drink about a gallon a day; it keeps me hydrated when I exercise, and if I'm hungry and I know I shouldn't be, or if I feel like my idle hands will fill themselves with the homemade pretzel rolls I bake from scratch at my restaurant, I slam some water. Adding fresh citrus is a bonus, because it helps curb my appetite, though it does contain simple carbs, loads of vitamin C, folate, which is essential for new cell production and growth; potassium, which we all know helps keep our bodies in balance; and phytochemicals, which may help protect against various chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Hey! According the the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' a 1998 study of citrus benefits claims that citrus not only has been fighting scurvy for hundreds of years, "Citrus fruits are nutrient-dense foods that can be good sources of carbohydrates, including dietary fiber, and many vitamins and minerals. Citrus fruits are equally valuable among populations who need to overcome and prevent micro-nutrient deficiencies as well as those concerned with problems of over-nutrition, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. For example, citrus is an ideal component of low-fat, sodium-restricted diets." Problems of over-nutrition?! Obesity?! Diet-related chronic diseases?! Lemon and lime have never looked so powerful! Moving on.

2. Portion. Here in America, our portions are RIDICULOUS! Like, laughable. According to the USDA's site, USDA's www.choosemyplate.gov:

 

5 and a half ounces of protein?! I serve a ribeye in my restaurant that's a whopping full pound of marbled, juicy dead cow! And my extras are less than 260 calories? But my soda is around 140 calories, and I drink 3 of 'em! Not to mention the ranch dressing I eat with my French fries has 15 and a half grams of fat and 148 calories per 2 tablespoon serving (and really, who can eat only 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing?!)

Okay, I don't eat french fries anymore (unless I sneak one from the hubby), and I certainly don't eat ranch dressing anymore, but when I did, I certainly didn't eat them in portion control sizes. We Americans have a particular attitude about food, and it's "It has to be entertaining, it has to satisfy me, and no holds barred, I want it to taste great." (I found David Kessler's The End of Overeating. to be extremely helpful when I started my journey. I highly recommend it to anyone curious about our endless fascinations and cravings for high-calorie and high-fat food, even though we know they cause poor health.)

When I first started to really eat healthy (like, every meal of every day for like, more than one day), I was amazed at how full I could be off of a huge plate of veggies, and still feel pretty energetic. It's crazy how we've trained ourselves to finish off 2 servings of fries (the second one eaten after we're full already, of course) and when faced with the same volume of salad, most of us would only suffer through half and claim we're full.

Forks Over Knives, a 2011 documentary, put it in a way that I've never seen it; here's a no-nonsense way to see:

Those dots in the picture are receptors in our stomach that tell our brain when we're full. The food will reach those receptors, which tell the stomach when to stretch and such, and we eventually will stop eating. Well, 500 calories of vegetables will fill the entire stomach. 500 calories of fat with fill the stomach only about a quarter of the way, if even that, and since the receptors at the top of our stomach are not reached by the volume in the stomach, we will continue to eat, literally packing our stomachs with calories upon calories, trying to fill ourselves up. Oye vey! No wonder it's so hard to cage the food monster!


more rules coming up NEXT: 3. Processed food is a No-No, and 4. Avoiding "Trigger Foods"