Diet Diary - Diet Diary

I was hearing the doctor's words, but I couldn't believe she was speaking to me. There was no one else in the doctor's office, yet I still couldn't believe she was saying these words to me!

She was using words like, "living a low-carbohydrate life style," boarder line diabetes, exercising daily, no sugar, no pasta, no rice, no potatoes". Then she summarized what she had said by say, "Don't eat anything white! (meaning, nothing that turns to sugar)

Her last words were, "You are not overweight, you are boarder line and you can beat this."

As I walked slowly to my car, I was amazed at how "words" could change a person's life, within seconds. By the time I got to the car, I realized that I would not accept this illness. This illness would not be mine, and I would do whatever was necessary, to be health.

After researching the diet, (Google) I realized that the diet wasn't very popular in medical circles, I also realized that after 5 days on the diet, I was having, withdrawals from not having sugar, coffee and bread with butter (you know, the kind they bring you at the restaurant) in my diet.

I was a little weak at first, but I stayed on the diet and kept walking 30 to 60 minutes every day.

The thought of being addicted to sugar and coffee, upset me. I felt like I had the same problem as the drug addict, except my addiction was much easier to kick. It was horrible, headaches, craving for sugar, bread, and regular coffee, I couldn't believe how my body was acting.

After about the 6th or 7th day, I felt the rush of energy that was promised in the diet.

Only eating, meat, (mostly seafood) and salads, alone with a small amount of cheese, caused me to loose 10 pounds in 10 days.

The diet may be controversial, however, it woke me up to a whole new life. A life without refined sugar, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and other foods that turn to sugar, once in the body. So to my doctor, I say thank you.

As for the controversy, I will make an effort to add certain items back to my diet, but never again those foods that could cause my doctor to use those "words" again.

Obesity increases the risk of a number of diseases, including cardiovascular disease; type 2 diabetes; osteoarthritis; postmenopausal breast cancer; and cancer of the uterus, colon, kidney,and esophagus. All of these often lead to premature disability and death. Fat is considered the new tobacco by The Heart and Stroke Foundation in Canada. They report that the number of overweight and obese people has risen by 60 percent since the 1970s and the number of deaths directly related to obesity has doubled in the last 15 years.

We have read statistics from other sources that say 30 percent of U.S. children are overweight, almost six times the number in the 1980s. Type 2 diabetes among children is at an all-time high.CNN doesn't remind us about the tragedy of approximately 2,000 people dying per day of heart disease, but we all hear about the latest shark attack. Something is wrong with this picture! Isn't it ironic that your chances of dying from heart disease are about one in two, and your chances of dying from a shark attack are about one in 300 million?

Most people attempt to get in shape for short-term, ego bound reasons. They want to lose weight so desperately they make statements like, "Even if it's gonna kill me!" And why? "Summer is four weeks away." "My fortieth birthday is coming up." "My best friend just lost 10 pounds." "I'm going on vacation." "It's my high school reunion this spring." "I just made a bet with my co-worker." "I just lost a bet with my co-worker."

Losing weight is still the number-one reason for most people to start a program and our "quick-fix" society is inundated by a plethora of products and supplements "guaranteed" to work fast. Sure, you might get some results, but statistics show that less than 5 percent of all dieters experience long-term success. Most of us know people who have thrown themselves into a Herculean workout and starvation diet to get into that small dress or suit.

Those intense efforts may bring immediate results-that's what makes them attractive-but they aren't maintainable.It's like cramming all night for the big exam. Sure, you might pass, but the knowledge is soon lost. Short-term, ego-driven goals do not lead to long-lasting habits or results. You need long-term, powerful reasons that will inspire a lifetime of great health.

Imagine having your body magnified 100 times on the silver screen with the camera adding another 10 pounds and you begin to understand the motivation behind why entertainers stay super slim. The truth is some celebrities do work really hard on keeping themselves slim. But some of the diets these celebrities use are not only weird, but also unhealthy. I will reveal to you the secrets behind hollywood's hottest diets.

Some of these diets require you to eat a cookie, drink lemon water with cayenne pepper (yuck!), or eat a fruity from South America. The common theme with them is: Rapid weight loss. Hollywood diets usually focus on foods high in protein and fat. There is usually a big promise of effortless weight loss but they fail to tell you the weight loss will be only water weight. You very well may lose weight, but you will probably end up starving yourself for weeks and before you know it, start eating the way you did before dieting and gain all that weight back plus some. In the long term these diets present all kinds of health problems.

You can look like or better than your favor celebrity through a well balanced diet program and exercise routine. You will be surprised how your body can transform from consistently staying on track with a diet program. This diet program will become a lifestyle change. Although exercise is a contributor to body change, your diet represents 80% of the transformation. By eating a well balanced diet you will lose actual fat as oppose to losing water weight from trying one of Hollywood's diets.

Often, when I write about medifast, my responses and observations are positive. That's because my experiences have also been positive. Because of this, I'm sometimes asked if I believe there are any negatives with this diet. I used to find some faults in the beginning, but over time, I not only got used to these things, I came to understand why they were necessary. Still, if you are evaluating this diet, you may find these observations helpful. So, I will share them in the following article.

Eating Six Times Per Day On The Medifast Diet Can Be A Real Bummer At First:
When I found out that I was going to have to eat this often, I wondered how in the world I could get this done. If you think about it, depending on what time you go to bed and what time you get up, you're going to need to eat every 2 - 3 hours. When I figured this out, I was reluctant.

Intellectually, I understood why this was a good idea. It helps to keep you from becoming ravenous throughout the day and it keeps your metabolism humming nicely along. Still, the thought of getting up and stopping what I was doing that often was not initially appealing.

What I did not realize though was that these meals are pretty much ready made. You can make your shakes a head of time or you can chose the "ready to drink" variety that require no preparation whatsoever. The bars don't require any work. You'll need minimal effort and assembly for the soups, stews, puddings, and eggs. But really, all of it can be put together ahead of time and even if you don't go this route, nothing takes more than a few minutes at the most.

And, these are small meals. You can eat them probably in the amount of time that it takes you to prepare them. In short, this was not at all an issue. It became a habit pretty quickly. And since the meals are smaller, you really appreciate the regularity. In the beginning, I was hungry and ready to eat by the time a few hours went by. Now that I'm used to this, I don't need to eat but it has become my habit so I do.

Having To Make The Medifast Lean And Green Meal May Seem To Be A Negative At First:
When I first found out that I was going to have to cook for myself once a day, I was again not too excited. I love the fact that they provide most of my meals. So, I did not want to break from this and suddenly start cooking.

Again, I intellectually understood why you need to do this. You need fresh foods. And, you need to learn how to research for, plan, and then make low glycemic meals that you're going to want to eat. In this way, you're changing your lifestyle - a little bit at a time. And, this is what is going to need to happen for you to keep the weight off.

Still, these meals don't require for you to be an award winning chef. They just want you to get some fresh protein and vegetables. You can do this via a one pot meal, stew, stir fry, etc. And, I must say that the community and support are superb here as there are entire forums devoted to coming up with fast, easy, and decent tasting lean and green meals.

Also, when you are eating the same foods a lot, you begin to look forward to something different. This gives you a sense of control that you eventually come to crave, at least I did.

The Price For Medifast Can Be A Consideration:
I used to worry about the money here. I mean, it is true that the basic plan runs around $299 per month before coupons. And, no one is going to be happy to part with $300. But, then one day, I sat down and I looked at my grocery bills. And, then I sat down and estimated how much it would cost me to try to make foods that were this low in calories and this low in carbs and this high in protein all by myself. Not only would this have been difficult and time consuming, but I would've had to shop at the health food store and I knew from experience that this is pricey.

In the end, I decided that, at about $8 per day with coupons (for five meals each day,) the cost of this diet is not all that bad. (You have to make sure that you enter in the coupon code before you check out.) Once you consider the value of my time and my convenience, I realized that it was silly to try to save some pennies only to put myself in a situation where I was going to be frustrated and could potentially give up. I'd seen this happen too many times before. And, you can order the foods on an individual or weekly basis if you are not sure.