Hey everyone! Hope you all had a very happy and yummy 4th!!! Well it’s nutrition Tuesday once more, another week to keep practicing better habits and the integration of proper nutrition into your daily lives. My good friend and extremely gifted Health Counselor, Devon Crabtree, is our special guest today. She is currently studying at New York’s Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and graduates on July 26th 2009!! Way to go Devon!!! She has such a passion for what she does and her philosophies are truly innovative and unique. You can learn a lot from her so read it, eat it, and drink it up:)
Diets Don’t Work!!!
I don’t believe in diets. Going on “a diet” indicates that you plan to go off of it at some point. We have all been there at one time or another… you want to lose a couple of pounds so you follow whatever the popular diet is at the time restricting calories and following ridiculously impossible rules to achieve your goal. Then when you do lose the weight, you go off of that diet and end up right back where you started feeling bad about yourself for failing, and diving into a pint of ice cream.
We live in a yo-yo dieting society. People are generally lazy and want a quick fix resulting in 65% of our countrymen being overweight. What Americans need is to realize is that it is a lifestyle change, not a diet that is the solution to lasting change. The key is first and foremost changing the way we think about food. Food doesn’t have to be an enemy, and eating healthy certainly doesn’t mean disgusting, tasteless food. What we eat becomes our blood, which becomes our cells, organs, skin and tissue. So, we literally are what we eat! Eating the artificial chemicals junk food is made of, is like feeding poison to our bodies.
That being said, nobody is perfect and should be expected to give up foods they love 100% of the time. That’s why I advocate the 90/10 theory… 90% of the time you eat healthy, whole foods and 10% of the time you eat what you want! This way, you never feel deprived and are able to maintain your healthy lifestyle.
Another reason diets don’t work is because nutrition is a very bio-individual thing. We are all unique creatures with different blood types, metabolic types, ancestry and body chemistry. These acute variables all play a major roll in a person’s ability to assimilate foods. Some people thrive on a Vegetarian diet, while some people feel lethargic and weak without animal protein. Some people can’t tolerate dairy, while others have no problem with it. One person’s food is another person’s poison.
That is my goal with my clients. To find whatever those specific Nutritional needs are and help them practically apply it to their lives! The result is a happier, healthier person that will never have to worry about yo-yo dieting again!!
Thanks sooooo much Devon! Your advice is always enlightening:) You can find Devon at www.devoncrabtree.com as well as on Facebook. She’s worth following!
