Strength for Life

The Opposite of DIET = TI < EDHow to eat more and weigh less

Dieting sucks! And yet, at this moment nearly half of the US population is engaged in an ongoing struggle with food.

You can flip dieting around and stop focusing on deprivation, on less and embrace the freedom to eat more and still weigh less.

For most, a diet is a period of suffering, deprivation and a moment to moment battle between willpower and desire. Certainly not a long term success strategy for life. As I share in my book, Strength for Life, you can free yourself from this battle with the “10-steps to Dieting Freedom” in chapter 11 but today I want to go farther and expose the major flaws of the dieting mindset.

You see, dieting as a strategy for losing weight is at best half the equation. It’s focus is on limiting your total intake (TI). It’s got nothing to do with the other half of the equation: the energy you use through exercise, movement or your metabolism (Energy Depletion ED).

Trying to get thinner with nutritional limbo—eating less and less—is like trying to budget your way to wealth. Controlling your expenses does not wealth create. Want more wealth, create more value, offer more, generate more. Just the same, want to enjoy eating more freely? Take real action and use more energy in your life.

Dieting works on the simple (and relatively if not entirely accurate) concept that losing weight has simply to do with consuming fewer calories than your body utilizes each day. Thus, if you eat less than you “burn” you will utilize energy reserves which is in some part body fat.

Like I say, this is a relative truth for not only are all calories NOT created equal but when using ONLY calories in (Total Intake in this equation) to regulate fat loss, it’s a slippery slope. Try a little too hard to encourage fat loss, drop the calories just a wee-bit too low and the body will freak out and start holding more fat.

The opposite of dieting—and the more sound, sensible and complete solution for weight loss is to emphasize Energy Depletion (ED). It’s simple, rather than simply trying to eat less than you burn each day, focus on burning more calories than you eat. For when you’re (TI) Total energy Intake is less than your (ED) Energy Depletion you’ll lose weight. And as bonus you will be gaining a leave of fitness, a stronger more energized body.

This may seem rather obvious as I point it out but be honest… how often have you been told and or wanted to believe that it’s ALL about the diet, it’s about intake? It’s not. Effective, sustainable fat loss requires that you manage both with some level of clarity and mastery.

When Good Companies Do Bad Bars

Nutrition bar. These two words together get me thinking of old joke about Military Intelligence being an oxymoron.

I don't eat nutrition bars, I don't make them and I don't suggest others consume them either. I can hardly begin to count the number of people whom I've talked to who have told me "I can't seem to loose this excess weight..." who I later discovered were replacing meals with nutrition or energy bars.

The problem is it's hard to balance the need people have for these bars to taste like a candy bar with any reasonable level of nutrition quality. And then, of course, you throw on the profit issue and it's like tossing gas on the fire.

Here's another great example of why they're are for the most part a bad choice: WIRED magazines look at the PowerBar Protein Plus bar.

If you have to have a bar--and believe me there are times when they are convenient--here are a few guidelines:

1. Make sure it's really a serious need not just a reaction to be too lazy to invest 2 minutes blending a rich, nutrition shake, like Full Strength. I'm talking some travel situations and more often long biking or hiking sessions, etc.

2. Choose a better bar which means your likely not going to get one as a primary protein source--accept that they are likely and best used for carbs. This is why I prefer something in the CLIF line or a natural version with Larabar... which is much smaller but can work at times.

3. Don't make a habit out of these things... use them like you'd use a crescent wrench, now and then when it's the right tool for the job.

Here's to your strength and freedom.

Shawn

Smart Girl, Dumb Cookie

A cookie with vitamins? Seriously...

Have you seen Hungry-Girl? Like me, she has a new book out so it's hard to ignore her. She's done an amazing job of creating a large audience of hungry-girls to whom she offers recipes and various tips and tricks on how to eat. It's not really nutritional advice just "opinion" on eating.

Well, today I get an email from Hungry Girl (I have to admit I don't know "her" name) and on it is boldly featured a cookie called a Vitatop. Evidentially, these are cookies with vitamins on or in the chips.

Seriously... no joke.

Now, I love food as I make clear in Chapter 10 of my new book. I support a healthy relationship with all foods--a sort of Nutritional Freedom, the freedom to eat great food and enjoy a high energy, vibrant life. It's quite literally the antidote to dieting (see the 10 Steps to a Lifetime of Nutritional Freedom in my book). I'm not into dieting.

But this sort of "good and bad" strategy really gets me riled up.

If you want a cookie you should be free to eat a cookie--a real, well done, hopefully organic cookie and even two at the right times. If you do already take vitamins, great. You know when to take those. But this "vitamin cookie" disrespects three parties:

First, it takes you for a fool... so dim that you'll fall for eating more of a "bad" food because the vitamin chip "dressing" relieves your guilt. Now, clearly, you've got to be operating slightly below the "full steam" from the neck up to fall for that one.

Second, it disrespects the vitamin... like so many foods and even supplements, this falls into the "pixy dust" approach at best. It's not an effective or quality delivery of any serious vitamins--that's not even it's purpose. It's the equivalent of low calorie water. Nonsensical.

And finally, it totally disrespects the cookie. You have to know that anyone doing this is not fully and deeply committed to making the best cookie. It's a cookie fraud... and vitamins can not possibly enhance the taste.

My advice, from this Fully-Satiated-Guy, don't fall for this trap... eat a real, delicious, home made (or nearly) cookie when it's in your plans and enjoy it from a place of freedom. And take your vitamins at another time.

P.S. Upon further review I came to discover these "cookies" were really "muffin tops" which is essentially the same thing. Right? I just hope someone is paying proper royalties to Seinfeld for this for it was Elaine and her boss Littman who came up with the muffin top concept.