Whew. I am way behind
on blogging, but I thought I would get out an entry today, especially after the
long weekend. For many people, the
coming of summer means extreme dieting to try to look good in that swimsuit and
reduce the body’s circumference a bit.
So, you always see people doing a five day fast or pushing themselves to
do a special plan for a month to try to get healthy or binge exercising for
more than four hours per day to get in some better shape.
Now, in the past science had reported to us that these type
of quick fixes or binge diets or binge exercise runs were bad for you, and they
would hurt your metabolism. Well, it
turns out that it’s not true. In fact,
putting your body through the ringer for a period of time is actually natural
to the metabolism, which has not changed since we stood up on two legs. We still have the metabolism of those
hunter-gatherers from so long ago. Now,
of course, we don’t really want to live like they did, and I think we’d all
rather go for a run for pleasure than be running away from a ravenous angry saber-toothed
tiger. Despite the changes for the
better in our lives (no tigers to run from) we have still had very little
change in the way the human metabolism functions.
What this means is that periods of intense fasting or
intense exercise are perfectly natural because it does fit with the natural
human rhythm of the ancestors. The
latest trend in dieting are the “fast diets” that are out there. And there are a bunch of new books from Eat, Stop, Eat to The Five-Two Diet, to Fasting
for Health. And a dozen more, at
least, are on the bookshelves at your local library or bookstore. I was at a party over the weekend where
everyone at the table was trying a fasting diet of one kind or another.
I do fast one day a week.
It is healthy for your body to go through a period without food because
we have been in a constantly fed state for way too long in the western
world. A few pangs of hunger could do us
good in so many ways…to help balance our bodies, to help us remember those
without food, to get our minds focused.
These are all distinct benefits of fasting. And it is not true, just absolutely not true,
that you lose muscle when you fast for short periods of time. Oh no…all the studies show that fasting
actually leads to fat loss. In Gretchyn
Reynold’s column in the NY Times, she covered a study done in Sweden where men
fasted for a period of time on a total fast, and they lost mostly body
fat. Here’s the article.
So, what would I suggest?
Well, I would say that fasting is all right if you can take it. If not, you do have to reduce your calorie
intake to lose weight. Now, this is the
hard part right? You DO HAVE TO REDUCE
YOUR CALORIE INTAKE!!!!
The things I practice that seem to work.
1) Weigh
yourself every single day, as painful as it is.
Do it at the same time every day and do it faithfully. Evidence shows that those who weigh
themselves daily actually do lose weight and keep it off better than those who
weigh in weekly.
2) Fast
once a week from 2 pm on one day to 2 pm on another day. It’s totally doable – no problem at all.
3) Read
up on the science about fasting if you can.
Just read a few of the books and studies out there.
4) Keep
a food journal. Religiously.
5) Do
not lie to yourself that having a few extra pounds is OK. It’s not.
You need to get yourself in check.
So, stop lying to yourself and do something about it. Human beings have incredible strength and
resilience.
This week I am working on adding swimming into my mix of
exercise, which has been mandated by my chiropractor and physical therapist. I’ll let you know how it goes!
