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| It's starting to become common knowledge that the way our metabolisms work is largely based on how we eat. But the reasons -- and excuses -- for eating poorly are plentiful, especially in today's society. Food is presented as a comfort tool and a means for celebration -- something to shove in our traps at the slightest emotional impulse. We're also told to finish everything on our plate, and in America we're talkin' big plates. (Related article: Lose weight one ounce at a time) Then there's the constant barrage of marketing from McDonalds, Coca-Cola and a thousand other junk producers. Our worker-bee society wants us to be too busy to eat anything but fast food and "on the go" individually packaged rubbish. Just the other day, I bought a toaster oven, only to discover its temperature knob actually had a special position for toasting Pop Tarts.
When we eat a lot or eat badly, coming to the realization that it's effecting your health can cause panic, leading to quick fix options like designer drugs, herbal cures and fasts guaranteed to "change your body in 48 hours," or some such nonsense. Okay, some of these specific cures do work for people with acute problems, but for the rest of us, they're little more than snake oil sold to us by unscrupulous companies operating on the logic that, "if it works for one person, why not sell it to everyone at $49.95 a pop?" (Related article: Looking good like Oprah after weight loss)
Ironically, the quickest and easiest way to get your metabolism working properly is something you learned back in grade school. Eat healthy.
But as simple as it sounds, most of us have gone a long way down the wrong path. There's a lot of learning to do and detoxifying can be gnarly. Your body screams for the junk food you're depriving it of. You're constantly hungry because your stretched-out stomach doesn't understand how little your body really needs to function well. In extreme cases, your skin breaks out as long embedded toxins sweat their way out. (This actually happened to me when I cleaned up my dietary act in my early twenties.) But then, one day, it's over. The cravings are gone and you feel better than you've ever felt.
So don't resign yourself to a lifetime of flab and Fritos! Let's go over a few signposts on the path to really eatin' good. Recommended links: Fasting, portion control, and avoiding processed foods How to stop the cravings? Can diets help in losing weight? Oprah's boot camp Mesotherapy treatment for cellulite Healthy Living book review |
