Food for Thought: the Naked Truth about Weight Loss and Fad Diets

?Eating less fat and having dietary programs has worsened the weight loss problem because the whole concept was built on wrong philosophy. Eating is thinking. And until flawed thinking is corrected, weight problem will persist.? Uzo Onukwugha

Being over-weight is becoming an epidemic in the United States. Statistics states that 68% of U. S. population is over their ideal body weight. And that 1 in 3 Americans are suffering from clinical obesity. This sad statistics also includes children and teenagers.

Despite the proliferation of low fat foods and endless barrage of fad diets, these statistics seem to be increasing. Individuals and companies come up with new and confusing dietary programs every day. Most of these diets do not work. Examples include Atkin?s diet (has some success), South Beach Diet, ABS diet, Cave Man Diet, Origin diet, and all sorts of diet code. The truth is that even if folks lose weight, 95% of them gain it back in one year.

Oprah Winfrey created news a few years ago when she lost sixty seven pounds and gained back eighty four pounds a year later. She is not alone. I know of a popular preacher who lost weight and even wrote a best-seller, Lay Aside the Weight. The last time I checked, he has gained it back and has stopped talking about how to lose weight. The story is always the same regardless of who is involved. The church world doesn?t eat differently from the rest of the world.

A lady asked me a question a couple of years ago, ?Why are all these men of so fat??

?Food,? I replied. ?We don?t teach gluttony as sin. The Scriptures says that if you?re given to appetite, you should put a sword down your throat for a binge.?

I said all this to state that the whole multibillion dollar weight loss industry is built on a wrong foundation. Any house that is built on wrong substructure cannot stand. As long as the prevailing mindset is to lose weight, people will also lose it and gain it back. Most of these diets are unnatural and under tension, people will always go back to what they are used to. The mind is the greatest pattern recognition organ in the universe. And will conform to its original programming even when it will harm you.

I was talking to a former footballer who was complaining to me about his weight gain. He kept on saying to me, ?I want to lose weight?I lost sixty pounds before. I can do it again.?

I kept saying to him that weight is not the problem. Yet, he did not seem to get it. Weight gain is the surface rather than the source. If you deal with the source, the surface will disappear. He is not interested in learning how his physiology; neither does he want to know about healthy eating habits. Change the seed. The fruit you?re looking for is in the roots. This is the sad story about many people struggling with over weight.

Blaming fat and cholesterol is not the problem, either. In fact, lack of essential fat can cause weight gain because of accumulation of the wrong fat. Nutrition is an evolving science?a sort of all-comers course. We know that there are the good, the bad and the ugly fat.

The good fats are the essential fatty acids that we must take through the diet because they are necessary for cell membrane and nerve function as well as reproduction. The essential fatty acids are Omega 3, 6 and 9. We should consume more of them in that order. The ratio of Omega 3 and 6 is 1:4. Flax seed (oil) and Salmon Fish are good sources of Omega fatty acids. Udo?s blend has the right combination of all the essential fatty acids in a bottle.

The bad fats are the saturated fats that everybody tends to recognize. These are animal fats from chicken, beef and hog.

The ugly fat is trans-fatty acid that tend to act as free radical and damage the cells. Example her is margarines and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils we find in all sorts of cookies.

I must add that cholesterol is not fat. And it is never found in plants. Animals need cholesterol for procreation. The problem is excess cholesterol. Fats are needed to emulsify and carry cholesterol to the tissues and blood vessels. (Erroneously, they are called cholesterol: High Density Lipoproteins, HDL: Low Density Lipoproteins, LDL; and Very Low Density Lipoproteins, VLDL). HDL is the so called good cholesterol, LDL is the bad cholesterol and VLDL is the very bad cholesterol.

Change your mindset to eating right, exercise and maintaining a healthy eating lifestyle and nature will choose your ideal weight for you. It is a bondage counting calories before you go to bed. Don?t watch your weight; watch your diet and your weight will take care of itself.

Ninety five percent of weight problem is caused by over-eating and eating junk. The body stores junk and excess as toxins in fat tissues if they are not water-soluble. Weight gain is worsened by sedentary life style. (Please don?t embark on any exercise program without proper diet and advice from a professional). It?s surprising that people blame obesity on genetics, stress, sweet tooth, emotional upheaval, diabetes, hypoglycemia, ignorance and indiscipline. These are merely the surface and not the source.

Uzo Onukwugha operates a website that is geared towards changing your paradigm so that you can reprogram your mental software for business success. To learn more, visit http://www.weblinkbusiness.com and subscribe to his newsletter. Reach him with your care and concerns at: uzonukwugha@yahoo.com