April 22, 2013

Ten Pounds Lighter by Summer?

“Summer is less than two months away! I’m still too heavy to be seen in my bikini in time for my trip to Hawaii!“, a new client confided the other day, feeling beyond frustrated about still not being back to her pre-baby weight and size.

By learning about and implementing the Paleo diet, she’d lost nearly all the pregnancy weight and was feeling stressed out at being ten pounds off her target. Fortunately, we nipped this downward facing spiral in the bud and by the end of our call, she was feeling back on track and had a positive focus once she remembered that at a rate of 1 – 1.5 pounds per week, she actually would quite likely reach her goal by the end of June, when her trip was planned.

Whether the impetus to lose weight comes from the need to improve one’s health, a desire to look better in one’s clothing or a never ending quest to reach a certain, arbitrary number on the scale, chances are more people than not have experienced the very same sentiment as my client.

We’ve all heard the same messages, some of which are true: ‘slow but steady equals permanent change’ and ‘for lasting changes, one needs to change their entire lifestyle and manner in which they think about eating’. Others are far from good advice, from ‘everything in moderation’ (I have a particular issue with this one; if someone is particularly sensitive to sugar, for example, and has an addiction to it, even a little bit is enough to create a situation whereby one little cookie turns into the whole box… or two) to trendy, gimmicky and sometimes dangerous diet recommendations which include pills, powders, strange food combinations or subsisting on highly processed, pre packaged meals lacking in any nutritional value.

It’s become so incredibly difficult, when, in actuality, it’s incredibly simple.

Eat real, fresh food which is local, seasonal and natural. Balance your meals and eat small, regular meals throughout the day. If all of our meals include fresh veggies, wild proteins and natural fats and don’t include packaged, processed, refined items which tend to be high in sugar, sodium and a host of chemicals, we’re simply going to be much healthier.

Add some physical activity and you’ve got a winning combination!

It sounds easier said than done and I can share that I, too, tried many different approaches to eating in my life. Those of you who’ve already read Paleoista are familiar with my own story and how I found the Paleo lifestyle to be the only one that not only cured my lifelong battle with GI distress, but simultaneously, as a nice little side bonus, took me to the lean body composition I’d always sought.

Many clients learn about Paleo because of a variety of health issues; from acne to auto immune disease and from chronic fatigue to migraine headaches. Often, because Paleo may be inaccurately portrayed as being radical or extreme, it’s not until one feels at their wits end and ready to try anything after literally being sick of being sick.

They give the lifestyle a try and not only experience their health issues improving or completely disappearing they also notice other nice little side effects, like weight loss or more energy or better sleep.

If only I could convey to everyone else how eating naturally, in the way we’re genetically meant to be eating, can benefit all of us so much that it sometimes feels like the proverbial magic bullet that so many seek.

The lovely thing, however, is there’s nothing magical or pretend about it at all… it’s just a matter of common sense eating.

To recap: