Will power is the secret to permanent weight loss

The secret to losing weight and keeping it off is will power.

Do you have the will power to:

• Stop eating wheat;

• Stop eating sugar;

• Stop eating starchy foods;

• Stop eating high fructose corn syrup;

• Stop eating vegetable oil;

• Stop eating fried foods;

• Stop eating potato chips and crackers;

• Stop eating foods with additives and preservatives;

• Stop eating cakes, pies, and other pastries;

• Stop eating cookies and candy;

• Stop eating processed foods;

• Stop eating fast food;

• Stop eating peanuts;

• Stop eating beans (legumes);

• Stop drinking sodas and sports and energy drinks;

• Stop snacking, especially after dinner;

• Eat more leafy greens;

• Eat more vegetables;

• Eat more berries;

• Eat more nuts;

• Eat more seafood and fish;

• Eat pre- and probiotics foods (see below);

• Eat more organ meats (liver, heart, etc.)

• Eat more white meats;

• Eat smaller portions;

• Eat less often;

• Eat only organic food;

• Get more sleep; and

• Get more exercise.

If you’re not willing to do all or most of those things, then you probably lack the will power to permanently change your health and you can stop reading now. This is for those of us who are tired of being fat, sluggish, and/or are fighting disease such as diabetes, heart disease, and other preventable ailments.

When most people think about “going on a diet,” they think in terms of a program or short-term eating regimen that will help them lose weight quickly. That is not what a true diet is. Your diet is what you eat normally. It’s what you eat and when you eat it that counts. Counting calories and “eating less and exercising more” are stop-gap measures that produce temporary results. Once most people reach a goal, they go back to doing what made them fat in the first place.

What we need is a change of mindset regarding weight. Weight loss is the byproduct or side effect of healthy eating. When it comes to diet, your goal should be good health, not losing weight. You can lose weight and still eat foods that are very bad for you. The end result is poor health and a return to your old, heavy weight.

Four years ago, I went on the keto diet with the intent of losing 10 more pounds than my target weight so I would have room to rebound once I went off the diet. I have since learned the hard way that the body, having been deprived of sugars and other nutrients, works hard to restore that fat once you start feeding yourself the bad stuff again.

Although the keto diet works, it is not sustainable. Two-thirds of a healthy diet should consist of vegetables, leafy greens, and a limited amount of fruit, especially berries. The other third should be proteins, with an emphasis on white meats, fish and seafood, eggs, and small amounts of red meat. Wash it down with water, black coffee, unsweet tea, or red wine.

Whenever possible, eat organic, especially locally-sourced foods. Most of the food you get in the store these days is poisoned by pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, and artificial coloring and flavoring. Meats are tainted with growth hormones, antibiotics, and other things that are not safe to eat, no matter what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says.

Since the 1940s and ’50s, scientists have been working to increase yields and overall food production. The emphasis has been on increasing production, lowering costs, and making a bigger profit. There has been very little done to study what these frankenfoods do to the human body.

An excellent example is the cross-breeding of wheat with other grasses and genetic modification of the crops. The wheat we have today is vastly different than what we had prior to World War II. It’s highly addictive and it destroys needed bacteria in your gut that is crucial to digestion. The same goes for just about every mass-produced crop in this country. That’s why organics are so important.

If you want to eat wheat, look for natural, organic varieties of einkorn or emmer wheat. Yes, it is very expensive, but so treating diabetes. Those varieties are the unadulterated, pure versions of wheat.

To help restore your gut’s microbiome (healthy bacteria), you need to cut out the sugars and artificial sweeteners and eat more fiber (vegetables), naturally fermented foods, prebiotics, and probiotics. Prebiotics include things like chicory root, dandelion greens, Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, onion, and asparagus. Probiotics include sauerkraut (refrigerated, not canned), Greek yogurt (not sugary, flavored yogurts), olives (especially extra virgin olive oil), apple cider vinegar, kimchi, pickles, and fermented cheeses (Gouda, cheddar, and Swiss), to name a few.

You should also have a regular fast. The best way to do that is east dinner early and then stop eating until breakfast. If you can go 10-12 hours without eating overnight, you’re doing great. Other keys include sleeping eight or more hours a night and getting daily exercise (even walking works).

There have been volumes written about eating this way and I have both read many books and written several columns about it. Eventually this will become common knowledge and practice, but not until it wells up from the grassroots level.

I will leave you for now with two true clichés: You are what you eat. Where there is a will there is a way.

(This column was not published by the Wharton Journal-Spectator.)