Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

Eat to Live 193

ihink they are too thin when they have reached their best weight. 1

have many patients who, after following my plan to reverse diabetes

or heart disease, report, "Everyone tells me I look too thin now." I

then measure their periumbilical fat and check their percentage of

body fat, and usually show them that they are still not thin enough.

Stay in Control by Setting a Goal

Be realistic and flexible; give your taste buds time to adjust to the

new food choices. Changing your behavior is the key to success.

Moderation, however, does not mean it's okay to poison ourselves,

abuse our body, and then feel guilty. Moderation means recovering

quickly when you have slipped up. Some of us need to plan cheats,

once a week or twice a month. Keep to those planned times. A cheat

every once in a while is okay if it is moderate, and as long as you go

right back to the program immediately and then don't do it again for

at least one week.

Many health authorities and diet advisers recommend only small

changes; they are afraid that if the change is too radical, dieters will

give the whole thing up and gain nothing. I strongly disagree. My

work over the past ten years has shown that those who have jumped

in with full effort the first six weeks have been the individuals most

likely to stick with the plan and achieve results, month after month.

Those who try to gel into it gradually are the ones most likely to re-

vert back to their former way of eating. Under the gradual approach,

they "yo-yo" back and forth between their old bad behaviors and

good ones. Change is hard. Why not do more and glean the results

you have always been after quickly and permanently?

The Drug of Choice for Most Americans - Food!

Most overweight individuals are addicted to food. This means almost

all Americans are food addicts. Addicted means that you feel ill or un-

comfortable should you not continue your usual habits. Unlike tobacco

and drug addiction, however, food addiction is socially acceptable.

Most people thrust into an environment with an unlimited supply

of calorie-rich, nutrient-poor food will become compulsive overeaters.

That is, the craving for food and the preoccupation with eating, and

•he resultant loss of control over food intake, are the natural conse-