The Smart Diet that Works

We are just over half way through the first month of the New Year and I guarantee that some of those New Year resolutions to stick to a diet and lose those extra pounds have already lost their appeal. No need to worry though as diets can be boring and nobody wants to miss out on what they like or feel guilty about the odd biscuit or bar of chocolate.

What if I was to tell you that there is a diet that actually works? I'm not talking about those diets "fads" that spring up every now and then that claim to be the ultimate answer to health and weight loss. I'm talking about the common sense approach to eating a good healthy balanced diet and taking moderate exercise. The so-called "quick fix" diets are intended for one thing only and that is to decrease the size of your bank balance and not your waist. Organisations that promote calorie counting and "points" systems for dieting are missing the fundamental idea behind a healthy diet. A healthy diet provides nutrients to your body in the form of vitamins and minerals that will help your body fight infection and work at peak performance. What is the point in counting points and then skipping meals so you can save up all your "points" to then eat a large slice of chocolate cake? Quick fix diets do just that. They provide a quick fix.

Eating a healthy balanced diet full of natural foods such as fruit and vegetable, whole grain breads, nuts, seeds, fish and lean meats will provide you body with nutrients and your weight will stabilize to your bodies' natural weight and shape by losing those extra pounds. Exercise is important, but that does not mean spending hours at an expensive gym pounding the treadmill. Just take simple steps such as walking more, using the stairs, bike to work, swim, and take up a sport. Do something that you enjoy!

Most importantly dieting should be more about health than trying to live up to the unrealistic version of beauty that the media portrays in magazines and adverts. Unfortunately we live in a society that has an extremely distorted view about " looks" and there is a lot of pressure on us to look and dress a certain way. According to most magazines (both men and woman's) Woman are supposed to be super skinny with perfect tanned skin and make up while men are all supposed to be tall and handsome with six pack abs and chiseled features. This is not reality. Perhaps if we all had the time to spend 6 hours a day in the gym, make up artist around every corner while it became mandatory to air brush every photograph taken (as all magazines do!) and not to mention the incredible genes, we could all start to live up to there unrealistic vision. But what a sad boring world that would be.

Losing weight from following a healthy diet and maintaining regular exercise will guarantee that the weight stays off permanently. It really is that simple. Burn more calories than you eat and you will lose weight.

I personally found my motivation after reading several books about optimum nutrition and a book called "Slim for Life" which explained some of the facts behind what happens when we eat unhealthily and have to much sugar ,fat, and salt in our diets.

To conclude, anyone can lose weight and enjoy the benefits of a healthy balanced diet combined with regular exercise and the best bit is it doesn't have to cost you a penny! Good luck!