Dietitian's Guide to Fast Weight Loss

April Fool's!!! I still don't believe in diets!

I don't believe in giving up foods that taste good and that you love. I wouldn't want to give up peaches, but I wouldn't want to give up cookies either. Sweets and high fat foods don't all of a sudden cancel out the nutrition in other foods. It's more important to include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, dairy, and protein, and it's not a matter of exclusion of the "bad" foods. What I do believe in is working on establishing healthy eating and exercise habits that can last a lifetime. If you focus on getting to a certain number on the scale, it can become obsessive.

Intuitive Eating is about

• focusing on eating what you want, 
• including a variety of all food groups, 
• paying attention to hunger and fullness cues, 
• distinguishing emotional hunger from physical hunger, 
• giving yourself permission to eat what you want and get rid of the all-or-nothing thinking, 
• decreasing those out of control feelings with food, 
• finding ways to cope with emotions without using food,
• fueling your body and getting your metabolism up by eating every two to three hours, 
• being mindful of how fast you eat, where you eat and the portions you give yourself, 
• and not multi-tasking while eating. 

There are various reasons why people gain weight: aging, hormone changes or imbalances, thyroid problems, medication changes, decrease in physical activity level, lack of sleep, increased stress, and metabolic changes from yo-yo dieting to name a few. Although weight loss can be the desired goal, what's more important is to be patient with your body, stop being critical of it, and give it the proper nutrition that it needs. Physicians can often tell you a caloric amount to aim for that may in actuality be too low and end up slowing your metabolism down even further. If you don't know what your caloric needs are, speak with a dietitian. Weight loss can and often should be a slow process. If you want results fast, the joke's on you.