As the dust and cookie crumbs from festivities during the
holidays began to settle, many people made resolutions to
take better care of their health, and maybe shed some
weight. By now, some are still carrying on with those good
intentions. Others have gotten a little off-track, and are
hoping to renew their healthy intentions. Either way,
here's some encouragement and information.

If you are currently on a diet, or in the process of
beginning one, you are among company. There are around
sixty million US Americans on a weight loss plan on at any
time, meaning that one out of five people you meet today
are statistically likely to be in the process of dieting.
The trend has been for about half the entire US population
to start a diet at some point during a year's time, meaning
that every other person you encounter today will likely
attempt to reduce their weight this year. The greater
percentage of them will be women because on average three
out of four women feel they need to lose weight.

As you can see, the weight loss industry has an abundance
of potential customers.  Many companies and individuals are
competing for a piece of that lucrative financial pie - and
while there are good products and good advice available,
there is also the well-known fact that some diet products
don't work, and some actually prevent weight loss.
Understanding a few nutritional principles would help many
people avoid the mistake of starting a diet plan that is
destined to fail. Oftentimes, it is the flawed diet plan
that fails the dieter, not the other way around. According
to numerous studies, the average dieter stands a 97% chance
of regaining all the weight they struggled and suffered to
lose, plus an extra pound or two. Therefore, the single
most important thing to understand if you are contemplating
a diet is this: research is conclusive - traditional
dieting methods based on restricting calorie intake do not
work. Period.

The quick explanation of why caloric restriction does not
work in the long run for weight loss boils down to
survival. In the face of a radical reduction of food
intake, our bodies have miraculous systems designed to
ensure that we don't starve. Our brains are programmed when
faced with 'starvation' to conserve energy and slow down
metabolism, create more fat from everything we eat, and to
crank up the level of our hunger signals. Our bodies don't
know the 'starvation' of calorie restriction is voluntary,
and the survival programs don't care a bit about fitting
into a smaller pair of jeans. The survival programs that
are triggered also guarantee that once the diet is over,
all of the weight that was painstakingly lost will be
regained, and then some.

We fall for diet programs that defy common sense because
there is so much conflicting information, so much powerful
marketing competing for our dollars, and so much, well,
desperation. We want something quick, easy, effective -
benefits that are promised to us by many diet products and
plans. However, low-calorie is over. Low-fat is history.
High protein is on the wane. And low-carb is on its way
out.

Well then, what does work? Eating the foods our bodies are
designed to eat, in proper proportion and combination.
Combining the right foods for weight loss is not tricky,
but it doesn't seem to be common knowledge either. There
are, however, good books available on the subject of
effective food combining. The most clearly written and
workable book I've found so far is "Good Calorie Diet" by
Dr. Phillip Lipetz. The book was written in 1994, but it is
based on sound research. And besides, the principles
regarding what foods we should eat in what combinations are
as old as humankind.

The concepts in the book are easy to understand. The
basics boil down to a few principles. The main two I'll
give here so you can get started on the road to changing
your eating habits for permanent and real weight loss. Eat
whole food, not processed (that is, avoid foods that come
in a package, can, or box). Avoid combining animal protein
with starchy carbohydrates (bread, potatoes, pasta, rice)
or fruit. This is aligned with the way our ancestors ate,
and it makes sense to eat according to the diet humans have
thrived upon for millennia.