Fads come and go but we all need our diet to be a Trusted Wellness Tool. Instead of relying on any Fad Diet, I think we can all say that Healthy Eating should be a goal we all work towards.

I have a beef with diets. It is personal. I don’t mean to color your Wellness Philosophy (more than you want me to) but there are a lot of diets out there. From the sounds of it they are meant for a goal that is quick and referred to as easy, but not…instead of a life-long action plan that meets our Wellness Goals and fuels our day, every day.

What do you do when you reach your goal?

I googled about the best diet for me and I even took a few quizzes to find their answer for me and yet they all seemed to be selling me something not just trying to help me. Even Dr. Oz was only offering a 28 day challenge… When you are morbidly obese, it is going to take more than 28 days and once you have had satiated fat cells you will always have cravings. If you aren’t careful you can lose the weight and then pack it back on again and that is not good either.

• The Biggest Loser Diet focuses on 6 weeks of healthy food and regular exercise. The program focuses on learning foods with “quality calories” and their own diet pyramid. They also focus on portion control and getting plenty of exercise.
• Meal Replacement Diets focus on the use of low-calorie shakes, meals and nutrition bars along with varying amounts of physical activity. To name a few but not all: Visi, Isogenix and Medifast.
• Weight Watchers uses a point system that I hear works well if you can maintain it. Jenny Craig will sell you prepackaged foods that are low in calories, fat and portion size.
• Raw Food Diet is very restrictive. Foods that have been cooked, processed, microwaved, irradiated, genetically engineered or exposed to pesticides or herbicides are not allowed.
• Anti-inflammation diets focus on removing foods that cause inflammation from your body. These diets rely heavily on vegetables. Some diets remove certain meats (or all meat), dairy, carbonated beverages or sugars and other fast carbs.
• Diets that work to change the way your body processes calories by shifting your primary fuel source from sugar to fat in order to bring you to a state of ketosis like Ketogenic Diet or Atkins have shown to help people shrink their fat cells and even may have benefits for the way our brain works.

This is only a few diets out of hundreds you can choose from.

In a perfect world, everyone would just go see my wife and pay her to be your personalized Wellness Coach and Personal Trainer. Every 3 months (or more based on your preference) you would get your Fitness Assessments to measure your success using software based tools. You would come in every month or week, depending on your need, and talk with Karen and get your meal plans. AND you would meet Karen at the gym of your choice 1 to 5 times a week for personal training. Eventually you would have good habits and see your body become stronger and more resilient. But I understand that many of us are not ready for this and some of us don’t need that much help. But that is the importance of a Wellness Plan that is personalized to you…it helps you resist your temptations and create healthy habits, it helps you build your emotional and spiritual health to reduce your stress levels, and it guides you to reach your physical fitness goals; not mine or anyone else’s.

The commonality with the people who have success with any diet is that if you follow all the guidelines, you should be creating new habits. We all got out of shape by practicing bad habits and we can only get into shape by practicing good habits; we have to commit to a lifestyle change for the rest of our life and that includes addressing all areas of our self-care: physical, mental, spiritual and even financial. My self-care list is probably different then yours because of my chronic illnesses. You might be blessed to not have a chronic illness or maybe you have different diseases and you need alternate self-care strategies. You might be like my friend Jamie Holloway, who scares new doctors because she is actual miracle of life, hundreds of times over, and many traditional treatments don’t work. Whatever your circumstances are you need a personalized comprehensive, meaning it can be changed as need arrises, wellness plan.

A lot of diets that work are trying to teach a lifestyle, without saying it outloud. There are specific rules that help you make food choices because certain foods are better for our bodies than other foods. These rules help make up what I like to call a Wellness Philosophy. Once you define your Wellness Philosophy the rules and beliefs that you have embraced will help you stay on your path to wellness.

Here are a few rules to help you choose the best diet for you:

1. Make sure to define your “why.” Does the meal plan follow your “why.”
2. What are your personal needs? Does the meal plan answer what your body needs?
3. The meal plan must be something you can sustain even when you are with people who are not following the same plan.

In the dictionary, when you look up the word “Diet” it says that a diet includes the kinds of foods a person habitually eats or a plan to restrict certain foods in order to reach medical or weight loss goals. I think we focus on the word “Diet” as something we should hate, but in fact, if we embrace our diet and make it a personalized, comprehensive tool to reach our wellness goals we will be looking at our meal plans in a healthier way.

Do you actually have a meal plan or do you just eat whatever you see first?

If you have a meal plan or at least a few standards you keep faithfully, the word “Diet” is a Trusted Wellness Tool that helps you have the fuel you need to travel your path toward wellness.

If you need help finding your path, or help getting back on your path, I encourage you to Contact Karen G Clemenson at Wellness Works NW. She will be glad to help you created a comprehensive wellness plan that works for you. Wellness Works NW is located in Longview, Washington, inside Forever Fit Gym. We serve Cowlitz County and the surrounding areas. Although Karen works out of Forever Fit Gym, she is glad to meet you at the gym of your choice or even your home to help you reach your fitness goals.

Happy travels!

 

I hope this article helps Fuel Your Wellness. Please leave your comments below.

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Summer D Clemenson co-owns Clemenson Enterprises and Wellness Works NW with her wife, Karen G Clemenson. Their personal motto is Creativity, Honesty & Positivity are a must! This mantra helps them stay community and wellness minded in all they do. Summer also writes poetry and inspirational blogs @ ClemensonEnterprises.com. Her crochet art can be viewed and purchased @ KnottyWares.com & she loves special orders!

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