Okay, okay, so your New Year’s promise to stop eating everything in sight lasted less than a week. Don’t feel bad, this is so very common. There are many before us who have proven time and again that denying is the quick road to indulgence. Why don’t the weight loss folks get it? The first rule of dieting should be: don’t starve yourself. Don’t even think you need to starve yourself.

Weight loss dieting doesn’t have to be a painful experience of restriction, self-denial or starvation. And for effectiveness, it shouldn’t be. Here’s why:

It is not the amount of food we eat that matters, it is the amount of calories we consume and the nutritional quality of the foods we choose that matters.

There are two simple reasons why so many people are fat and getting fatter

1. their calorie intake far outweighs the calories they burn
2. the quality of their food is poor: high in fat, low in nutrition, full of additives, preservatives, artificial flavorings and colorings, and loads of chemicals that are utterly unrecognizable

Basic logic will follow that there are two simple ways we can lose weight and keep it off

1. Decrease our calorie intake and increase our calorie burn
2. Eat higher quality food: food that is nutritious, low in calories, low in fat, full of nutrients, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and the phytonutrients that help prevent the development of serious disease.

You don’t have to eat less food, you have to eat less processed, junky food. If you eat high quality food, you can actually eat more of it. If you are into quantity (you like to eat a lot), go for quality too. What are quality foods? First let’s look at what quality foods are not.

Low Quality Foods

• Most fast food (although Panda Express and Subway offer pretty healthy meals)
• Fried food
• Deli meats
• Meals that are half cheese
• Most breakfast cereals
• Pastries
• White bread made with bleached, refined flour
• Anything you buy in a package in a convenience store
• Anything you buy with artificial ingredients
• Frozen dinners
• Candies, cookies, and other sugary foods
• Nuts roasted in oil or covered with sugar or chocolate

High Quality Foods

• Fresh fruit
• Fresh vegetables
• Brown Rice
• Jasmine Rice
• Basmati Rice
• Quinoa
• Whole wheat bread
• Oatmeal
• Some breakfast cereals (sugar must be listed 5^th or later on the label)
• Eggs
• Fish
• Chicken (not fried)
• Lean meat
• Tofu
• Beans
• Modest amount of cheese
• Nuts and seeds (not roasted, preferably soaked in water till soft)

If you want to lose weight without going hungry day and night, try these three experiments:

1. Make your diet 40% fruits and vegetables. You can eat a lot of these (go easy on the potatoes), and the enzymes they contain will help metabolize your food better so that undigested food is not stored as fat.
2. Eat less and eventually almost no low quality foods.
3. Eat more high quality foods.

Go for the high quality foods you like, make this a lifelong eating habit, and you will lose weight, you will keep it off, and you will be a much healthier and energetic person.

Learn more about healthy eating and the connection between detoxing and weight loss.