No, I guess not. Not just because diet is such a nasty term either. Nowadays “diet” means “confusing” to me. What do you do? Do you eat high protein diet or low protein? Do you eat high carbs or low carbs? Can you have fat and what fat is good for you? Artificial sweeteners – poison? Drink water but don’t overdo it… Exercise or not to exercise.  See what I mean?

How are we to muck through the mire of weight loss facts and recognize fiction. Who do you believe? After all, Dr Soandso did years of research to prove his diet. This other Dr. prescribed her “one and Only BEST” Diet plan and saved countless lives.

Well, I am here to tell you it’s time to go back to school. It’s time to do a little research ourselves – dig into this general topic of how to lose weight safely. In case you wanted a bit of a head start, this is what I am learning in my own digging. I have broken this down into Laws for Sensible Eating.  I call them laws because for the past 10,000 years of human history they have not changed.  How man and woman converted food to fuel for their bodies has not changed.  So, we can make some assumptions based on that.  I will take these “assumptions” one at a time.

#1 Law – Eat Less.

That seems like a “duh!” But let’s think about how our bodies have behaved in the past 10,000 years of human history. This amazing “machine” is designed to stay alive even the most dire circumstances. Man has had to be resourceful for most of recorded history in getting his food. There were times of feasting after killing a deer or a young goat which may have been eaten with the roots and greens that were gathered for the occasion. More often than not man has had to go from one feast to another with several weeks in between.

Before domestication there was hunting and fishing, foraging and gathering. Wandering was a way of life for most peoples. Yes, some folks gathered into villages and cities but these were places of trade for the nomadic peoples. There were frequent hard times – times of famine. Assuming people ate when there was plenty, thus stored body fat, they could carry through a long time before true starvation set in.  Some cultures still exist today that exist on this means – whole tribes in Africa, for instance.

As we became more “civilized” we learned to tame certain animals to be raised on purpose: for food and clothing. Purposely planting and raising certain crops made it easier to stay in one locale and therefore people stopped moving on. It became easier to get more food. Meat was more accessible. Produce was plentiful. Life became easier – no more feasting/famine cycles. Starvation was getting to be less of an issue.

Nevertheless, the design of the body didn’t change – hasn’t changed in some 10,000 years, experts say. It was designed to work efficiently while eating less more sturdy exercise. It was designed to store up excess food (in the form of fat) during times of feasting in order to carry through to the next feast.

Is it any wonder that our intelligent body is only doing what it is designed to do? Store fat in times of feasting. It makes sense, right?

Did you know that no one ever, EVER died of undereating.  Think about that one.  Now I am not talking about starvation – the complete absense of food or water.  I am talking about eating less, even very little will not kill you. 

On the other hand, over eating is the #1 cause of death today, if you account for diabetes, heart disease and cancer as by-products of poor lifestyle and eating habits. 

So, eat LESS – live longer!!

I’ll give you a “taste” of what is to come… just what to eat!

Our body has no idea why the stress is caused it only knows that certain hormones are signalling “trouble” which tells hypothalamus to slow down metabolism. Yikes! You can’t win for losing, can you!

And where does this emergency fat get stored? In your waistline!!

It seems, too, that we can directly relate belly fat with stress hormones. Again, any kind of stress will signal “danger” to the body. Whether running from a bear, watching an accident happen, severely changing your eating habits, getting tense over a deadline,  getting a late start in the morning … your body just knows that you have danger and will respond accordingly.

So, relax. Take your new eating plan one step at a time. Learn to forgive your transgressions. Begin each day anew. So what if you had an extra cookie or two. Just purpose to walk a little further. Work out a little longer. Eat less next meal.

But do yourself a favor and learn to let it go. Stress can kill a diet faster than anything. Hey, don’t look at it as though it is the end of the world. Just a bump in the road.