Dabbl

              My philosophy on diet is very simple. So this will be a short read. I always laugh to myself when I hear about people struggling to lose weight/gain weight and then they tell me about their diet and it’s all junk. Let me be very clear. Putting the right stuff in your body is the most critical thing you can do for your body. That should be obvious. If you put cruddy fuel in your car, it wouldn’t run properly. Why do expensive sport cars or even supercars REQUIRE high quality gas? It’s because their engine needs it so it can run properly at their optimal level of performance. This is no different than fuel for your body. If you want your body to run at a more effective level, you need to put higher quality fuel in your body. Whether it’s losing weight or gaining weight, my philosophy has proved to myself that it works for both cases.

              I don’t have a name for this diet. I’ve taken aspects of a variety of different diets and combined the best parts into one effective solution. Before I get into the specifics of the diet, allow me to take a step back. Diets don’t work! I know I called my routine a diet, but a better choice of words would be “lifestyle change”. Although when talking about someone’s eating habits, technically the correct term is diet. However, the way people use this word is wrong, lots of people use this term as a temporary period of time where they eat/don’t eat certain foods. The only way to see effective long-term results is to make a lifestyle change. I’m also a believer in changing your diet slowly rather than waking up one morning and convincing yourself not to eat any carbs. Elimination diet is something that I highly recommend. This doesn’t tell you what to eat. What this does is it gives you time to ease into the right diet for you by taking one unhealthy item completely out of your diet at a time. For example, dairy isn’t the best for you. So for instance, try taking dairy out of your diet. This allows you to adjust to the change but more importantly it shows you how dairy alone directly affects your body. By taking out one item at a time, you can clearly see the impact that one item has on your body. In this scenario, many times when people take out dairy, they see significant improvements in their health, especially their skin.

              Here are the basics. I’ll list out generally the foods to eat, to stay away from, and how much food depending on your weight goals. Here are the rules:

Rule #1:  Eat foods that had a lifespan at some point. This basically means fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, seeds, and so on. You get the idea. If it lived at some point, then eat it. If it grew, whether as a plant or as an animal, eat it. That couldn’t be simpler.

Rule #2:  Meat must be clean, lean, and ethically sourced. That means most commercial brands are out. This also means that meat will cost a little more. But here’s a compromise, since most people eat too much meat anyway, this will incentive you to eat less meat. In other words, instead of spending $10 on commercialized meat from Walmart, spend $10 on higher quality meat from a brand that stands behind clean meat and ethical sourcing. You’ll have less meat, which is what we want, and the meat will be much healthier for you since it’s better quality. Meat should not exceed 30% of your plate, unless you’re trying to gain weight. You don’t need to be worried about not having enough protein. You’ll get enough protein from the other foods in this diet that come from the ground/sea.

Rule #3:  NO BREAD. You can make the argument that bread technically comes from the ground, but I’m cutting it out anyway. Even wheat bread. Bread isn’t all that great for you. Plain and simple. And you’ll gain unhealthy weight from it.

Rule #4:  Drink a gallon of water a day. This will keep everything in your body moving and constantly flushing bad toxins out. Stay hydrated my friends.

Rule #5a: If you’re trying to gain weight, eat more food. Eat the same amount of vegetables, just add another serving of meat. The amount of meat you have with each meal should never exceed half of your plate. Increase your meat consumption, but keep it under 50% of your meal.

Rule #5a:  If you’re trying to lose weight, eat less food. Vegetables should consume your plate. Add some meat in here and there, but no more than once a day.

Rule #6:  No added sugar. This will give your body spikes in energy and glucose and lead to gaining unhealthy weight. If you need to add some sweetness to your dishes, use honey or stevia.

Rule #7:  No cow’s milk. If you want to be hardcore, then no diary. For me, I thought this was going to be more difficult to conquer since I grew up drinking lots of milk. About 18 months ago I made the switch to unsweetened almond milk and I love it. I’m very satisfied with how it tastes and the benefits it provides my body (often times it has more calcium than cow’s milk in case you’re wondering). It took a week for me to get used to it, but now I have it with almost every dinner and smoothie. If you’re still not convinced on this rule, then think about it this way. Cow’s milk is only meant to have one purpose. That sole purpose of cow’s milk is to turn a baby cow into a big cow, that’s it. Cow’s milk has no business being in a human’s diet. It isn’t meant to turn little humans into bigger humans. That’s what our mothers’ breast milk is for.

Rule #8:  Eat clean during the workweek, spurge on the weekends. This rule is not for everyone. This rule is for those who choose not to be so hardcore with it. Changing over to these rules may result in some cravings. If you really can’t hold out, then throw these rules away on the weekends. Go all out! Get it out of your system. Then when the weekend is over, go back to these rules. Mon-Fri is clean, Sat & Sun you can eat whatever you crave and however much you desire.

Rule #9:  Eat before 6pm at the latest! Preferably, eat before 5, but I know that could be difficult for some people with their schedules. You don’t want to have a lot of food in your stomach when you’re trying to sleep. Your body won’t digest the foods as effectively as if you were awake. When asleep, it’s easier for your body to just convert food to fat, rather than digesting it thoroughly. As a result, eat dinner as early as you can at an appropriate time, so you get the most out of your foods.

There you have it. This is the diet I’ve been following basically for the last 2 years and my body has thanked me time and time again. I’m absolutely certain your body will too if you decide to give it a try. Another benefit is that you’ll save money!!! Cooking yourself is sooo much cheaper than ordering out for every meal. Your wallet will thank you as well. Remember, “diets” don’t work. To make a lasting impact, you need to make a lifestyle change. Commit to this regime or a regime like this that you’ve experimented with and it’s proven to work. Your body will feel better, you’ll look better, you’ll be more energize, and you’ll likely add a few more years onto your life. Hope this helps.

P.S. If anyone would like recipes that follow the rules of this diet, please comment below and I’ll reach out to you with several delicious recipes to get you started.