> The golden child of the food industry: organic produce. Even though studies have shown that organic food doesn’t have any additional health benefits versus conventional
While this may be true, I was able to go from 240lb to 185lb (I’m 6’2) in 10 months by:
1) Eating only organic, non-gmo, and gluten free
2) Only shopping at expensive health food stores that only carry specialty brands (no Oreos or Poptarts in stock!)
3) Eating a vegan diet
..So why did those things cause me to lose weight?
Simple: by dramatically self-limiting the categories and types of food I allow myself to eat, it’s simply harder to overeat.
I don’t care about the vegan lifestyle or philosophy, but I love that it broke my habit of eating cheese and crackers every night. When out at a restaurant, while I would normally order a burger, I’d end up with a salad (the only vegan thing)
And eating only organic/non-gmo/gluten free? Same reason: it dramatically reduced the variety of food I was able to buy without breaking the 3 rules above. I pick up a bag of chips, and if it’s not organic gluten free, right back on the shelf it goes.
And why shop at expensive health food stores? Not because the food is better, but because when everything is priced 50-100% higher than a regular supermarket, so I bought less food. Do you really want that $8 bag of chips?
—-
All of this is to say: if you’re looking to lose weight, don’t care so much about any specific diet, etc… think about your eating habits and how to change them.
If you’re motivated to lose weight and have the determination, I recommend going vegan paired with eating only organic.
Again, not recommending it because vegan or organic are magic diets (they’re not)… BUT by following an organic vegan diet you are forcing yourself to completely rethink nearly all of your eating habits, and once you break your current eating habits, you can begin to form new (healthier) eating habits.
Best part is that I didn’t gain the weight back since the way I lost it was by changing my habits and the way I think about food, rather than caring about calories or dieting.
If you’re overweight, it’s because of your eating habits. People who say “eat fewer calories, you must be in a deficit” aren’t wrong, but it’s hard to do because it requires so much thinking constantly about portion size, etc.
Weight loss can become much easier by establishing 1-2 strict “eating rules” that you commit following and that are simple to remember,
Honestly, I could have achieved the same weight loss by coming up with a silly rule like “I will only buy food that comes in blue packaging” instead of vegan/organic.
You need to figure out a way to change your eating habits, period. If my approach doesn’t resonate with you, think of something, anything, that will get you to replace your current habits with new ones.
Even if that means telling yourself you’ll only eat food that comes in blue packaging.
> 2) Only shopping at expensive health food stores that only carry specialty brands (no Oreos or Poptarts in stock!)
This is one of the reasons I like shopping at Whole Foods, everything sold is has been vetted and doesn’t contain crap like high fructose corn syrup. I remember reading an article somewhere where like 75% of the groceries sold at Walmart can’t be sold at Whole Foods.
While this may be true, I was able to go from 240lb to 185lb (I’m 6’2) in 10 months by:
1) Eating only organic, non-gmo, and gluten free
2) Only shopping at expensive health food stores that only carry specialty brands (no Oreos or Poptarts in stock!)
3) Eating a vegan diet
..So why did those things cause me to lose weight?
Simple: by dramatically self-limiting the categories and types of food I allow myself to eat, it’s simply harder to overeat.
I don’t care about the vegan lifestyle or philosophy, but I love that it broke my habit of eating cheese and crackers every night. When out at a restaurant, while I would normally order a burger, I’d end up with a salad (the only vegan thing)
And eating only organic/non-gmo/gluten free? Same reason: it dramatically reduced the variety of food I was able to buy without breaking the 3 rules above. I pick up a bag of chips, and if it’s not organic gluten free, right back on the shelf it goes.
And why shop at expensive health food stores? Not because the food is better, but because when everything is priced 50-100% higher than a regular supermarket, so I bought less food. Do you really want that $8 bag of chips?
—-
All of this is to say: if you’re looking to lose weight, don’t care so much about any specific diet, etc… think about your eating habits and how to change them.
If you’re motivated to lose weight and have the determination, I recommend going vegan paired with eating only organic.
Again, not recommending it because vegan or organic are magic diets (they’re not)… BUT by following an organic vegan diet you are forcing yourself to completely rethink nearly all of your eating habits, and once you break your current eating habits, you can begin to form new (healthier) eating habits.
Best part is that I didn’t gain the weight back since the way I lost it was by changing my habits and the way I think about food, rather than caring about calories or dieting.
If you’re overweight, it’s because of your eating habits. People who say “eat fewer calories, you must be in a deficit” aren’t wrong, but it’s hard to do because it requires so much thinking constantly about portion size, etc.
Weight loss can become much easier by establishing 1-2 strict “eating rules” that you commit following and that are simple to remember,
Honestly, I could have achieved the same weight loss by coming up with a silly rule like “I will only buy food that comes in blue packaging” instead of vegan/organic.
You need to figure out a way to change your eating habits, period. If my approach doesn’t resonate with you, think of something, anything, that will get you to replace your current habits with new ones.
Even if that means telling yourself you’ll only eat food that comes in blue packaging.