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101 Ways To Get Fat

By Robert DeWees

A PERFECT DAY

In a perfect world, on a perfect day, in this perfect morning, you would have arisen from the depths of sleep to start your morning ritual. Mine happens to be to hit the snooze button once (... but only once!). In your perfect kitchen, you assemble all the items needed to prepare your day (at least nutritionally): 1 frying pan, cooking spray, pre-heated indoor-grill (George Foreman type), electric kettle, plate for breakfast, 1 cup (for the green tea you are about to steep), 4 interlocking Tupperware storage devices, 1 pound extra lean ground beef (seasoned and shaped into Four 4oz patties), 1 chicken breast (8oz will do), 1 whole spinach sack, all the pre-cut vegetables you can muster (from your vegetable cutting day; two days ago) 1 omega-3 egg scrambled with 2 cups of egg-whites, handful of shredded cheese, and finally... 2 pineapple rings, and salad dressing (of the oil & vinegar type). If this sounds familiar to you then you must have been introduced to Dr. John Berardi - Human performance and nutrition expert. If you haven't, I strongly encourage you to sign-up for his free newsletter to get his Precision Nutrition Strategies E-Book - http://www.johnberardi.com.

If you aren't arriving to work with your food caravan containing 2 chicken spinach salads (snacks), lunch (2 burger patties with veggies) your peri-workout shake and your post-workout shake - did I mention dinner is waiting for you at home in the form of 2 burger patties, veggies and carbs?... Anyway, if this isn't you, then you are probably like the other 65% of Americans:

Breakfast consists of the now convenient drive-thru at Starbucks. When we finally realize we haven't eaten, we look for the fastest lunch possible which may include some type of sandwich (burger, chicken, turkey-wrap) 64 oz. diet-soda (the difference between the 32oz is 6 cents so, why not get the biggest?); God-forbid if we need to shed a few pounds and are caught eating regular potato chips - answer: Baked Lays in the 100 calorie sized bags. Somewhere around 4 o'clock there might be some snacking of M&M's from your neighbor's cubicle or office (they don't count because it was just a couple... handfuls!).

Dinner tends to be our most nutritious meal (and also the only one that is semi-home-cooked.... unless you are single!) It is the only meal we are sure to ingest protein, vegetables, and complex carbohydrates.

STEP AWAY FROM THE TABLE

There was a time when people had weight problems due to the amount of calories taken in. These days included three square meals of mama's home cooked goodness! We used real butter - which used to be unhealthy, and now is healthy again?!?! I remember dishes just covered with delicious sausage gravy, bread & butter with every meal.... my favorite was our salads... iceberg lettuce with 2 dollops of real mayonnaise. You had to really clean your plate before going for seconds! And you did! People still have this idea stuck in there head. My youngest client - who just finished the 8th grade - comes to me stating how out of shape he was and that he had to reduce his calories because he eats too much and he needs to really burn a lot of calories to get this extra weight off... What are we teaching our children; there's plenty of time later to deal with grown-up stuff.

WAKE UP AND SPILL THE COFFEE

The reason why people are FAT now-a-days is because they don't make time to eat! There, I said. I don't know what got into this country but evidently the search for prestige, recognition and financial success costs us our lives! We work more and more for less and less to the point where we scramble out the door with out eating breakfast (you know, the MOST important meal of our day!). We work through deadlines; living on Mt. Dew's and mugs of coffee.... arriving home 2-3 hours later than expected... please don't tell me the kids are already in bed...geeez! That's barely enough calories to feed a flea! We've essentially evolved our bodies to accept the fact that we are going to ingest Franken-foods filled with chemicals and preservatives - and our bodies fight back. Messed up metabolisms, people with no history of medical conditions now developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. WAKE UP FOLKS! Do you want to see your kids graduate?

EATING BETTER - START NOW!

You don't have to do a Full-Life make-over to begin to improve your life today. Just doing one step at a time can reverse the process and point you towards a healthier, longer, and more rewarding life. Here are my TOP 5 GUT BUSTING TIPS you can start today, right now - that will make you healthier than the person next to you:

TOP 5 GUT BUSTING TIPS
  1. DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE IN THE MORNING WITHOUT EATING - most people no longer have an appetite to even consider eating in the morning. Consider this; people who eat breakfast tend to burn 20-30% more calories throughout the day from the thermic effect of food - that's the energy cost of chewing, and digesting every single bite! Follow TIP #4 and have a well balanced breakfast; a meal having both protein and vegetables (like the spinach omelets that those PERFECT PEOPLE get up in the morning to eat while sipping hot green tea.) and you'll stop your muscles from cannibalizing themselves, saving valuable fat burning material.
  2. SPLIT YOUR LUNCHES - chances are you are already eating something for lunch - best choices would be salads with lean sources of protein added (e.g. chicken, fish, turkey) and sandwich wraps; these should look like said mentioned sandwich wrapped in a tortilla. What ever you decide, just eat half of it for lunch, and eat the other half WHEN? - - - that's right 3-4 hours later!
  3. CONVERT SNACKS INTO MINI-MEALS - no longer are pretzels, peanuts, and sundried prunes a viable nutritious snack. Not by themselves anyways. Consider every time you feed yourself an opportunity for you to make your body better or not. Tip #4 is a real doozie.
  4. COMBO's ONLY - every time you eat, you should have a lean source of complex protein AND a fruit/vegetables. That means that apple you had before reading this as a snack doesn't cut-it! Add some turkey jerky and we'll talk....
  5. WATER ONLY - shift away from DRINKING your calories and stick to EATING them. This ensures you stay hydrated while avoiding those beverages high in sugars that tend to hijack your metabolism.

About the Author:

Robert DeWees is an ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) certified Health & Fitness instructor and a NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) Corrective Exercise Specialist with a B.S. in Exercise & Sports Medicine. You may contact him here.