After completing the last part of my journey and returning to Long Island last Friday night, I checked my Inbox and discovered a large amount of emails containing questions about low-carb, no-fat, and low-fat diets.
I do not recommend no-fat diets at all — they can be dangerous and should only be attempted under the watchful eye of your physician. Even with that precaution, I cannot think of any reason why a no-fat diet would be the best option.
Your body does need fat to operate properly. But how much is enough and how much is too much? During the last forty years or so, the consensus from the medical community has been that a small amount is enough.
The same thing is true about carbohydrates. For decades, the prevailing wisdom was high carbs and low fat. You can see where that theory has gotten us.
Truly, the most essential factor in a successful diet is BALANCE.
You need a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
I have gone over this before, but it bears repeating: the best foods are those that are closest to their natural state. Essentially, that means choosing unprocessed food over processed food. A baked sweet potato is close to its natural state. Potato chips are not. Fresh fish with grilled vegetables would be classified as food that is close to its natural state, but breaded, fatty frozen fish sticks are not.
Simply put, packaged food is not a good option. It generally contains ingredients that are highly unhealthy, with trans fats and high fructose corn syrup being two of the biggest culprits.
Additionally, almost all low fat foods have an elevated sugar content. They are made to be overly sweet so that they appeal to the taste buds. This same process is used in no-fat foods. Take a look at the label and you will find high levels of either sugar or a sugar substitute.
Low carb almost always involves a sugar substitute too, and personally, I think it always tastes terrible. You have to convince yourself that it tastes good in order to eat it. No, thanks.
You can eat almost any food as long as it doesn’t come in a package mixed with other ingredients. Frozen vegetables, as long as they’re just vegetables, is A-okay. Frozen vegetables mixed in a sauce, is not. The sauce, if you can call it that, is mixed with all kinds of things that make the sauce stable, and you fat. More often than not, there are more calories in the sauce, than in the vegetables.
And being a vegetarian doesn’t help either, no matter how many times they say it. Many vegetarians are often seriously undernourished, and have a whole host of health problems, from not eating a balanced diet.
The best way to gain control of your diet is to start slowly, one meal at a time. My friend Nate has some words of wisdom on the subject: “Practice push ups instead of doing sit downs.” His message is that when you are full you should push up from the table, not sit down in order to eat more.
I fully believe in taking a daily dose of extremely pure pharmaceutical-grade fish oil with an enteric coating. This daily dose will insure that you are getting enough omega 3 essential fatty acids, which will go a long way towards keeping your entire body functioning at high level.
Last week a friend of mine asked me to take a look at a website about bodybuilding. The bodybuilder who was responsible for the content of the site had written that he had cut back on his dose of fish oil because he believed that the fish oil was too fatty for his diet. Obviously, he has no idea at all why he was taking the fish oil to begin with. Perhaps all the muscle growth has adversely affected his brain power?
The truth is, because he is an athlete he needs MORE fish oil, not less. Athletes typically train for hours every day and should be increasing their dosage of fish oil, instead of being concerned about a few extra fat grams. What he doesn’t know is that ingesting the proper amount of fat would most likely make him look better and perhaps contribute to his winning a competition. I’m not betting that he’ll take this advice.
