Which Diet is Best ?
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry [mailto:*******@Voyager.Net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 3:39 PM
To: rob@formerfatguy.com
Subject: Which Diet...
I have read lots of your web page, and am confused
You have multiple different diets. Is there one that works better than the others? Why do you have multiple?
Larry
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A: I'm so glad you've brought this up. Yes, my website has a variety of information resources for various diets. They're not really diets though as much as they're way's of looking at food.
My primary interest in putting up my website is to educate people on various means to attain health. With good health, the body will naturally discard any excess fat and become lean. The body knows that lean is best and strives for it.
During my journey down from 475lbs, I learned a great deal about how the body works. I've presented a lot of that material on my website. For example. I began by eliminating fast foods, salt, processed foods and began food combining. Then I became vegetarian and finally Vegan for two years. I drank nothing but distilled water for years, quit smoking, quit drinking and then began weight training and cardio. I tried macrobiotics and Ayurveda.
I have been eating a line of whole foods from an amazing company based out of the US which has "system specific foods" and they have now become the foundation of my health. I've been eating them for going on 15 years now and it is these whole food products that make my health what it is. I'll never be without them.
Recently I've added animal protein back into my diet, continue to learn about how the body works and apply what I learn. I keep what works and discard what doesn't and that has become my motto and what I teach. It's in the trying of things and recording our progress and results that allow us to find that specific thing that "works for us".
In my quest to continue to learn about health, foods, exercise etc, I came to find that my once held belief about distilled water being good for us was challenged. I read, researched and found that it's acutally quite acidic so removed it from my diet and incorporated a higher PH water in. Education about health never ends. I find as well that beliefs I've held get challenged. I do my own research and report the results. After reading about Atkins for years, and people asking me about it, I finally decided to try it. I did Atkins for about 6 to 8 months. Found nothing fantastic in the benefit department, but sure did begin to feel really crappy. I stopped. On the other hand, I have a friend who's dropped an enormous amount of fat from following it. I can't tell you how he feels, but just the results. My trials of it found that it is not based in health, but rather a result. My primary concern is health. I want to live to be 100 and have full control over my faculties.
Your question is about "which diet is right"
The answer is that no one diet is right. In fact, traditionally, diets DON'T work. Most people associate the term "diet" with cutting of calories and eliminating of fun foods. The very reason I reached a max weight of 475 was because I yo-yo dieted my way up there. I was on a diet in grade 5, then another in grade 7, grade 12 and then just after leaving highschool. Dieting or starvation just sets you up for fat gain. What I propose with info on my website is that we must take responsibility for our health. It is with a good healthy foundation that true weight management can be achieved. There is no simple answer. Proper eating (ya, what's that?!), weight training and cardiovascular workouts (aerobics) are all necesesary for ideal health. Along with that is say a healthy intestinal flora (pro-biotics), the consumption of good fats (EFA's), the elimination of acidic foods and the increase of alkaline foods. What works for one person may not work for another, but, we all have the same basic body parts and systems and they do need the same basic nutrients and we all need to exercise. When I refer to diet, I mean "a program of eating". My diet at any one time may be a caloric deficit (to burn fat) or a caloric excess (to build muscle). My "program of eating" changes based on my needs and goals.
Everything on my website, I endorse. I promote specific products because I have either used them, or in reviewing them, I agree they would be beneficial to my readers. I recently quit using google adsense as an advertising method because I did not have control over what was displayed on my website.
I highly recommend the following:
First is this line of whole foods. Very easily incorporated into your current program, taste great, highly alkaline, system specific whole foods. Contact me for more info on them.
Second is Tom Venuto's program Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. Very well written book and information about balancing your eating and workouts so that you can maintain your muscle (Feed it) while increasing your metabolism and burning the fat.
Third is Jeremy Likness' book "Lose Fat, Not Faith" as a very inspirational and educational book on everything needed to put together a healthy life package. Lose Fat, Not Faith compliments Tom's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.
The rest of the info on my website as it pertains to body types, food combining and general health is for educational purposes. We must begin to take action on things. Try something, get out of our comfort zone, learn, educate and then begin to put it into practice. These are things that I have done in the past or still incorporate. Ayurveda body typing food programs is what I base my coaching on. We are all different, have different body types and we respond to foods differently. There is no doubt about that. What I can eat and foods I love are different from say a long distance marathon runner. What I eat may very well take him out of balance and create health problems and the reverse is also true.
I fully believe that the best way to become healthy is to begin to eat better, weight train to build muscle and strength no matter what your age and to incorporate cardiovascular training for a healthy heart and lungs. We can begin to reverse our aging process by achieving better health.
Finally, "where do I begin".
It really depends on your goals. I know a lot of people who visit my website have weight loss as a goal to which I'd like to help retrain their way of thinking into "fat loss" ,not weight loss. Good weight (muscle) is our friend and ally. When people first approach me for coaching and begin on this Whole Food program, I always tell them to begin with a health focus, not a fat loss focus. The body has other priorities and wants to put any new energy into health and healing, not fat loss.
If fat loss is your goal and you consider yourself already pretty healthy, get Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto.
if you want to learn about how to take steps to improve your health, learn about weight training, and cardiovascular training, get Lose Fat, Not Faith by Jeremy Likness. Jeremy also writes with a spiritual undertone, so is very nice for anyone leaning in that direction.
if you want to easily and effectively take control of your health, burn fat, build muscle, reduce stress and overcome health challenges by improving the quality of the food in your diet, contact me about the Whole Food program I endorse and have been involved with for over 14 years.
In 1990 Rob weighed 475 pounds and was able to burn almost 300 lbs of fat in just two and a half years. Rob does weight management coaching from his office
in Edmonton Alberta Canada. Rob's diet is based on a "System Specific Organic Whole Food" line of foods along with various
