The Diet Thing

Anyone who has been in the food service business for as many years as I had has probably had some dieting issues. My first year of professional cooking was 1975. I was stationed on the Coast Guard Training Ship Eagle. On the three month cruise to Europe and back I went from 155 pounds to about 180 from eating an unhealthy diet and getting virtually no exercise. I was shocked that I could put on that much weight quickly. Luckily I shed it when I was transferred to a different ship and had more of a chance to exercise. I then topped out at about 190 in 1994 before figuring out how to keep the excess weight off for the rest of my life. Throughout all of this gaining weight and losing weight I tried many different diets. The first was the Atkins Diet. Wow, what an example of how not to diet. The Atkins diet is one of the most restricted diet out there limiting you to lots of meat and virtually no carbs that we tend to crave. There are just too many off limits foods that set you up to fail. Then there was the Fatflush Plan. There were some good aspects to that, like drinking lemon water in the morning to help your liver. It too was doomed to failure though. Next was the Eat Right for Your Type Diet. That was the one that thought your blood type determined what you should and should not eat. Once again it was too restrictive and doomed to failure. Last but not least was the South Beach Diet. I have to say it was the best of the bunch, but it too is doomed to failure as there are too many temptations to knock you off course.

Even though I have had my weight under control for the last 18 years I am still very interested in eating healthy and figuring out the secret to maintaining a healthy diet and weight. When a friend told me about The Gabriel Method I was curious enough to check it out from the library. I just finished reading it and believe it to be the best resource out there on maintaining a healthy weight level with or without dieting. It is an amazing story of Jon Gabriel’s journey to find a better method of losing weight. Jon lost over 220 and did it without dieting. Jon says in his book you are not fat because you eat too much. He says you are fat because your body wants to be fat, and not because you are weak or lazy. Jon spells out several reasons your body wants to be fat and how to address those reasons. He lays out the types of foods you should eat to help cut the cravings for the junk food many of us indulge in. He has done extensive research into biochemistry, organic chemistry and biology, and shows you how to train your body to want to eat a healthy diet without feeling hungry or deprived based on his research. There is also instructions on visualizing techniques that help you in the process. While I don’t agree with everything in his book I believe it to be the best resource out there to unlock the key to a slimmer healthier you.  It sets you up to succeed by making sure you don’t go hungry, or feel deprived while changing your eating habits. Do yourself a favor and check it out if you have any desire to lose weight and eat healthier.