Slim Down

When it comes to losing weight, there is much too often a big emphasis on calories, saturated fats, and portion sizes.  While these three things can most definitely contribute to weight loss, they are not the things to start with. This guide will hopefully change your mindset as well as the foods you are limiting yourself.

Each step should be integrated with smart activity or exercise as well as lots of vegetables.

Best results are going to be in those who follow the Paleo diet, but if it is too strict to be realistic for you, then start here.

Step 1: Artificial Ingredients and Additives (Go organic or at least all natural)

  • Remove ALL Trans Fats (See the Trans Fat page on how to do so)
  • Remove ALL High Fructose Corn Syrup
  • Remove ALL Monosodium Glutamate
  • Remove ALL artificial sugars, food colorings, etc

Just doing these 4 things can often be enough if not, move on to step 2: (All of the following items are recommended even if not needed for weight loss, but to ensure optimal health)

Step 2: Carbohydrate Control

  • Remove bread
  • Remove rice
  • Remove pasta
  • Remove legumes
  • Remove white potatoes
  • Cut down on the amount of sugar you are consuming (desserts, sauces, juices, etc)

Step 3: Animal Protein (Meat)

  • Switch to quality  meat (See the good types of meat here)
  • Begin to incorporate quality animal protein at every meal

Step 4: Dairy

  • Remove ALL dairy products (Lactose is sugar! Trying low fat / fat free milk will only leave you with an insulin spike / dump and will not help fat-loss)

Step 5: Carbohydrate Control Part 2 (Natural Fruit Sugar)

  • Limit fruit to primarily berries (Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc)
  • Remove any fruit juice you may be consuming (contains lots of sugar but little to no fiber)
  • Significantly limit smoothies to treats

Step 6: Go Paleo!

By the end of the list your diet should be consisting of mainly lean meats, chicken, fish, berries, vegetables, seeds, and nuts.

If this is not working as fast as you would like, and are exercising as much as possible, consider using the Zone diet to help manage portion sizes. The zone diet is NOT a substitution for proper food choices but can help you with portion control if you are needing it. Removing starchy vegetables such as squash, yams, sweet potatoes, etc can also help stalled fat-loss.