1. DIETS ACTUALLY MAKE YOUR FAT CELLS FATTER.
Trying to starve a fat cell only boosts its ability to store fat, take in new fat, and multiply. Fat cells respond to starvation by holding onto the fat they already have and becoming more aggressive at taking in new fat once the diet is over.

When you skip breakfast, for example, your stomach growls and sends a message to your body that it is starving and it immediately begins to store fat for future use. Regular meals and healthy snacks are all part of a healthy lifestyle. If you don't eat breakfast, start tomorrow! Breakfast provides you with the nutrition you need to supercharge your brain, so you function better all morning long. Choose homemade whole wheat bread or whole food juice and breakfast becomes nutritious as well as delicious.

Whole foods are packed with appetite-suppressing fiber that helps you start the day satisfied and still peel off the pounds. The reason you feel satisfied is that fiber enables your body to convert dietary fat to glycogen, which tells you that you're not hungry anymore. The bonus is that glycogen not only helps you feel satisfied while eating less fat, but also increases fat-burning.

2. DIETS THAT RESTRICT NUTRITIONAL INTAKE MESS WITH YOUR METABOLISM.
When you follow a very low calorie diet, you risk starving your body of vital nutrients. This can trigger a complex chain reaction that will eventually tell your metabolism to stop burning so many calories. Then, when you start eating normally again, it takes quite a while for your metabolic rate to get back up to speed. Meanwhile, you start gaining weight--often as much or more than you originally lost.

Delicious, healthy foods give your body the nutrients it needs to operate efficiently. Whole foods provide maximum nutrition and keep your metabolism burning at a steady rate. This nutrition will help fight infection, improve memory, reduce your risk of stroke and defy disease, while also helping you lose weight.

3. MOST DIETS REQUIRE TOO MANY CHANGES IN EATING HABITS.
Behavioral scientists believe it takes 30 to 40 days of repitition for the human brain to master a new habit. New "diets" often require you to learn multiple rules and regulations and record the results of various charts and tables on top of changing your eating pattern. Attempting too many changes in dietarty habits at one time can overload the brain and all but guarantee defeat.

Make only one or two changes to your diet at first. It's especially easy to start by making delicious whole food juice for breakfast or substituting it for high-carbohydrate snacks. Once you get used to that change, your brain will be free to make additional lifestyle changes that you can stick to.

4. MANY DIETS ARE BASED ON TASTE BUD BOREDOM.
A diet that forces you to eat bland, unappetizing food or chalky-tasking milkshakes, causes you to fantasize about "forbidden food". These mental images generate cravings which cause impulses that entice you to think of ways to satisfy your deprived taste buds. Failure is virtually guaranteed, because boring food is no match for the power of your imagination!

Satisfy your taste buds with nutritious and delicious variations of your favorite foods. Whole fruit smoothies, satisfying soups, salsas, healthy puddings and whole grains provide low-fat, low-sugar choices to help you enjoy the process of reaching your weight-loss goals.

5. THE HIGH PRICE OF DIETING CAN BE MORE DISCOURAGING THAN ANYTHING.
Many popular diets include long lists of what you should and shouldn't eat, including foods not available in the supermarket. So you're paying to be on a diet and paying high prices for special foods hyped as "magic bullet" to rapid weight loss--but they seldom are.

Base your diet on fresh, whole foods, so you can count the savings along with the calories. Use fresh, whole fruits, grains and vegetables. The "magic" of fresh, whole foods is that you can eat all you want and still lose weight. When you eat high-calorie, high-fat foods, you tend to keep on eating and eating, because fat doesn't make us feel full. Whole foods, however, are rich in fiber which makes us feel full and we stop eating sooner.

6. THE DESIRE TO LOSE WEIGHT NOW IS UNREALISTIC.
When you don't see the desired results, it's easy to get discouraged and give up. Motivation disappears when your goal is tied only to the end result rather than sound strategy.

Choose realistic goals--like substituting a favorite "forbidden food" with a healthy alternative. As you incorporate healthy lifestyle changes into your daily routine, positive results will be gradual, but inevitable. Changing to a whole foods lifestyle will have positive results. Increasing your whole foods intake, cutting sugar and reducing fat will give you more energy and boost your immune system. You will also lose weight at a pace your body is comfortable with. The best part is, your new whole foods lifestyle will help you to keep the weight off-successfully.

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