I want to lose weight: Should I eat fruit?

I've been getting this question a lot lately, so I decided to write a quick post about it. While it's true that fruits are a great source of fiber and nutrients, they are also a source of sugar. Anytime you hear "ose" on the end of a word (fructose, dextrose, sucrose) you should immediately think the of the S word: Sugar! Fructose is the sugar contained in fruits. And while it is a natural sugar, it's still sugar. In fact, sugar itself is natural. It's a whole, real food. That doesn't mean you should eat it! 

But you just said fruit was loaded with nutrients and fiber! There are no nutrients in fruit that you can't get from vegetables, so if your goal is significant weight loss, replace your fruits with vegetables. Because most people reach for fruit in the morning, a simple solution is to make extra vegetables for dinner the night before (roasted broccoli or cauliflower are my favorites) so you can easily reheat them in the morning with your proteins. Not only will you get all of the nutrients and fiber you're after, you'll also feel satiated much longer from the vegetables than you would if you had chosen to eat a fruit salad with your egg. 

And as Gary Taubes asserts in "Why We Get Fat," What makes fruit worrisome from the perspective of Adiposity 101 is that it is sweet to the taste precisely because it contains a type of sugar known as fructose, and fructose is uniquely fattening as carbohydrates go. As nutritionists and public-health authorities have become increasingly desperate in their attempts to rein in the obesity epidemic, they've also become increasingly strident in their suggestions that we eat copious fruit along with green vegetables. Fruit doesn't have to be processed before we eat it: it's fat- and cholesterol-free; it has vitamins and antioxidants; and so, by this logic, must be good for us. Maybe so. But if we're predisposed to put weight on, it's a good bet that most fruit will make the problem worse, not better" (p 136).

The bottom line is this: if you want to lose weight, greatly reduce your sugar intake, including fruits. If you want to eat fruit, stick to the low-glycemic varieties, such as berries and apples, and try to save eating them for when you want dessert or are craving something sweet.  

Need A Little Monday Motivation?

Because sometimes you just want to stick your head in the sand

If you want to lose weight, you don't need to count calories. You simply need to eat until you are nutritionally satisfied. This concept sounds wonderfully simple, but take a look around and you'll see that it's quite challenging for most people. Then look around in nature: do you ever see an overweight lion or a giraffe with love handles? These animals eat, move and live in accordance with their unique body chemistry and needs. We, on the other hand, have lost touch with our internal cues with regards to what to eat, when to sleep, when to drink water, how much water to drink, when to move, when to rest....the list goes on and on. And add into the mix that we are overwhelmed with an enormity of mis-information and a dizzying array of overly-processed food products, and you have yourself a society full of fat lions. 

So, what's an easy way to get back on track? If you've been following my blog, you know that the first steps are to switch to an organic diet, stop eating gluten (and really grains in general), eat right for your Metabolic Type and hire a Chek Practitioner to design a stretching and exercise program that takes your body's stress levels and physiological load into account so that you don't overtrain yourself into an even more stressed state (and, consequently, a bigger pair of jeans). 

Wow. That's actually a lot to chew! No pun intended. So whether you've been gluten-free for 3 years or you're just starting to conceptualize your morning without that big bowl of Cheerios, here are a few nutrition tips that you can incorporate today to start looking, feeling and functioning at your best. 

First things first: if you don't want to gain weight, you must snack! The trick here is to not let yourself get too hungry. If you're serious about fat loss, then you have to be serious about blood sugar regulation. Why? Because when you go too long without eating, the chances are pretty high that the first thing you'll reach for for quick energy when you DO eat will be high in carbohydrates and/or sugar. And when you eat processed carbs/sugary foods, your blood sugar levels sky rocket, which in turn causes your adrenals to release insulin, which results in an energy boost followed by an energy crash. This instability in time leads to body fat storage, adrenal depletion, chronic fatigue and mood swings. So, when should you eat? Most people need to eat every four hours. And what should you snack on? Here are two snacks that are high in heart-healthy saturated fats and omega-3s, wonder foods for keeping your blood sugar levels stable. 

Two Moms In The Raw Gluten-Free Almond Butter Cacao Truffles: Easy to find at Whole Foods and many other health food stores, this low-glycemic, count-the-ingredients-on-one-hand super snack is loaded with healthy fats and proteins to keep you satiated AND keep your blood sugar in check. The perfect snack to keep at your desk at work (better than the doughnuts or candy your co-workers are eating) and ideal to take on a long hike for sustained energy. 

Prather Ranch Grass-Fed Cowboy Style Beef Jerky: The yellow lab approves! Prather Ranch recently got their sugar and gluten-free beef jerky back in stock, so head down to their shop at the Ferry Building before it's sold out again! This beef jerky is an easy and convenient way to get real, high-quality protein in an easy-to-carry-around snack. Working out and heading back to the office? Beef jerky! Long car trip to Tahoe? Beef jerky!  

Mix it up! If you truly want to stick to a healthy lifestyle, it has to be sustainable for life. My friend and fellow CHEK Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach Diane Sanfilippo, recently published an amazing cookbook called Practical Paleo that is full of super easy recipes that are all dairy, gluten and grain-free and most importantly, delicious. Diane is incredibly talented in the art of taking a healthy meal and making it taste so good that you forget it's good for you! So if you're in a menu rut, check out her cookbook for some new healthy dishes.