by Kat Scheller

Created on: February 07, 2008

The magic diet. The magic pill. The magic exercise regimen. Millions of people search daily for "the" answer to their weight problem only to be disappointed over and over again. It is well known that if you eat more calories than your body needs, your body will store the extra as fat. What is less well understood is the mechanism regulating food cravings or feelings of hunger. Most diets fail because the dieter gets to the point where they just can't say "no" anymore to certain foods. My recipe for healthy weight loss can not be found in any diet book or weight loss program. It will work for those who are willing to commit the time and resources to crafting a "diet" that meets their unique personal needs.

Many diets will tell you to have a complete physical before starting. I agree 100%. Lab tests can tell you if you have a deficiency of some kind among other things. People who crave chocolate or pasta may be magnesium deficient for example. Research the foods you crave. These foods contain something your body needs or something that fools your body into wanting it. Many highly processed foods fall into the latter category. Any food item with a long list of synthetic ingredients should be off your menu while you are trying to lose weight. Do an Internet search of the foods you crave to find out what trace nutrients your body might be trying to replace. Then ask yourself if there is a lower calorie way of providing those nutrients. Vitamins might seem like the quick fix here, but especially the inexpensive big box store brands are not absorbed well and, you end up "flushing" your money. If you do decide to use vitamins, take them with food for better absorption. The point is to stop any cravings resulting from a nutritional need with as few calories as possible.

Take a good look at the source of your food. American farmers are allowed to give various hormones to their livestock to increase weight gain or milk production. Like anything else, small amounts are probably not going to hurt you - but are you really eating small amounts? Unless you buy meat and dairy products that specifically say they come from hormone free animals, you may be consuming more of these than you realize. Your personal metabolism may react to these trace hormones by increasing YOUR appetite. There are other countries where animal feed is not even regulated, so there is no way to know what might be in that meat. The EU does not allow these products to be used, so this does not apply to European

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