Is there a short cut to weight loss?

I just saw one of my teen patients today at the gym. He was telling me that his mom, dad, and good friend are doing the "Cookie Diet" now, "they are doing awesome on it, they lost ~20 pounds." "They eat 6 cookies to start their day and then have a protein and vegetables for dinner." NOW- C'MON. These are intelligent people, they really think this is the answer. Everyone who diets, wants a gimmick. They think the only way for them to get results is to have a gimmick to follow, and the only goal in their mind is to have a lower number show up on the scale. It doesn't matter if the number is reflecting muscle, organ tissue, water and some fat loss and that they won't follow it for life. They often say, I'll just do this diet for awhile to get a jump start, then I'll eat healthier and more balanced. Yeah, that's really gonna work. Nope. THE DEFINITION OF A DIET WORKING, IS THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO IT FOR LIFE. I hear it all the time, on the radio, from the people I talk to, "oh that diet worked great for me, I lost 20, 30, 40 etc. pounds, I gained half of it back when I got off of it, so I just have to go back on it, then I'll be fine."

This diet perspective that people have is warped. This mindset is way off. The real truth in regards to our weight and health, is giving our body respect, treat it with kindness. Listen to it, is it hungry, or is it just wanting to move, or is it wanting to dance, pray, sing, or talk. It's time for Americans to shape up with their mindset or ship out to their demise. Look at the stats, the obesity rate in the US is increasing in all states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AP, "released a report last year that found a nationwide obesity rate of 32%." Obesity costs $117 billion a year in preventable health care expenditures and "is pushing the health care system to the breaking point, according to Jim Marks, a senior vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a health care philanthropy group that sponsored the Trust for America's Health Study released in 2007. Mississippi ranked number one three years in a row as the fattest state in the country and Colorado is the leanest. For childhood obesity, DC is No. 1, with 22.8% of its children are overweight (great job our nation's capital) and Utah ranked last with 8.5%. What is it that they are doing differently in Colorado and Utah to be the leanest in our country? The study doesn't show that, but as a Registered Dietitian for over 13 years, I can logically deduce that in Colorado they have a beautiful environment that is conducive to exercising, when I went to a conference there, I saw everyone running around, hiking, biking, walking to go eat. The air there breathes health. And in Utah, they pray, a great way to nourish the soul and distract from the eating focus. To end, I pray that our society can focus on self-care and respect so that we set a good example for our kids, so that they can live longer than us, right now if things continue as is, they may die before us, G-d forbid.

Your Livitician, Deborah A. Klein, MS, RD