Did you know that the major side effect of excess weight is the impairment of insulin (a hormone) in its ability to properly process fuel?
Or properly process fats?
Or properly process sugars?
This leads to insulin resistance, causing the body to store even more fat, especially in the midsection.
We’ve been genetically conditioned to store fat as a survival strategy in times of famine. However, today, we don’t have the famine … only the feast. So, we end up storing fat.
Much of our excess weight comes from carbohydrates, especially the highly processed ones found in baked goods, breads, snacks, and other convenience foods. The processing these “foods” undergo while making them removes all of the fiber and even changes how we metabolize them – for the worse.
This is why your Metabolic Balance plan focuses on whole, real, unprocessed foods and eliminates the “crappy” carbs. Your plan allows for complex carbohydrates, clean proteins, and healthy fats.
It is important for you to enjoy your food and have a varied array of food choices. People love to eat! You can still take advantage of that passion even when you can’t eat anything you want with reckless abandon.
An eating plan that can be incorporated for life is one that should be able to accommodate your desire for bread, pasta, or treats occasionally. That is the joy of living!
If an eating plan long-term is too rigid and complicated, you won’t stick to it. Metabolic Balance’s “8 Rules” are there to guide you. Once you are in Phase 4, you won’t always be able to follow all 8 rules every single day. But you might be able to on MOST days.
MOST of the time is what counts!
This is the beauty of the Metabolic Balance plan as part of a healthy lifestyle. It IS flexible! You CAN eat foods that you actually like to eat and also that help you maintain your weight loss.
This means for a lifetime of maintenance … not for just three months or one year!
You need to think of your Metabolic Balance eating plan as a lifestyle – a way of living and eating that you can sustain for the rest of your life. Your plan doesn’t ask that you deny yourself every eating pleasure indefinitely.
I don’t even like for people to call their treats or treat meals “slip-ups”. Do not associate any guilt with food. Eating for pleasure is a part of life! I get it. There will be days when you need that chocolate ice cream or Oreo cookie(s).
If you think of your indulging as a “cheat”, that just leads to another cheat tomorrow, and then another the next day. It’s a slippery slope . . . when you’ve broken every rule, you end up discouraged, and then find yourself back to square one.
In Phase 3, you are on a cautious route, slowly incorporating additional grams of food plus new foods, paying attention to how they affect you – how you feel, how your clothes are fitting, and if the foods increase cravings.
No two people will experience Phase 3 in the same way. Some people can have pasta once a week and experience no detrimental effects. Others might find they have to avoid pasta altogether, but are alright with red potatoes or quinoa. Use Phase 3 as your food “sandbox” to test out the different foods you’ve been missing.
Because we want an eating plan that’s flexible and adaptable to your tastes and habits, you’ll have to figure out this dynamic for yourself. You want to arrive at an eating plan filled with foods that you love eating and that make you feel great.
Your strict Phase 2 plan provides the foundation from which you will build the best version of your Phase 4 plan for life.
Remember, boredom is your enemy. It leads people back to their bad old ways. Make your food as lively and diverse as possible. Make use of herbs and spices. Try new vegetables that you see at the grocery store and experiment with them.
Metabolic Balance understands that one single approach to eating isn’t realistic in meeting the needs of every single person. Every person needs to know how to make the healthiest possible choices for THEIR own body and what works best!
