Over the years it has become obvious to me that main the reason most people can’t keep their optimal weight is not their genes, hormones or other “beyond-their-control” factors, but their lifestyle and attitude towards food.

I’m not a dietitian, a doctor or any kind of diet guru – but I can honestly state that my weight is exactly the same as it was 30 years ago. I’m slim and many people assume that I starve myself or I’m on a constant diet. Actually, I’m just a natural ectomorph, who’s never had to try a fad weight-loss diet – but I’ve had my share of health issues (particularly with digestion) which made me take care of my diet. So it’s kind of true that I’m on a constant diet – a healthy, varied and balanced diet. I love food. I do eat anything and everything. I love to have a drink. I love a nice cake. I call my way of living the “wholeness diet” because it only works as a whole, in tune with nature, in tune with my body and in tune with my mind & soul.

Weight loss Dieting

It seems that every year there is a new diet, offering magical transformation despite the fact that’s is proven over and over again, that the only way to lose weight is to burn off more calories than we take in. And that’s it. No magic formula is required. You can burn more calories than you take in by eating less and/or exercising more.

Healthy eating

We are constantly bombarded with the need for Healthy eating and healthy living, yet we are getting more and more obese.  One of the reasons, I think,  why the message doesn’t get through to most people is that healthy food is associated with boring, unsatisfying, yet expensive foods –  free from gluten, dairy, grains, sugar, carbs, fat i.e. anything enjoyable or tasty. The latest fad of “clean eating” implies that other foods are dirty or bad. This is nonsense. What we should avoid ishighly processedfoods – such as most pre-cooked supermarket meals and certain fast foods. A nutritionist friend once told me this: “just don’t buy anything that has more than 5 ingredients and/or any ingredients that you can’t understand on the packaging”. So I started looking at the labels and following her advice. Incredibly, many food labels read like something out of chemistry book, even those that I’d assumed to be healthy and wholesome (particularly “free-from” foods). I now avoid these.

Exercising

When it comes to exercising, most of us have no no time to join a gym, go swimming, do cardio classes and do 10000 steps a day. Yet simple adjustments to our lifestyle can make a huge difference to our fitness level – taking the stairs instead of the lift;  using public transport; brisk walking to work; carrying the shopping; doing housework;  gardening;  DIY; standing (instead of sitting) etc. Everybody CANfind 3×10 minutes a day to do one of these tasks, if the gym or exercise classes don’t appeal.

Skincare

We tend to forget that our skin is the largest organ of our body – so whatever we put on it is just as important as what we put in it. It’s best to stay away from synthetic beauty products, household cleaners, polluted areas and so on. I must confess, over the years I have bought many organic, “wonder” products – quite honestly, you only need some cheap & cheerful natural soap; organic, natural baby shampoo and coconut oil (good as hair conditioner, body lotion and moisturiser).

Environment

As I said above, this diet only works as a whole, so we need to look at our environment & lifestyle and try to spend as much time as possible outside, in the fresh (hopefully unpolluted) air. We should try to reduce our stress level; the clutter around our home & workspaces. When it comes to cleaning our homes – bicarbonate of soda mixed with household vinegar does most jobs (also it’s important toair the housefor at least 30 minutes a day). Essential oils are useful too – for baths, massages, oil burners, vaporisers and for the laundry.

 In the next part I’ll explain in more details how mywholeness diet plan works>>