Im so sick and tired of hearing about gluten-free diets and products. I want to scream bloody murder whenever I hear how terrible carbohydrates are. Also we have these diets: Atkins, South Beach, the Zone, low-fat, liquid, grapefruit, detox, cabbage soup, macrobiotic, juice and at least 100 more. Oh, and theres this nutty diet called the paleo diet thats totally against ALL grainsAnd yet Americans are more obese than ever. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC):
So, is there anyone out there who has come up with a no-nonsense, practical way of looking at the way we eat and who has come up with a system that doesnt fixate on adding or eliminating single food groups or using supplements or promise that all you need to do is sit on the couch to get fit?
I think there is. His name is Covert Bailey and even though he retired back in 1999, his series of books about diet and exercise is, in my opinion, one of the best out there. According to Covert Bailey, the magic pill to a healthy life is exercise and eating a balanced diet. He started writing about diet and nutrition back in the late 70s and his book was entitled Fit or Fat. Its incredibly simple stuff but Im afraid since his retirement, the world of lunatic-fringe diets has become its own alternative reality.
If you want to learn more about Fit or Fat I highly recommend you read his books. In them you will see that his diet really isnt a diet at all. Its a fitness system based on some simple guiding principles which he spells out in his 25 Fitness tips. Here are several of the most important:
One of the hallmark notions of Baileys Fit or Fat is that dietary fat is a real challenge in making people fat. In his PBS presentations, he was famous for saying things like: The fat you eat is the fat you wear. But, in all seriousness, he spends a lot of time talking about the role of fats and carbohydrates in our bodies and how they are metabolized. Yes, indeed, he believes that eating a lower-fat, balanced diet is the way to go; however, he NEVER says never to most foods. The main thing he emphasizes is doing aerobic exercise several times a week which literally alters the capacity of your muscles to metabolize sugars and fats. In short, becoming fit takes some work. As a preview of his diet Ive posted what he calls his food target below. Essentially, he believes that the closer you eat toward the center of the target, the healthier you will become IF YOU EXERCISE along with eating more healthfully:
Whats interesting about this target is how it portrays various foods in terms of its fat levels. All the really yummy, greasy, fatty foods lie further out from the less processed, more basic foods. Its really ingenious and simple to think about. He doesnt say dont eat meat. He does suggest that we dont eat really greasy meat.
One of the things youll discover if you eat according to Baileys recommendations is that youll actually eat more food than you used to. Simply put, when you eat toward the center of the target, the foods arent loaded with as much sugar or fat. If youre exercising along with disciplining your eating, your lean body mass with increase and your fat levels will drop.
One of the other strange things that people experience when eating this way is that they actually gain weight but become more trim? Why, because muscle weights more than fat and as you work out aerobically and eat better, your lean muscle tissues become more efficient and they grow.
If youve been thinking about losing some weight, tone up and become healthier this year, I highly recommend you pick up Covert Baileys Fit or Fat. Its a quick read and it wont require you to do anything crazy with your diet.
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Revisiting Covert Bailey's "Fit or Fat" - Diets Don't Work ...
