This constant starvation/gorge cycle is hardly the way you are supposed to live. Studies show that this sort of yo-yo dieting is bad for your heart.

This diet paradigm is flawed. Like many personal development gimmicks, it tries to force change from the outside in. The results are superficial and don’t last. It relies on discipline for the entire time, without modifying any of the underlying beliefs around eating. Deeply rooted, meaningful, lasting change doesn’t happen from something as superficial as “having discipline” to not eat that piece of cake – for a few months. Instead of looking at how to diet, let us look at the relationship with food. Interestingly, I started eating a whole foods-vegan diet to increase my energy, not to lose weight, which is the source of this line of thinking. I drastically increased my energy level – and also lost 35lbs! It is pretty straightforward, actually.

So why do you eat – are you living to eat, or are you eating to live?

The general world view is that you live to eat. You buy delicious foods and you want to eat as much as you can enjoy. But as Jews, that answer is very lacking – we eat to maintain our bodies, to that we can better serve Hashem by following the Torah. That doesn’t mean we should be ascetic, only eat enough dry bread to survive on. We make brachos in appreciation of the food that Hashem gives us. We are told to enjoy food on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Enjoy your meals and dessert on Shabbos – I have 72% cocoa chocolate bars (this is significantly healthier than the normal 20% cocoa chocolate bars). During the week, I enjoy delicious fruit for breakfast each morning, and I flavor all my food so that I enjoy it. For people that enjoy spicy-hot food, they have even more options. You can enjoy food – but keep in mind its ultimate purpose. Form follows function: if food is to keep you alive and energetic, then take healthy food and make it tasty. If nutrition is only an afterthought, then you take tasty food and consider nutrition as an afterthought.

I think that most discipline issues regarding food really come from a doubt. Is this cup of soda REALLY bad for me? Is it REALLY terrible to have a piece of cake? (Take a look at: You Only Need Discipline When You Have A Choice)

Let’s look at weight: if you are 20 lbs over weight, go to the kosher gym or store, pick up 20 lbs, and walk around with it. Feel how heavy it is. Would you like to walk around with that for the entire day? Does it make living life easier? That is what you are currently doing!

If you eat until you are stuffed, and then feel that you just want to go to sleep, or eat something sugary and have an energy crash, your food has just interfered with your life, instead of helping it. Do you even notice when you crash? I don’t think most people are conscious enough of their physical energy to really notice it, especially in knowledge work. Maybe you don’t even see the connection between your body and your mind. But your body – and diet – make a huge difference on your motivation and energy your brain has available. If your body is slow and sluggish, then YOU feel slow and sluggish.

What does eating healthier actually mean? The news tells you about which supplement or fruit or vegetable is really great for you. All the fad diets… the low fat or low carb foods. It is really easy to be confused!

Simply, eating healthy means eating things that nourishes your body. Any food that has been altered to reduce the nourishment is for people that “live to eat”. The mainstream concept of diet largely ignores WHAT you are eating, instead focusing on how much. Eating less non-nutritious may help you lose weight, but won’t make you healthy! All healthy food is good for you, contributing many vitamins and minerals, not just “not bad”.

Nourishing for the body means it must be natural and unprocessed – leaving the nutrition, hydration, and fiber intact. Fruits, vegetables, greens, whole grains (whole wheat, brown rice, kasha, millet, quinoa, etc), legumes, raw nuts and seeds all meet these criteria.

•          If it isn’t natural, such as chemicals, then your body can’t handle them well.
•          Processing generally extracts parts such as sugar or corn syrup – leaving you with a concentrate of calories lacking nutrients. Or, processing removes the bran on wheat, rice, or sesame seeds (for techina) – taking away most of the fiber, protein, vitamins, or calcium.
•          Your body is about 70% water, so your food should help maintain that water. Fruits and veggies are 85%+ water.
•          Fiber helps the body flush out waste from the food and body maintenance. If your bowel movements are painful or hard, you need more fiber.

Natural sweeteners include honey, real maple syrup, stevia extract, agave nectar, date honey…

The typical unhealthy foods are processed or unnatural, most notably white flour, white sugar, oils, and chemicals. Those basic ingredients make up nearly all of the standard american diet – with the appropriate acronym of SAD. That includes white bread, every cereal, soft-drink, splenda (they add three chlorine atoms to a sugar molecule), and even soy.

You can ignore the nutrition facts and just look at the ingredients list: are they whole, natural foods? Avocados may have more calories than an energy bar, but the body knows how to handle an avocado.

Wait – you haven’t mentioned milk, cheese, eggs, fish, chicken, and meat! Unfortunately, no animal products have fiber in them, most are fatty, – and they are HEAVILY filled with chemicals. The animals are fed antibiotics and growth hormone – and then fed to you. A diet heavy in animal products is linked to heart problems and other diseases.

But don’t I need calcium? Yes – but not from milk! Milk is known to cause allergies & ear infections (the body generally stops producing lactase at age 2, but is never suited to process casein, a heavy molecule that contains the calcium in milk.)
Calcium is one of the major food myths in America. Looking at the facts: American women consume tremendous amounts of calcium, but their rates of osteoporosis are among the highest in the world. Chinese people consume half as much calcium (mostly from plant sources) and don’t even have a word for osteoporosis. A Harvard Nurses’ Study of over 77,000 women found that two or more glasses of milk per day gave you a higher risk of broken hips and arms than drinking one glass or less per day.
Greens, sesame, and nuts are all good sources of calcium. Whole sesame techina has more calcium per volume than milk does.

What about protein? Another American food myth – Americans get too MUCH protein – which also leads to osteoporosis. The Journal of Nutrition reported that doubling how much protein you eat causes your calcium loss to double. You don’t even need animal products for protein – the old food pyramid actually listed legumes as “poor man’s meat”. Most whole grains (about 10% protein by volume), greens, and nuts also have abundant protein.

So why is this kind of junk food so prevalent? Convenience and taste. It’s just easier, cheaper, and better tasting. Chemicals, taking off the bran, adding lots of salt, and hydrogenating fats increase shelf life. Frying in oil and carcinogenic microwaving is faster. Salad dressings contain sugar or corn syrup rather than a healthier sweetener, and canola oils rather than olive oil because it is cheaper. Sugar and fats just make things taste better.

Stop living to eat. Why are you eating? To live! For energy! So choose something nutritious!
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• Eat whole, unprocessed, natural foods in uncontrolled portion sizes
• Combine those foods properly, for quick exit combinations – following the Fit For Life guideline

While this diet could be very extreme, Rose presents this diet in 5 different levels of detoxification. She warns that if you go completely raw natural foods too quickly, toxins will build up in the body instead of being eliminated, besides for the psychological impracticality of switching your diet so suddenly and completely.
She has a little questionnaire to determine what level you are currently on, and suggest staying at each level for at least one month before moving to a more detoxified level. Each level comes with a sample one week meal plan, with all the recipes included in the back of the book. There are many treats included in the recipes, that are all natural.

She suggests that everyone, even kids, eat only whole grain products, and all adults should combine their food properly. If this is all a person changes for the rest of their life, Rose says this is enough to make a difference.

This detox diet will help you lose weight, feel healthier, have more energy, and eat like never before.
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We see many restaurant offering salads now. However, they are mostly just tossed meals with extra greens!

Please note, an actual salad is vegetables – cucumber, lettuce, pepper, carrot, alfalfa, kale, tomato…… and NOT egg, chicken, meat, etc… If it has those, its a tossed meal. If course, you can mix your salad and your meal, but it’s no longer a salad!

What are the benefits of salads?

• Veggies with every meal provide needed fiber to get undigested food waste out of your body.
• They also provide lots of nutrients and enzymes, if eaten raw, that will aid in digestion.
• Salads are help fill you up and look wonderful and colorful on the dinner table.
• They can be eaten as a completely healthy and guiltless light meal.

And don’t worry about them making you gain weight. If you look at Weight Watchers, vegetables are ZERO points!

Image from morguefile
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• Don’t drink with your meal
• Eat slowly – for better enjoyment and digestion
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• Enjoy your food – theres especially no point in scarfing down junk food if you don’t stop to taste it. If you are splurging on something sweet, take the time to enjoy the flavor and mouth feel!
• Chew well to make the food easier to digest in the stomach. When you chew, the saliva in your mouth mixes with the food. The saliva breaks down carbohydrates. Also, if you are breaking breaking up the food, the digestive juices of the stomach can get to them easier.
• Those who eat slower eat less – if you are trying to lose some weight, one main way is portion control. If you eat slower, the brain has time to figure out that you are full, so you can stop eating. I have heard people say they keep eating and suddenly find themselves completely stuffed (and don’t feel so good). Eating slower will help!

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Trans fats are very commonly found in

processed foods such as cookies, cakes, chips, and fast foods.

BEWARE: Under the current rules, items with up to 0.5 grams of trans fat can be labeled as having zero grams of trans fat. To ensure you are avoiding all trans-fat, check the ingredients for hydrogenated vegetable oil (even if it’s only partially hydrogenated).

More about the Harvard study
Trans fat information @ American Heart Association
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No funny science or calorie accounting involved, just a few simple and mnemonic tricks for giving your willpower the upper hand.

There are just three rules and one exception:

• No Snacks
• No Sweets
• No Seconds

Except (sometimes) on days that start with ‘S’

That’s it.

How could something this simple possibly work? Precisely because it’s simple — or rather, following the Einsteinian dictum, “as simple as possible, but not simpler.” For all its folksy charm, there’s a lot of serious, practical wisdom packed into those 14 words.

While there are other diets that work on some scientific principles and people report good results, this is very simple and should work well.

Read more at the official No S Diet website.
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Whole grains include:

• wild & brown rice
• whole wheat, oats, and rye, corn
• oatmeal
• barley
• popcorn
• bulgar
• amaranth
• millet
• quinoa
• sorghum
• triticale

Benefits from eating whole grains include:

• More satisfied from less calories – lose weight.
• Reduced risk of heart disease by decreasing cholesterol levels, blood pressure and blood coagulation
• Reduced risk of many types of cancer
• Reduced risk of diabetes
• The fiber prevents: constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticulosis; is linked to prevent some cancers; and may help lower the LDL (bad) cholesterol.
• Help to regulate blood glucose in people living with diabetes

Suggestions on getting more whole wheat:

• Choose whole grain bread and pasta
• Have a whole grain breakfast cereal or oatmeal in the morning
• Substitute 1/4 to 1/2 the white flour with whole wheat flour for cookies, muffins, breads and pancakes
• Add oats to cookies or other desserts
• Add brown rice, wild rice, or barley in your vegetable soup
• Snack on popcorn (make it yourself to avoid needless chemicals and go easy on the salt!)

Some whole grain products contain lots of sugar, salt, or sources of trans fat. Avoid these!
Additionally, to determine if a packaged food product is whole grain, look for the word “whole” in the first ingredient, since the ingredients are sorted by weight. This is the ONLY way to tell if it’s whole wheat. 7 grain, cracked, multi-grain, stone, or the bread being dark does NOT mean whole wheat.

Some credit to HealthCastle.
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An egg yolk contains around 200mg of cholesterol. It is recommended not to get more than 200-400mg/day. However, all animal products including milk, cheese, chicken and meat (with the exception of skim-milk and products from it) contain cholesterol. So how can you avoid the cholesterol in egg? Here are some handy substitutions, try them and see what works the best.

• For scrambling and making omelets
  • Egg whites- A good combination is two egg whites for every egg yolk.
  • Silken tofu – This works best with crumbled firm or extra firm tofu. It helps to add lots of seasonings like onions, mushrooms, nutritional yeast or cheese, and herbs. One egg = 1/4 cup tofu.
• If Egg is for it’s liquid only – If the egg is the main liquid ingredient.
  • Liquid – Two tablespoons per egg of any liquid, like juice, milk or soy milk, will do just fine.
  • Banana, Apple Sauce, Pureed Fruit- for each egg: 1/2 of a mashed banana, 1/4 cup apple sauce or pureed fruit. These add moisture to the recipe, so they might require longer baking time.
• If egg is for binding – If the recipe has one egg but a fair amount of baking powder or soda, or if there are no other components in the recipe that would be able to hold the other ingredients together, like bread crumbs, nuts, flour, etc.
  • Banana- 1/2 of a mashed banana for each egg.
  • Liquid- Try blending two ounces of silken or soft tofu per egg with the liquid in the recipe.
  • Arrowroot, soy flour – One tablespoon of arrowroot or soy flour and two tablespoons water mixed together.
  • A mixture of 2 tablespoons flour, two tablespoons water, ½ (half) tablespoon oil and ½ (half) teaspoon baking powder.
• If Egg is for Leavening – If there are no other rising agents.
  • Add an extra half teaspoon of baking powder per egg. To avoid a bitter final product, limit the amount of baking powder or baking soda to one teaspoon per cup of flour.
  • An acidic liquid, e.g. buttermilk or thinned and beaten yogurt for the liquid required in the recipe.
  • Add air to lighten by creaming together the sweetener and the fat before adding dry ingredients.
  • Whip the liquid ingredients together in a food processor for 30-45 seconds.
• As a glue for breading
  • Milk – Crumbs won’t stick as well; consider refrigerating the breaded food for about an hour before cooking to improve adhesion.
• Other miscellaneous substitutions for baking
  • Egg whites- Two egg whites for each whole egg. This substitution may make baked goods less tender. To compensate, try adding 1 teaspoon of oil per egg called for in recipe.
  • Banana - 1/2 of a mashed ripe banana and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder for each egg
  • Apple Sauce- 1/4 cup apple sauce for each egg called for in a sweet, baked recipe.
  • Gelatin – For each egg: Dissolve 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin in 1 tablespoon cold water, then add 2 tablespoons boiling water. Beat vigorously until frothy.
  • Cornstarch – Substitute 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 3 tablespoons water for each egg called for in recipe. Seems good for Fit for Life diets
  • Silken tofu – 1/4 cup tofu for each egg.
  • Fruit-based fat substitutes – Substitute 2 tablespoons fat substitute for each egg in recipe.
  • 1 egg = 2 tablespoons liquid + 2 tablespoons flour + ½ tablespoon shortening + ½ teaspoon baking powder (Recipe from Epstein, Becky Sue and Hilary Dole Klein, Substituting Ingredients. Add one or two drops of yellow food coloring if desired.)

Other tips from the TheCookingInn:

Other Tips For Light, Eggless Baking:
Successful eggless baking will be more successful if you don’t take for granted the type of flour you use. For example, whole wheat flour contains gluten, which can make a chewy end product.
Try replacing some of the whole wheat flour with whole wheat pastry flour or any other flour that doesn’t contain gluten, like brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, soy flour, corn flour, millet flour, amaranth flour, or quinoa flour. Keep in mind, however, that gluten helps baked goods rise, and substituting with a low-gluten flour may not always work.

For egg-based recipes such as quiches and custards, however, the substitutes should be used for only half of the eggs. And the fat that’s added prevents them from working in recipes calling for beaten whites, such as meringues and souffles.

Note: To maintain the integrity of your recipe, you shouldn’t try to replace more than two eggs.

And just a reminder, you do not need any cholesterol in your diet. The body makes its own.
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