Exercising and not seeing results?

If you are the type of person who bribes yourself over food and workouts: “I will eat this (insert junk food) and then run on the treadmill for an hour and it will be like nothing happened,” you may want to switch up your strategy. Science shows us that diet, not exercise is the key to losing weight more quickly and efficiently.

Numerous studies have shown that physical activity does not have a significant effect on weight. For example, a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics which included over 1,000 people, found that when diet stayed the same, increasing workouts from less than 1.5 hours a week up to 3-5 hours a week, over the course of one full year, lead to an average weight loss of 3-4 pounds. You could healthfully lose that in as little as two weeks by changing your diet.

There is no questioning that exercise is a critical part of a healthy lifestyle.

It has many proven benefits including: supporting the immune system balancing blood sugar aiding elimination protecting against heart disease and certain cancers lowering stress levels boosting mood supporting hormonal health, and perhaps even prolonging your life.

But weight loss? While it certainly doesn’t hurt and can help to a limited extent, the science just doesn’t show it has as large an impact on the scale as the junk food industry would like you to believe. This myth is one perpetuated across the food industry.

So, What Is the Best Way To Lose Weight? Eating real, whole, plant-based food is the key to losing and maintaining a healthy weight. Numerous studies indicate that the best diet is one that keeps blood sugar stable (so bye bye, refined foods) and incorporates a variety of whole foods, which I like to call real foods. A real food diet is able to afford these results, as it regulates hunger and keeps you satiated while delivering an abundance of nutrients through a relatively low number of calories. When you eat real foods, they take up your stomach space, so to speak, and crowd out other less healthy foods in the diet, like processed foods, which tend to be low in nutrients and high in calories.

Real food is what you find in the outside the aisles of the grocery store. It’s all the edible products Mother Nature gave us in their unadulterated form: fresh vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, and unprocessed meat.

So, if you feel like you’re working out like a maniac, yet the scale isn’t budging, take a look at your diet.

One of the best places to start is removing sugar and refined foods, and adding in more vegetables and fruit. I know, I know, easier said than done. Seriously, following my crowd it out theory where you focus on adding in more nourishing foods vs eliminating tons is the perfect first step. Browsing my blog for recipes is a good place to start too. And remember my Grabbagreen restaurant that's opening this fall 2017...Fast food just got a lot healthier.

XO

Marcella