A New Year A New You
By Dietitian Hope Anderson. Posted on .
New Years Resolutions – How often do we as individuals make these so-called ‘New Years Resolutions' and actually commit to them before the end of the month of January? Do you fit the description of such an individual? In some sort of way, we all fit that description.
What are your resolutions for 2013? Are you planning on ‘losing several pounds?’ The pounds you gained over the holidays, or are you making a ‘lifestyle change?’ If you said ‘yes’ to either one…just keep in mind that they are not similar.
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In the past you may have lost weight and struggled to get the results you wanted and was probably even more unsuccessful in keeping those pounds off. For other individuals, a lifestyle change is different from losing several pounds. Making a lifestyle change, requires you to make nutritional assessment and test your readiness in making sure that you personally want to lose the weight, and that you are committed to make the necessary shifts in your daily lifestyle.
For individuals that are on ‘the quest of wanting to lose weight’ - the key is the reduction of ‘numbers’, which will also attain better health. Here are the respective crucial numbers:
— Blood Pressure
— Blood Sugar
— Cholesterol
— Body Fat
— Triglycerides
— Other CVD Risk Markers
— Other Insulin Resistance Markers
Why Not Weight? The greatest fault with a resolution for weight loss is that it isn't a very good resolution at all—because it won't help anyone make the long-term goal of getting healthier. Research shows Losing weight isn’t the way to better health—losing FAT is. Losing fat is the key to getting those numbers down. Body composition is a much better indicator of health —the ratio of unhealthy fat versus the ratio of lean tissue (such as muscle. As you age you gradually begin to lose muscle. You could be at a "healthy" weight and still be "overfat" and unhealthy. Most dietary programs are focused on losing weight only, which may require an extreme reduction in food intake—not eating fat, not eating carbs, or just plain not eating much of anything at all. With these diets, success is based primarily on will power. These diets can cause the body to go into starvation mode and store fat, resulting in weight loss from muscle. Of course your scale shows weight lost but you may not be getting healthier.
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Therapeutic Diets – FirstLine Therapy
You need a program that emphasizes how to lose fat, and not muscles to improve your body composition. That is a better way to meet your health goals. With FirstLine Therapy meal pattern people lose fat, not muscle, and improve their body composition.
FirstLine Therapy isn't just a weight loss program. It's an effective, clinically tested therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) program to help you lose fat and reach your goal for better health. FirstLine Therapy incorporates a clinically designed dietary plan and simple exercise recommendations, along with personalized medical foods and nutritional supplements, to help you reach better health without medication. Most importantly, FirstLine Therapy teaches healthy habits that are easy to integrate into any lifestyle. For that reason you will be working towards better health every day—not just thinking about it as each New Year begins.
