If you've already made a list of New Year's resolutions to lose weight, get more active and become healthier in 2008, then I would like to urge you to add another point: to have a sensible approach to diet, exercise and health in the coming year.
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Most people who spent 2007 struggling with their weight have probably decided to try to lose weight in 2008. My wishes for you are as follows:
Weight loss
May you NOT:
Try any fad diets that are unbalanced, too low in energy, lacking vital nutrients, or so minimalistic that the diet won't even keep a sparrow alive.
Buy any diet pills or potions or patches or drops or injections that contain epinephrine, pseudo-epinephrine, synephrine, bitter orange extract or Citrus Auratum.
Spend large sums of money on diet programmes that are not balanced or sensible, which cut out whole food groups and specify strange eating patterns.
Switch from one diet to another so that you develop the yo-yo dieting syndrome, which will undermine your metabolism.
May you:
Make use of balanced weight loss diets that contain all the food groups and do not deprive you of energy to such an extent that your dieting attempts fail.
Only use diet medications that have been prescribed by your doctor such as Xenical or Reductil.
Spend your money on joining weight-loss programmes with proven track records and that use balanced, supportive approaches, e.g. Weigh-Less or Weight Watchers.
Spend your money on consulting a dietician who will help you and your family to lose weight in a sensible way.
Stick to your sensible weight loss programme and not give up at the first sign of a problem, or chop and change every few weeks.
Exercise
May you NOT:
Make endless excuses as to why you cannot do exercise, unless you suffer from a physical disability.
Postpone your exercise programme all the time – start today!
Use the incorrect kind of exercise to lose weight.
Spend your money on expensive gadgets and exercise machines.
Exercise to exhaustion so that you become demotivated and harm your body.
May you:
Find proactive solutions to solve any impediments to exercise such as time constraints, safety issues, and lack of funds.
Start exercising for at least 30 minutes a day, starting today!
Use aerobic exercise to lose weight and weight-bearing exercise to firm up problem areas.
Spend your money on joining a good gym or Walk for Life or sports club.
Exercise sensibly, pacing your body, so that you obtain the greatest benefit from the exercise and can keep it up all year.
Children
May you NOT:
Avoid facing the issue that your child is becoming obese or physically inactive.
Try out adult diet solutions on your children.
Equate love with food.
May you:
Seek expert guidance from a dietician if your child is overweight or obese and enrol him/her in a programme that promotes physical activity.
Use diet solutions that are appropriate to children and their needs to grow.
Help your children to lose weight sensibly, because you love them.
Diet-related conditions (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, allergies, ulcers, gastric reflux)
May you NOT:
Spend your money on unproven and potentially dangerous herbal and over-the-counter medications.
Self-diagnose your condition and treat it by cutting out the wrong foods so that you develop deficiencies.
Use unbalanced diets to remedy your problem.
Try to solve your diet needs yourself.
May you:
Seek help from a dietician to plan a proper diet prescription for your condition.
Get a correct diagnosis by asking your medical doctor to do the appropriate tests.
Use balanced diets that avoid the offending foods, but still provide you with all the nutrients you need for good health.
Use dietetic and medical experts to help you solve your health problems.
My sincere wish for all my readers is that they will take this advice to heart and do the sensible thing when it comes to losing weight, doing exercise and solving medical problems that are related to diet.
If you can cultivate a sensible approach to diet for yourself and your family this year, your health and budget will benefit enormously in 2008.
-(Dr I.V. van Heerden, DietDoc, updated December 2007)
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