The Diet myth

Last night I was reading a really interesting article on around fitness and health and it was talking about how certain experts that become popular do so with financial gain in mind and so may not be offering you the best health advice. A lot of it seems to be a marketing ploy, a way to draw people in because the truth of the matter is that people want to know the easier way of doing things and if there's some secret weapon to help you lose weight then people will want to use it. One of the things, they debunked in their litany of diet myths, was bulletproof coffee. If are unfamiliar with Bulletproof coffee the idea is that you put a spoon full of butter in your coffee and the fat in the butter stops you from becoming hungry later in the day and also boosts your metabolism. I am not certain about the last part but I do know I was sceptical when I first heard about it but I did toy with the idea of trying it but ultimately the idea of drinking my coffee with butter added made me feel a little ill. I did try it once with coconut oil because I heard that works as a decent alternative and all it did was make my coffee very shiny, I  didn't feel any fuller throughout the day so it was a one off for me. It turns out that there is no factual basis for the Bullet proof coffee weight loss claims which sure made me feel a lot better. Apparently you aren't satiated after the butter and obviously there is plenty of empirical evidence to show many people who are overweight and eat plenty of butter without it making any difference beyond adding to the fat content in their diet. The whole article was well thought out and it had me thinking about fad diets and quick fixes in general.

I am as guilty as most people of looking for a quicker easier way to get slim. I have made special waters with added fruit or vegetables, I have tried miracle smoothies. I did the honey and cinnamon cleanse and that turned out to be so much of  a disaster I can now no longer smell cinnamon never mind eat it. I think I am not alone in chasing this quick fix. Every since I realised my metabolism really was slowing down, just like my sisters warned me it would (damn them anyway) I have been looking for the figure I had at 18 but didn't appreciate. I have been in and out of gyms, even joined curves for a time but the awful music and regular weigh ins drove me to quit. I once bought a hypnosis book that promised to make me slim. To be fair the book had a lot of stuff around changing my diet that made a lot of sense but I wasn't willing to commit to the giving up junk food it required. In all the years I have battled with my diet, my weight and my size, I have to admit that there's only one approach that has worked for me. Clean eating and exercise. In the close to a year since I stopped attending Crossfit my fitness levels have gone steadily downhill and its given me enough perspective to see the difference that's made in my body aside from the bigger jeans I am wiggling into. Also when I was doing my best I was drinking very little alcohol, off sugar and eating hardly any bread or processed food. I realise this is very boring and also difficult to stick to and this is what has people scrabbling for the next miracle cure. The truth is there is no miracle, just hard work and finding a diet that's sustainable for you using fresh ingredients instead of packaged food and going easy on the junk. I am working towards fixing my diet and then hopefully will be making it back into the gym in the near future. Mind you, you don't have to take my advice, I am just a slightly fat girl who was once quite slim and by no means would I call myself a diet expert.