So, it’s after the holidays and I really, really indulged this time. Too much. Waaaay too much.  After a week of work, I returned to the grind by waking up at the crack of dawn and finding that none of my work pants fit me.

I ended up having to wear an awful pair of sparkly pants that I never would set foot in if I were able to fit in any other of my “big girl” pants.  Even my largest size I’ve allowed myself to buy did not fit me. They wouldn’t even button at the waist – a sure sign that I needed to go on a very serious diet and lose weight very quickly.

The diet I almost always turn to when I need to simply cut weight really fast is the low carb diet. My body really responds to these types of diets because I’m normally such a carbaholic that my body just goes into total calorie burn mode when I totally cut them out.

In my mind, the low carb diet is among the easiest to follow. I find I don’t have to be so militant about totally cutting fat and calories down with the low carb plan because my body is burning off everything I eat due to such low carb intake anyway.

I also find that, while I do crave carbs and could probably benefit from a carb cutter or some similar supplement from time to time, I am not hugry a lot on this diet because I’m able to eat in quantities that are satiable to me.

Other diets, where you eat more of a balanced diet and include carbs and fruits and desserts, I feel deprived because the portions are so teeny.  I can actually eat things like brats with mustard and burgers with cheese, and big chicken salads with dressing that’s not fat free.

I get to feel like I’m indulging, but really I’m still keeping that carb burn up and not adding too many excess carbs to burn, so my body is still using up all the fuel I’m giving it and starting to burn off the stores of fat since I’m depriving it of the “gas” that is carbs.

I’m only on day three so far of my almost carb-free diet, and I can already tell a difference in the way my clothes are fitting. My pants are still tight, but at least I can button them.

A new book has come out that really focuses on the connection between what we eat and the moods we tend to inhabit the majority of the time. While there is of course the occasional anomoly (ie, people who eat great and still are miserable all the time), it is largely true that when it comes to our emotions, we really are what we eat.

The new book is called the Happiness Diet. It focuses on foods that it says can help to boost mood, fight off anxiety and generally help you to avoid depressed moods and depression in general. In short, eating a certain way can definitely help make your happiness factor go way, way up.

While it supposedly doesn’t focus much on the exercise component of well being and happiness, it does focus on the fact that most Americans eat a diet that is simply the worst possible thing they can do to help their mood.

Our diets now primarily consist of overly processed foods. These foods by their very nature tend to be high in fat, salt and sugar. They are also loaded with unhealthy preservatives and chemicals to extend their shelf life. Not to mention they contain trans fats, which are cheaper fats with longer shelf lives that really clog our arteries.

These foods burn off quickly and leave us craving more – more junk!  They usually contain large amounts of carbs as well, which is the worst thing we can eat when we are dieting since simple carbs tend to burn off very quickly leaving you quivering with hunger.

The book recommends you eat things that satisfy you, and are minimally processed. It’s a different book, because it doesn’t necessarily advocate going all low fat on everything. In fact, it encourages you to enjoy some full fat items so that you can get your healthy fats in the diet as well as some satisfying feelings that you are eating things that will “stick to your ribs”.

Overall, you may be eating more calories than on other diets, but the thought is that you will lose weight because the ‘whole’ foods you are eating are more satisfying, leading you to intake less food overall.

Very interesting theory! I certainly like it better than starving on fat free, nutritionless foods!

Have you heard of the new trend toward eating like our ancestors from thousands of years ago? It’s basically being called both the paleolithic, or cave man diet. It is named after the period of history where man pretty much subsisted on only the foods that are “allowed” on this diet.

The foods that are allowed are primarily vegetables and meats. But you aren’t allowed to have any refined carbs, grains, sugars, not a lot of fruit, and basically not a lot of carbohydrates. Sound an awful lot like other diets out there? That’s because it really is, with the new spin on it to add the removal of processed foods.

All of these new diet trends are really just spinds on diet regimens that are already out there. What’s to like about the paleo or paleolithic diet?  Well, it does remove a lot of the processed garbages out of your diet. It also loads you up on lean proteins while excluding the heavier, fattiers cuts of beef and concentrating instead more on chicken, turkey and fish, which are all very lean protein.

There are also some nuts allowed on this diet. The diet really focuses on eliminating the processed stuff, which is good for you. The big draw of this and similar diets is that you don’t have to focus so much on calorie restriction, but are instead encouraged to eat as much as you want until you are full.

The rub of course, is that you can only pick from a limited menu. But aren’t people who tend to eat the same foods all the time typically thinner than others? Yes, that is true. However, variety is sometimes the spice of life, is it not?  That may be the only thing you really miss on this diet.

The nice thing is that you do get to eat until you’re full, which seems like the natural thing to do, so that is part of this diet that I think is really appealing. For me personally, I hate to be hungry when dieting and if your sole way of losing weight is dropping calories, then you will be starving a lot.

Consuming more fruits and vegetables is definitely beneficial to your overall health.  Most of us don’t eat enough of this food group proportionately to the rest of our diet.  These two facts are well established and well publicized in many health articles.

Fruit and vegetable smoothies increase our intake of this food group in a quick and palatable manner and that is a wonderful thing.  Juicing your fruits and vegetables, according to television and internet advertisements, makes the body better absorb larger amounts of the nutrients.

They state that you will get more beneficial enzymes, better immune boosting, more antioxidants and even boost your metabolism by juicing your fruits and vegetables.

Smoothies and juices made from fresh fruits and vegetables are certainly a healthy drink.  The juicer enthusiasts state that juices are healthier than the solid form of these foods.  According to a newspaper article written by Michael Rozein, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D., juicing your fruits and vegetables actually reduces the fiber of these foods and boosts the sugar content.

The doctors’ article states that juicing traps the pulpy fiber that is so beneficial to us when the juice is extracted.  They recommend just eating your fruits and vegetables whole, as a solid food.

The sugar content of these healthy fruits and vegetables is increased by the juicing process, according to their article.  This would be a concern for anyone on a carbohydrate restricted diet for weight loss.  More importantly, for a diabetic, who has to really modify their sugar intake or they will have serious health consequences, juicing their fruits and vegetables is not the way to eat them.

This doctors’ article refutes the claim that juicing fruits and vegetables gives them any special powers to absorb more readily in your digestive system or boosts their nutritional value in any way.

They recommend enjoying a good smoothie in moderation.  For the majority of the time, they recommend eating these same foods whole to get the optimal benefit for your health.  This way, you get all the fiber and the filling nature of the entire fruit itself, without the heavy calories that can sometimes come with smoothies.

I have to admit, when I saw the name, I thought of a plant based diet, or vegetarian. I guess because the name sort of sounds like the word plant.  But when I really thought about it, that was silly, because they were really naming this diet out of a period of time where humans ate certain foods in the hunting and gathering age of man.

This was the time when men and women did not have access to such processed and unhealthy foods as we do today. Foods were simple, stripped down. Even the way they cooked their foods was minimal because they only had one way to do it – with fire. They probably didn’t salt the heck out of their meats, they probably ate it right from the animal, barely cooked.

They also ate a lot of their veggies and fruits raw. They basically consumed a very minimally processed diet, whereas today we consume a ton of processed, over cooked foods that have a lot of the nutrients cooked out or processed right out of them.

The meats that are focused upon in the paleo diet are leaner meats, not the fatty variety or processed variety like sausages and bacon.  They are lean cuts of beef, chicken, venison (deer meat, which is actually pretty healthy for you), and fish (which is always excellent for you).

The other foods that you should eat are fruits and vegetables, minimally processed of course. Notice how they do not want you to totally shun carbs. They instead focus on unprocessed, whole foods that are naturally low in fat and which give natural, all day energy.

The low carb diet on the other hand, can leave people feeling groggy, depressed and with a total lack of energy because there are no raw foods with high carb content and fiber content that gives them that full satisfied feeling as well as quick body fuel for the day.

This is kind of the way my husband and I eat, so I thought that was amusing, because we do find that we feel our best when we eat this way. It may not be the best way to strip off the weight very quickly, but it’s a great way to slowly lose weight as well as to make sure you have a lean physique over the long term.

It’s way easier to stick to than a traditional low carb diet too, because you still get those carbs in there, they’re just natural and fiber filled.