Like many people, I parked myself in front of the TV to watch the unveiling of the new Bob Greene diet on the Oprah show. I am naturally skeptical when it comes to big hoopla unveilings, especially when associated with the word “diet”. I felt like I had lost a perfectly good hour of my life watching an infomercial for one of her friends' products.
As the curtain lifted on the “Bob Greene supermarket”, I was shocked at the kind of choices he put his name on and tried to claim were healthy. A few months ago I would've agreed he was right with some of them, but since then I've learned how to look at food from a non-diet perspective while achieving the dieting results. Sadly, I'm noticing more and more how difficult it is to believe anyone when it comes to bad dieting advice – especially when they're branding products and making statements on how this is going to pay for their kid's college tuition. To hear that statement come out of his mouth was at least honest, but told me not to trust the content.
Most people like to think in order to lose weight you have to redefine your relationship to food. In some ways that's true, but only half true. When it comes to dieting and food, you must make wise food choices and realize the benefits and/or consequences of them. If you make good choices to begin with, you won't gain weight; if you make good choices after you've become fat, it can help you to lose weight. This is common sense, but most people do not apply the basic principle.
Foods that can help you to lose weight and promote healing are at their best and most potent when they're in their raw state. Let me use an example and set up a basic ladder to describe choices. An apple with its skin on is in its perfect natural state, and therefore gets an “A” grade. An apple turned into unsweetened applesauce is still a good choice, but because it has been processed, warrants a “B” grade. Turn the apple into apple juice with sugar, and it slips into a “C” grade. Imagine the apple coming out of the oven in the form of a hot apple pie, and it drops to a dismal “D”. The best you can do for your body is to eat “A” and “B” style foods and avoid the added sugar and over processing of “C” and “D” meals and sugary treats.
This is where the “Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle” diet plan trumps Bob Greene's diet – it's about making good, solid food choices that do not contain processed or convenience foods. It's the old saying of “garbage in, garbage out” that proves true once again when it comes to what you put in your mouth. I use this plan myself and personally have never felt better or had more energy on any other prepackaged convenience food plan, and that's saying a lot!
As Bob Greene and Oprah toured the makeshift supermarket, they showed cereals like Total and Cheerios. These are bad options because the grains have been over processed and ground so fine, the manufacturers can push more calories into the same size. For example, a single Cheerio might weigh the same as five oat grains, but the grains contain fewer calories because after processing the oats, it might take the equivalent of ten ground oat grains to make the Cheerio. You've just doubled the calories! Instant oatmeal is also in the same bad category because it's been over processed and is starchier than its healthier cousin, whole grain oats.
He moved into the frozen foods section and pulled out Green Giant vegetables. This would seem to be a healthy option, but if you pay attention to most of the frozen Green Giant brands, you will notice they are loaded with fattening sauces and lots of sodium. You need to always be on your guard for salt especially in the frozen foods section of your store! Broccoli steamed is a great choice; broccoli drenched in cheese is not a good choice. Of course it tastes better, but if you're not into working out, then that cheese is just going to stick to your backside.
Next he moved into snack bars, and that aisle is nothing more than a fat and empty calorie aisle. I couldn't believe my eyes he was promoting this! These bars are nothing but manufactured food and often loaded with salt, sugar, and trans fats – that's not diet food! It's the same pitfall on the so-called “diet bars”, so just because they have a “healthy” name or the name of a popular “fad diet” or protein powder name on it doesn't mean it's a wise choice. If you can't identify any of the ingredients on the nutrition label, put it down and walk away from it.
