I came across this article today on the Examiner.com called How to lose weight this week – the martial arts way and have to say I was quite surprised on how vague and unconsiderate the advice is.
You can start right now and be a size smaller by the end of the week, says Galit Gordon. Gordon continues to advise that drinking a fresh glass of water every hour on the hour is a great way to start your metabolism. Okay, no harm there but the next paragraph advises to eliminate all processed foods and foods that contain hydrogenated or non-hydrogenated oils and continues to explain that we are so programmed to have starch in every meal.
I’m not arguing about the benefits of giving up processed goods but to tell people to suddenly go “cold turkey” is where I have beef. This is the comment I left and should explain my perspective.
I’m 27 years old, active in the martial arts for the past 5 years now at approx 13% body fat, constantly learning new nutritional facts and methods from different sources like Men’s Health Mag, Max Muscle, CrossFit, etc. By no means am I a nutritionist of any sort; however, I can confidently say this a bad approach to advising the average American to simply stop suddenly eating processed foods.
I don’t believe you’re taking into consideration how difficult it can be for people to change their life long habits. If you stop to think of how many processed goods there are in a single super market, the task is overwhelming. Even the sliced turkey you refer to is processed.
Instead of writing an article to gain traffic to your website, how about providing some real helpful advice or starting with something more simply? How about explaining how difficult it can be to suddenly drop processed goods? This isn’t boot camp, its people’s lives so take it a bit more seriously.
-Benros Emata
There was a time in my life that I smoke ciggarettes and tried to go cold turkey – its not that easy. Bad habbits can stick with you for life unless you have some kind of workaround to get your mind shifted in a positive channel.
Essentially, that’s what Gordon is asking you to do – go cold turkey and that is the reason I state that this isn’t boot camp.
If you’re trying to lose weight, be cautious of “going cold turkey” methods. Have you ever seen those boot camp shows or read articles of “fat camp” and the relapse that happens? I experienced relapse as well during my smoking days so I know what its like to crave even a year after completely quiting.
As I mentioned in my reply to Gordon, its taken me some time to learn about nutrition and better workout routines. Do yourself a favor and don’t try to take the easy route – start by educating yourself by picking up a book or magazine, download a free podcast on iTunes or go to the public library where information reins plenty and free. Ask every doctor, coach, personal trainer, etc. that you come across and find what works for you.




Recent Comments