Can You Diet And Still Eat Fast Food?

Exclusive MNS Library Article


You'd imagine the answer to that would be 'no', but the cold hard facts about dieting show us that we *can* still enjoy fast food - read on to see why...

It's important to point out from the start that putting dieting and fast food together is not one of those 'eat and get thin' plans. It has nothing to do with Atkins, or anything like that.

No, it comes from 2 angles - firstly the facts about dieting, and secondly some facts about self improvement and goal achievement.

When most people go on a diet, they have a mindset of hardship and deprivation - after all, they are fat because of the way they eat, so losing weight must been cutting out all the goodies, right?

Wrong.

Any diet that promotes cutting out entire foodgroups should be given an immediate red flag in my view. The only sensible way to diet that is healthy, workable, and sustainable is to combine a reduction of your calorie intake combined with an increase in your calorie burning. Bear those 2 in mind and you'll never have to buy another diet book again!

The main reason that diets don't work for people is that they are too rigid, too much of a lifestyle change, so people don't stick to them. Also, people get the idea that they can lose the weight they target, then go back to how they ate before and the weight won't go back on!

It's amazing that people convince themselves of this kind of nonsense, but great for the diet industry that continues to make huge sums from it!

I'm a firm believer in life of 'everything in moderation'. If you follow that mantra you can follow a diet which is less a diet, but more a way of life. This means it will have permanent effect.

Fast food contains saturated fats and loads of calories, we all know that. If you have 3 fast food meals a week, you will put on weight more than likely.

However, you don't have to cut them out totally to maintain a lower weight - all you need to do is be aware of the calorie count of a fast food meal, and work it into your eating plan. That doesn't mean you have 2 fast food meals and call that your daily allowance!

What it means is that if you have say 1 fast food meal a week, you have to factor in those extra calories - they will have to be countered elsewhere, either by extra calorie burning, or missing some other calorie packed treat.

As you carry on down this path, your brain will get used to the idea of recognising fast food as full of calories, and apart from the odd treat, you'll end up seeing it as more trouble than it's worth!

So that's how you can diet and still eat fast food - simple logic and quality of life lessons.