Does This Make Sense To You?

So how are your New Year’s resolutions coming along?

I hope that each day you are making strides toward achieving your desired goals.

If you will recall, earlier this year I shared with you that one of the biggest goals that people have this time of year is to lose weight.

This is a very honorable goal BUT the lengths that some people go with dieting in order to achieve this often elusive weight loss goal just doesn’t make sense to me.

It’s Not A Diet It’s Called Eating Healthy

Perhaps I see some of these extreme weight loss programs as bizarre because I have “my” way of helping people.  My approach to weight loss is individualized and focuses in on sound nutritional and lifestyle plans that help people achieve their goals in a healthy manner.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m biased toward my approach to weight loss.  But heck I’ve obtained hundreds of hours of education in order to help people accomplish their weight loss goals the right way.  That’s got to be worth something, right?

The reason I share this with you is because this past weekend I was doing some reading and stumbled across a link that discussed “The Jared Fogle Diet”.  Yup the Subway sandwich guy who has recently gotten himself into hot water with the law.

Despite his recent problems this article discussed how Jared, The Subway Guy, went from 425 pounds down to 180 pounds by eating Subway sandwiches combine with some walking.

AMAZING right?

On the surface this seems pretty darn amazing and I’m sure Jared was ecstatic with the changes.  I mean 425 lbs. down to 180 lbs. is nothing short of awesome.

Or is it?

Check out The Subway Guy’s diet and you let me know if this makes sense to you.

“The Jared Fogle diet: Coffee for breakfast. For lunch, a six-inch turkey sub with a small bag of Baked Lay’s chips and a Diet Coke. For dinner, a foot-long veggie sub and a Diet Coke. On the sandwiches, no cheese, no mayonnaise, but plenty of lettuce, green peppers, banana peppers and pickles, and a dab of mustard. No snacks and no cheating. Exercise was not part of Fogle’s plan, but after a few months he noticed he had more energy, and started walking to class. Toward the end of his diet was walking about a mile and a half daily.”

Does this diet make sense to you?

I’m HOPING, please, please, please that you said that NO it doesn’t make sense.

Yeah he lost weight but was it a healthy way to achieve that goal?

Is this Subway diet a good wholesome, nutrient dense diet which promotes healthy weight loss and great health for a lifetime?

HECK NO!  It’s a processed “food” starvation diet!!  This Subway Diet is an INFLAMMATORY disaster!   It’s a ticking time bomb that will eventually explode leaving nothing behind but chronic disease.

Yes in the short term he did go from 425 lbs. to 180 lbs. which is great.  But keep this way of eating going and it will be nothing but doom and gloom in no time.  Diabetes, osteopenia, heart disease, reflux and many other unwanted diseases.

Let’s take a closer look at this not so amazing “diet”.

Only coffee for breakfast?  Coffee contains 1 calorie, zero proteins, fats, carbs and is essentially void of any healthy vitamins, minerals or other nutrients.   The body needs fuel to start the day so where does it get it from?  In this case it will break down other tissues such as lean muscle (not good by the way) in order to function.  I would love to see what happened to his muscle mass on this particular diet.

Next up lunch:  6″ inch turkey sub (good thing he held the mayo and cheese J) with a small bag of baked lays, a diet coke and PLENTY of lettuce, green peppers, banana peppers and pickles, topped off with a dab of mustard.

Now there’s a healthy winning meal.  Processed junk!  The bread, the “meats”, the chips and soda are all processed garbage.  And I’m sure the veggies aren’t the best either.  Oh and back to the diet soda.  Really?  I’ve shared with you time and time again how diet products increase the rate of obesity, cardiovascular risks and neurodegenerative disease.  I guess in a sense that this “meal” is better than the coffee for breakfast but man o man what a mess.

This meal is robbing the body of vital nutrients because they are not being consumed via the diet.  This situation over time will lead to the body “eating” itself (breaking down muscles, bones, etc.) in order to provide the cells the nutrients necessary to carry on vital tasks.

Here are some quick screen captures of the nutritional value for this 6″ Sub Subway meal according to the Subway Nutrition Calculator.  Oh, this meal tops in at 400 calories (6″sub, chips and diet coke).  That’s a daily total of 401 calories thus far.

6″ Turkey Sub

6″ Subway Sub

Diet Coke

Diet Coke

Bag of Chips

Baked Chips

And for the grand finale and 12″ Veggie Sub with a Diet Coke for dinner.  Now for the purpose of this calculation I went with all the veggie choices on the sub since there were PLENTY of veggies and I don’t know what Jared included or excluded.

So a 12″ Veggie sub and diet coke (0 calories see above) was a whopping 590 calories.

12″Veggie Sub

12″ Subway Sub

This brings Jared’s grand total caloric intake for the day to 991 calories.

Guess what….I’m going to let you in on a little weight loss secret.  Are you ready?

The one guaranteed way to lose weight quickly is to not eat.

I guarantee you that if you are not eating then you will lose weight.  Is it healthy?  No way but you will lose weight and that is essentially what this Subway Diet is doing.  Yes a small amount of calories are being consumed but they are not nutrient dense calories.  The calories here are processed garbage.

How much good is going to come from a bag of chips (even if they are baked)?

Where are the lean meats (processed lunch “meat” is not healthy), quality veggies, fruits (didn’t see any of them), healthy fats (remember I went all in on the veggie hoagie so avocado may not be part of this plan because it contains too much fat (healthy fat that should be part of the diet mind you)).

According to this article there was no snacking.  What I’ve listed above is all that he consumed.  Plus there was some light walking combine with the “usual” daily activities which I’m sure burned up some, if not all, of those 990 calories.

Bottom line my friends, is that this approach to weight loss is what we call a recipe for disaster.

Trying to survive on less than 1000 calories per day is tough enough let alone calories that are from a hoagie.

I share this story with you because I want you to be mindful about what you put into your body and how you go about losing weight.

So many people get laser focused on losing weight and don’t care how they get there.

I have friends and patients emailing, texting, asking me about the latest and greatest fad diets.  What do you think about this diet?  What about the ingredients in this shake?  Have you heard of the xyz diet?

All great questions and I am glad that they are asking but it’s the same thing over and over.

Everyone is looking for that magic bullet, that quick fix that unfortunately doesn’t exist.

I have successfully helped numerous individuals reach their weight loss and health goals in a safe, effective manner with healthy individualized programs that are essentially evergreen.

Please, please, please don’t fall victim to the latest weight loss gimmicks.  Do your homework and ask yourself, does this program make sense.  Is it mainly focused on healthy, nutrient dense foods to help me reach my desired goals?

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.  I mean who wouldn’t want to eat hoagies and drink soda every day and lose weight?  Well sounds good for about 1 day or so and then after that I’d be losing weight from vomiting.  Definitely not a weight loss plan I recommend.

If you have any questions about the latest diets or any questions about how to lose weight the “right” way then I would be more than happy to have that discussion with you.

As always, I hope this information has served you and will take you one step closer to your desired health goals.

Did you like this information?

If so, please be sure to let me know what you liked by sending me an email at DrKirk@PerformanceHealthandChiro.com or leave me a comment on Facebook.  I would love to keep the conversation going.

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Until we chat again remember:  Eat Well, Move Often and Stay Healthy!