Kristi Whitley

Healthy Living

Weight loss: Diet vs. Exercise

Calories in/Calories out, Right? Wrong.

One of the most perpetuated myths about weight and diet in this country is the "calories in, calories out" theory. Most people believe that you can eat anything you want as long as you work it off. If losing weight was mostly about exercise there would be no obese marching band members, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, or Nutri System. All calories are not equal when it comes to optimal health and exercise alone will never bring you to optimal health. 

In his book "The Inflammation Zone", Dr. Barry Sears described optimal health as 80% diet and 20% fitness. Others including doctors Furhman, Mercola, and McDougall agree. 

If you are struggling to lose weight, recover from illness, reduce high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and blood sugar, wouldn't it make sense to concentrate your efforts on the 80% portion of the equation first? When you lose weight, detox, and start feeling better the exercise will come. 

There are many resources available on the web. Here is a list of a few of my favorites:

http://drmcdougall.com/
http://www.drfuhrman.com/
http://sparkpeople.com/
http://www.mercola.com/
http://www.hacres.com/
http://www.meatoutmondays.org/index.php
http://vegsource.com/
http://www.pcrm.org/
http://www.naturalnews.com/

Also, visit the public library for books by these authors for the best advice on diet and health:
Neal Barnard, MD
Dean Ornish, MD
John McDougall, MD
Barry Sears, MD
David Campbell, MD
Stephen Wengen, MD
T. Colin Campbell, MD