By Tom Venuto
www.burnthefat.com

“How could you eat that junk? It’s so bad for you!” (nag, nag). “Don’t you know those fries will give you a heart attack?” (nag, nag). “You have to stop eating all that fast food, it’s going to make you fat!” (nag nag). “You have to eat more healthy food like fruits and vegetables – they’re good for you!” (nag, nag). Your friends nag you, your family nags you, your doctor nags you, the health newsletters, websites and magazines – they all nag you, and of course, your personal trainer nags the heck out of you, to stop eating all those BAD FAST FOODS. But does all that nagging you and bad-mouthing the fast food industry really help anyone stop?

It doesn’t look that way. The fast food industry is thriving, even in the bad economy. The Chicago Tribune recently said that McDonalds is “recession proof.”

As one of only two companies to turn a major profit over the last year (the other being Wal Mart), McDonald’s is laughing its way to the bank. In fact, McDonalds plans to open 1,000 new stores this year.

I was driving down Route 95 a few weeks ago and pulled over to use the rest room at Mcdonalds on a Saturday morning (there’s a McDonalds conveniently located immediately off almost every exit up and down the full length of Interstate 95).

The parking lot was full, it was standing-room only inside and the lines snaked around into the seating area! You’d think Brad and Angelina were there signing autographs or something. Nope. Just a regular weekend at breakfast-time.

I was shopping in Wal Mart the same week and I almost passed out when I saw (smelled, actually) a McDonalds… INSIDE THE WAL- MART! Also, with lines.

Yep. It looks like your friends and family’s nagging you to stop eating fast food, and all the messages of the health and fitness industry to get people eating more “health food” are not working!

So what does work?

The results of a new survey from the behavior and psychology section of the journal, OBESITY (Feb 2009) provide some answers:

Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public health surveyed 530 adults about their attitudes towards fast foods.

They found that people already know fast food is unhealthy. (like, no kidding!)

The primary reasons they eat it anyway are because of the perceived convenience and a dislike for cooking! (I’d add another: they think fast food is always cheaper than healthy food). So, said the authors of this research paper, nagging people to eat more healthy food and warning them that “fast food is going to make us fat and kill us” is not the best approach.

What’s the right approach?

Focus on teaching people how to make healthy eating fast, convenient and easy, because those are the reasons people are choosing fast food in the first place.

So what’s holding us back from implementing or taking this advice? Well, I think that most people can’t get over the ideas that they “just cant cook” or that cooking is “too time consuming” or that healthy food “tastes like dirt” (as if McDonalds is gourmet food!)

That said, I’m not going to nag you, scold you or try to scare you out of eating fast food. I’m not going to lecture you about health food (not today, anyway). Nor am I going to bad-mouth the fast food restaurants. I’m going to lead the new charge by showing you just how easy and convenient it is to eat healthy and nutritious food and make it delicious.

Here’s a few meal ideas (for starters) to prove my point.

3-MINUTE APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL
* natural oatmeal (like Quaker old fashioned rolled oats)
* natural (unsweetened) applesauce
* cinnamon
* for protein, serve with scrambled eggs or egg whites on side or stir 1-2 scoops of vanilla protein powder into the oats

I eat this almost every morning. It’s faster, easier and cheaper than going to the donut place or getting sausage, cheese, bacon breakfast muffins at the fast food joint! (you don’t have to wait in line, either!)

10-MINUTE LAZY PERSON’S CHINESE STIR FRY
* Brown rice (I like basmati)
* frozen oriental vegetables
* chicken breast, grilled (try foreman grill)
* bragg’s “liquid aminos” (or light/lo-sodium soy sauce) [Ed. note: we recommend Celtic sea salt over liquid aminos, which is processed soy w/ MSG]

This takes 30 minutes, however, if you get a rice cooker and make a giant batch, you can have your rice on standby for instant eats and this will take less than 10 minutes.

It doesn’t get much easier than that. (I like those Chinese veggies that come with the little mini-corn-on-the-cobs… reminds me of that Tom Hanks Movie, BIG)

2-MINUTE BLACK BEANS AND SPICY SALSA
* black beans (15 oz can)
* Medium or hot salsa
* 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic or chopped garlic to taste
* salt and pepper to taste

This one takes you all of 2 minutes to make. No cooking required! And it’s good! It’s vegetarian as listed above, but if you’re a high-protein muscle-head like me, just add chicken breast or lean ground turkey.

Best part: this is all inexpensive food! Oats, rice, beans… doesn’t get much cheaper than that – buy your healthy staples in bulk and the cost per serving is probably less than mickey D’s! (yes, even the “Value” meals)

Every one of these recipes is compatible with my Burn The Fat program.

This means that my way of eating makes you more muscular and leaner… so you can look hot wearing very little clothes this summer… and be healthier… and save money too.

Are you wanting to lose weight very quickly? If you are, the starvation calorie diet may be just what you’re looking for.  These types of diets are considered an extreme form of  dieting and they are highly popular.  That still doesn’t mean they are the right diet for you.

A diet is considered low calorie if it involves taking in less than 1200 calories per day.  The idea of a low calorie diet is to lose weight quickly.  If not utilized correctly they can be dangerous and as such it is important to plan your low calorie diet with a professional dietician or nutritionist before starting.

The best form of dieting is to burn more calories than you take in. However a very low calorie diet can actually do more harm than good. When your body is craving more calories (energy) it can affect your metabolic rate.  This means your body actually starts to eat away at your muscle mass instead of burning your current fat reserves.

It is doing this for the purpose of converting the muscle mass to energy, because starvation mode to your body means holding on to the fat reserves it has since it doesn’t know when it will get more fat.

Consuming only a very limited amount of calories per day is almost like starving yourself.  Your body is more than likely used to taking in over 2000 calories per day and up to 5000 or more.  If you all of a sudden drop to say 600 calories or less your body moves into starvation mode. Your metabolism then slows down to conserve energy.

While you are on a starvation diet your body will learn to live with fewer calories. That means if you go back to your old high calorie habits (as all too many people do) you will have a sudden gain in weight. Think Oprah.

The only real way to determine your ideal daily calorie intake is by using a basal metabolic rate calculator. You will then know how many calories you need to be healthy and to support your lifestyle.  As men and women are obviously different their ideal calorie intake is also different.

In essence a super low calorie diet can be dangerous. What you really want is a diet that, while lowering your calorie intake, can trick your body into using up those fat reserves for fuel burning instead of using your muscle mass.