Dietary Restrictions

Dietary Restrictions Affect Many

 

While working on the 2^nd Edition of the Ebook TimerDIET it became apparent to me that a lot of people have dietary restrictions and while I come from a place of inclusion in my book TimerDIET, I understand the specific needs some people have due to dietary restrictions whether due to allergies, medical recommendations or doctor’s orders or even lifestyle decisions and religious reasons. What I have noticed when there is a dietary restriction is that the focus is on the restriction rather the inclusion.

 

Be Mindful of the Restriction, but Focus on the Inclusion

While you must be mindful of the restriction, you must focus on the inclusion!! Whether your restriction is by choice or necessity focusing on it may create an imbalanced approach to your diet. The 2^nd definition of diet in the Merriam Webster dictionary is my favorite, “habitual nourishment”¹ When you think about eating dairy free for instance you begin to think about all of the things that you cannot eat and decide that you can eat “everything” else. But, this is not the case. You still need to have a well-balanced “diet” i.e. habitual nourishment for so many reasons beyond keeping your weight in check.

                                                         

Decide What You Can and Should Include in Your Diet 

Make a list of all the foods that you like and are not on your restriction list. Be sure that when combined into one meal or mini-meal that you are including dietary fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Do not assume that you know the nutrients of the foods that you love. Go to the USDA Nutrient Database at www.ndb.nal.usda.gov if you are not sure of the nutrient values. You may find that you have too much of one nutrient and not enough of the others. If this is the case, then search the internet for the type of dietary restriction you have and the nutrient you want to find more of. For example, Gluten free diet protein sources and there you will find ideas of foods you may not have thought of that will help you have a more well-balanced diet.

 

Whatever You do to Lose the Weight You MUST do to Keep the Weight OFF

I cannot stress this enough! I was speaking with someone at a conference this last weekend and she said that she was drinking a diet shake of some sort for breakfast and another one at night, with a meal for lunch to lose weight. I asked her, are you OK with drinking two shakes a day for the rest of your life? She looked at me with a look of horror and questioning, and said, “NO!” But, if what you are doing to lose the weight you are not willing to do for the rest of your life, you will not be keeping the weight off for too long. Of course, there will be some minor adjustments that you will need to make when maintaining, but changing from a two-thirds daily liquid diet to a virtually zero daily liquid diet is a big change.

 

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet

www.timerdiet.com

¹"Diet." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.