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How Arionna Gave Up on Dieting for Good

November 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I have come to love the Venus Index system because for the first time I have learned that this is a journey that is not just about losing pounds.

I have come to love the Venus Index system because for the first time I have learned that this is a journey that is not just about losing pounds.

 

Arionna learned how to eat for life!

VT12 will be wrapping up soon, but we still have a few interviews from VT11 to share. Today’s interview is with Arionna who is living overseas with her children while her husband is working his third deployment. She had great results: 13 pounds lost and 3 inches gone from her waist, but what struck me most in our interview was how well she is MAINTAINING. She found Venus after realizing her current program was too complicated and rigid. She needed something that fit her lifestyle and Venus did just that. She had done it all from running to crossfit and just couldn’t lose the ten pounds she had gained from eating a Paleo diet.

She followed the calorie recommendations from the Venus Factor Virtual Nutritionist and enjoyed seeing those calories come up as she got closer and closer to her goal. As it is for most women, Arionna said the hardest part was adjusting to lower calories. What worked for her was saving the majority of her calories for later in the day. She skipped breakfast, had a 200 calorie snack in the afternoon, and saved the rest for a satisfying dinner. She’s maintaining happily now and even said, “It’s easy!”

A picture from her travels during the contest.

A picture from her travels during the contest.

 

In her words:

“I have come to love the Venus Index system because for the first time I have learned that this is a journey that is not just about losing pounds. It’s not even really about losing inches (which is a great side benefit, don’t get me wrong!) but this is about a mindset. Anyone who can successfully do this can do absolutely anything because it’s all about setting priorities and gaining some mental clarity and self control. I seemed to have epiphany after epiphany doing this system. Some days were really really hard and some days were super easy and some days were just days with nothing special about them. I started this contest right during my husband’s third deployment while my kids and I were living in a foreign country and my sister and her husband came to visit and we also traveled to seven different countries while I did this. I feel like I could have blown this out of the water if all of this hadn’t been going on but the thing is, it’s about real life. And these are the things that happen in real life. People don’t exercise and diet in a vacuum. I had to learn to do it during real life, during stress, heartache, confusion, happiness, celebration, and vacation and it’s definitely do-able. I will definitely continue with this system for the rest of my life.”

She looks strong, confident and proud of her hard work!

She looks strong, confident and proud of her hard work!

 

You can listen to Arionna’s story here:

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Filed Under: calories, Contest, Diet Tagged With: ,

John Barban and Professor Mark Haub Talk About The Twinkie Diet Experiment

April 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Here’s the next episode of the UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

Today’s topic:  The Twinkie Diet experiment with Professor Mark Haub

Professor Mark Haub experimented with The Twinkie Diet

Professor Mark Haub experimented with The Twinkie Diet

Today you will get a chance to hear John’s interview with Professor Mark Haub.  Professor Haub works at the Kansas State University in the department of Human Nutrition.

The Twinkie Diet experiment

One of the things I enjoyed the most about listening to Professor Haub was his honesty and the fact that he is not endorsing or selling a diet or food product.  He simply had a bit of weight to lose and decided to try this experiment.  He specializes in better understanding dietary fiber and whole grains relative to diabetes and obesity.   He teaches a class on energy balance and obesity.

Since refined grains are listed by the USDA as potentially unhealthy and obesogenic Dr. Haub decided to use this opportunity to experiment with his own need to lose a few pounds.  He said it did not turn out the way he expected.  He learned a few things about himself during this experiment and after losing the excess pounds he decided to make some long term diet changes.

Professor Haub was surprised by the results of his experiment. His health parameters improved.

Professor Haub was surprised by the results of his experiment with snack foods. His health parameters improved.

He measured his health parameters and used a DXA scan to measure his body composition.  He lost 27 pounds of fat and 6 pounds of lean body mass which are both typical for this amount of weight loss on a just about any diet.  His health parameters improved.

Calories really do matter

Professor Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day.   A man of his size usually consumes about 2,600 calories a day.  He followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.

This confirms what most of us here at the Venus Index already knew along with the principles of John’s Anything Goes Diet.

You have your own unique dietary needs

Most of us experimented to find our own way to lose weight.  We found that the right amount of calories was key, along with not depriving ourselves of foods we love.

So if you have weight to lose the key is to find the right amount of calories and do whatever it takes to keep yourself sane and feeling okay short term.  Then spend the rest of your life figuring out what type of diet is good for you.  All of us have unique likes, dislikes, and health needs.  Pay attention to your calorie needs, what nutrients you need, what your health practitioner advises, and not letting food control you.

You can find Professor Mark Haub on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and CNN online.

 

 

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Filed Under: calories, Diet, Uncensored Podcasts S02, weight loss Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Eat for “Flavor” & The 6 Step Recovery Method from Orthorexia

September 19, 2012 by 2 Comments

Here’s the second part of this month’s UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2 on Orthorexia.

Check out the first part here: The Side Effect of Modern Society and Even Scientists Can’t Escape

What we covered in the first part:

  • We’ve talked about how certain foods can completely mess up your personality and social identity
  • You learned why people in the fitness industry feel superiority over you because of their diet choices
  • You discovered why you should bother tracking and testing things related to nutrition and not just training
  • You learned about the connection between people suffering from orthorexia and drug addicts
  • You also discovered what’s really in the root of the search for healthy eating and if that goal is really achievable
  • You learned that orthorexia is a marketing driven eating disorder and that the food and fitness industry are making billions just from people getting fatter every year

Let Go of the Good Food/Bad Food Belief

You need to learn to let go of the good food, bad food belief and dump all the bad food lists. And instead start focusing on the foods that taste good, are filling and make you feel great.

It’s a mind shit and a whole different perception, especially if you have been exposed to the mainstream fitness media for the last couple of decades.

Ask yourself this question: ” What do I like to eat?” And eat exactly that!

A lot of people will be thinking that this statement means you can eat burgers and ice cream all day long. Well, that’s not true. Nobody can do go on a diet like that and that’s a pretty boring lifestyle to have.

There are lots of food choices, if chicken with broccoli and chocolate with ice cream are the only meals you know you are limiting yourself and preventing yourself from tasting some amazing foods that are also rich in nutrients.

Get a variety in your diet and start experimenting with different cuisines. Just ask yourself, what exotic meal you haven’t tried yet?

Believe it or not, there are other foods and meals outside the “healthy” recommended by fitness media and “unhealthy junk food” like chocolate or burgers. There are a lot of other options and they can be very tasty.

Today John Barban and Brad Pilon will show you how to switch  from good/bad thinking into “eating what I really like and what makes me feel good” and “what would be the best and most tasty option for me?“.

If you’ve heard the first podcast and you’ve read so far then you understand what’s the point of it, but you may still be unsure of the whole process, so before you listen to today’s episode where John and Brad discuss this in great detail, let’s look over the steps you can take to recover from Orthorexia and start eating for flavor:

  1. Realize that any health message is a marketing message
  2. Understand that you won’t cheat death, and especially not by choosing different foods
  3. Create new food lists, but assign them different meanings (e.g. rank them by flavor)
  4. Make a list of foods that makes you bloated or that you are allergic to
  5. Evaluate every food on those lists based on how much you enjoy it, how many calories it contains etc.
  6. [you will have to listen to the interview for this one :)]
There is a lot of choice outside the traditional healthy and unhealthy lists AKA good foods/bad foods. European and Asian cuisines are very rich in different flavors and tastes, just start experimenting. Today we are going to give you the permission to do that and explain you why it’s beneficial and how to go about it.
Filed Under: Diet, fat loss, Food, Health, Podcast, psychology, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , ,

The Side Effect of Modern Society and Even Scientists Can’t Escape

September 5, 2012 by 1 Comment

Here’s the first part of this month’s UNCENSORED Podcasts Season 2.

This month’s topic: Orthorexia.

What is orthorexia?

Orthorexia comes from obsession with avoiding foods that are perceived to be unhealthy. In the academic field it’s believed to be a mental disorder. This disorder can lead to severe malnutrition or even in some rare cases death.

Orthorexics usually have low self-esteem, because they blame themselves rather than their diets for their constant hunger and the resulting cravings for foods they’ve labeled as forbidden.

It’s a pretty serious topic, and if you follow any of the dietary advice from conventional fitness media you may very well develop this disorder yourself.

The moment you label something as forbidden, you are f*cked, because sooner or later you will break and overeat on it.

It’s quite a contradiction when you think about it, because orthorexia in it’s essence is an unhealthy obsession over healthy food.

So instead of restricting calories, orthorexics restrict food choices that they or a perceived authority labeled as bad and unhealthy.

The whole idea of Anything Goes Diet that we preach here at Adonis Index is that you can have whatever you want.

Some people misunderstand this statement and think you can fast food 24/7.

They are missing the point.

The idea is not to eat everything you can, the idea is that if you can limit the amount to fit in your caloric plan, then you can fill it with some things that are higher in fat, sugar and salt e.g. ice cream, burger, pizza and donuts.

With this mindset you will not fall victim to labeling certain foods as bad or unhealthy and won’t develop orthorexia.

Why People Want to Eat Healthy?

The whole issue around orthorexia is that it happens in a very specific environment, in an environment that you are most likely part off.

How come that I’m so sure you are part of that environment? Well, if you weren’t you couldn’t be reading this article, because you couldn’t afford a computer or iPad.

Orthorexia is an issue that appears in modern societies where there’s an abundance of food.

There seems to be a big contrast in the food availability.

It’s pretty hard to find a country where there is  not enough food for everyone to have a balanced diet.  In most cases, people are starving  or they have an over-abundance of food (i.e. 3rd world countries vs. Europe and US).

The abundance of food coupled with our  highly modernized society influences people to live a healthier lifestyle.

Of course there is nothing wrong with that, it’s just that human nature  tends to want to take things to an extreme level.

Which raises a few questions:

What do we want to achieve with our lifestyle?

Why do we search for better choices in our lives when we can buy everything we desire?

Let’s kick off this month of uncensored with a very fundamental question.

Why do you want to eat healthy?

Just STOP and  think about it.

The answer is not simply, because you want to be healthy.

There is more to it.

Do you want to live longer?

Do you want more fulfilling life?

Do you want to be healthy so you can see your grandchildren?

What’s the reason for you to search for better options in your life? And that can ultimately lead you to developing disorders like orthorexia?

In today’s UNCENSORED training, you will also discover:

  • How a simple thing like food that has nothing to do with us and in any way was meant to define your personality, can screw you up
  • Why certain people (yes the ones in this industry) feel superiority over you, because of their diet choices
  • Why do you feel ashamed about your diet choice and what leads self-punishment and guild with your food
  • What’s in the root of people’s search for better food choices and why nutrition will never be an answer to “cheating death”
  • The truth about how people make their food preferences, it it because they want to eat those foods or because some dietitians put importance on certain items?
  • Discovering whether you function on logic or emotional belief system
  • Why tracking and testing your results matters
  • How to stop letting food destroy your relationships
  • How orthorexia is same as drugs

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Filed Under: Food, Podcast, Uncensored Podcasts S02 Tagged With: , , ,

Orthorexia and Food Cults

September 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

***As requested by many of you in the forums and over email, here is the Orthorexia and Food Cults podcast that was previous posted on the Adonis Index site earlier this year***

Orthorexia is a term coined by a physician Dr. Steven Bratman. It’s defined as an unhealthy obsession with health food…ironic to say the least.

Some people end up worshiping at the alter of a new food cult without even realizing it

Many people can fall victim to some degree of orthorexia as they search for the one ‘right’ way to eat, but each of these diets is nothing more than an unscientific fad that is more marketing and fear mongering than it is science.

Diet fads come and go and each one has it’s villian food and it’s hero’s all the way from it’s champion founder to the champion foods.

Low carb diets, blood type diets, raw foodies, macrobiotic, paleo and so on, each one will profess the merits of eating specific foods while removing many other foods from your diet for good. But is there really any proof that these diets can help you live healthier or longer or improve performance or the way you feel…or do anything at all?

In most cases these diets quickly become like a cult with all of the ugly consequences like becoming socially isolated from other people who are not part of the cult, the development of an elitist attitude about the given way of eating above any other form of eating and a general smugness of it’s followers as they assume they have become ‘enlightened’ to the one and only way to eat.

The reality is there is little if any scientific evidence to support any of these restrictive styles of eating. They are usually focused on minor and insignificant points about mixing and matching their ‘correct’ foods and miss the point of getting total calories under control and developing consistent exercise habits.

In todays uncensored podcast we’ll discuss orthorexia and food cults and how many of the diets that people read about and follow start to take over other parts of their lives.

We’ll also discuss how the champions of many of these cults don’t even follow their own recommendations.

John

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Filed Under: Food, Podcast, Uncensored Podcasts S01 Tagged With: ,
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