If someone were to ask me, “What is the best weight loss program for 2020 and beyond?” I’d quickly respond, “the one that releases you from your desire for food.”
They pause, tilt their head ever so slightly, and squint-think that concept over.
“Holy Cats. Are you saying there is a best weight loss program that does that?”
Then, because they accurately sense that I ‘get them’, they share with me that they’re tried everything.
And they have.
They’ve tried Keto, they’re tried Paleo, they’re tried Whole 30 and Forks Over Knives. They’re tried juicing and cleanses and plants-based protein plans.
They’ve tried organic, real, seasonal, local.
They’ve grown their own wheat grass for shots and they’ve eliminated all sugar. They’ve tried vegetarian, and vegan, and raw.
They’ve even tried fasting. You know, just not eating, which left them white-knuckled and hangry 24-7.
They’re tried and tried and tried.
Re-arrange ‘tried’ and what do you get?
T I R E D
Tired of effort without reward.
Tired of sacrifice without resolution.
Tired of failure.
The Psychological Cost Of Failed Weight Loss
Accumulated failure is damaging to the spirit. Truth.
Resignation takes root and resentment sprouts.
Surrender and deep-seeded frustration take their toll. Add these psychological wounds to a battered and heavy body and you have the perfect recipe for a lousy life.
Oh! Release me from this madness!
Release me from this body riddled with pain, inflammation, and sickness!
Release me from these food shackles!
Release me from my habit of ‘medicating’ with food!
Release me from wanting food.
Release me. From. My. DESIRE.
Weight Gain & Desire
When we ‘desire’, we want. We long. We will do just about anything for the thing. The thing we desire. That is one powerful action-driving emotion.
So, back to the question, “What is the best weight loss program?”
The best weight loss program is the one that…
- Releases you from your desire for food.
Guides you to not wanting those foods that have been calling you for years.
Crushes your longing for food.
Cancels cravings completely. Desire Deleted.
Transforms you into the person who, at the party buffet, pleasantly and peacefully says, “No thanks. I’m just not hungry.”
Puts YOU in complete, calm control. - The best weight loss program deletes desire for food.
“I Forgot To Eat”
The best weight loss program has people saying, “I never thought it could be possible for me…..but it is!.”
“I’m free!”
“I don’t desire those foods anymore.”
And the coolest expression of the best weight loss program is, “I forgot to eat.”
Forgot to eat.
Forgetting.
No one, and I mean no one, would be in a weight-related health crisis if they forgot to eat.
Am I right?
When Was The Last Time You Forgot To Eat?
For most of us, not only do we not ever forget to eat, but we anticipate and plan and arrange for our next eating. We eat and we eat and we eat.
In fact, today’s world sets us up for it.
Our children are being brought up in an eat and eat and eat society. Food. Everywhere. All the time. Near-constant.
We’ve become grazers out in the fields. We used to be hunters and gatherers.
We ate. Then we went for days not eating.
Grazers are carbohydrate consumers. Hunters and gatherers are fat and protein consumers with an occasional carbohydrate.
Carbohydrate eating keeps a body in sugar-burning, fat accumulation mode. Grazers have to eat often because being trapped in sugar-burning means their energy drops quickly. Sugar-burning energy is brief and requires near-constant re-fueling.
The need for near-constant re-fueling generates those maddening cravings and those demanding, dictator desires for food.
Fat and protein eating keeps a body in fat burning, fat releasing mode.
Fat-burning is the polar opposite of sugar-burning.
Fat provides long duration, steady energy. Those who’ve re-kindled their body’s fat burning ability are the ones who are slimmer, trimmer, saner, calmer, and smarter. They are the ones who forget to eat lunch or who politely pass on the food sharing at the office.
THE BEST WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM Is The One Where You Forget To Eat
Why We Suffer…
Cravings. Desire. Comfort.
Food placates pain.
How?
Survival = Glucose, Neurotransmitters, and Hormones
Understanding why we suffer from incessant food cravings and callings is critical to rising up out of them. Knowing how the brain is wired to desire certain foods lifts us out of the blame and shame game and onto the right action path.
Very few escape the internal dialogue that comes with a failed attempt to resist temptation. To resist food. To resist eating in order to lose weight or resolve a health crisis. “I’m a sinner.” “I’m weak.” “I’m not disciplined enough.” “I have no will-power.” “I’m tired.” “I’m addicted to sugar.” “I can’t.”
Let’s take a look at some of the aspects of the human brain that are the true reason why weight loss is indeed so hard.
Weight Loss Is All About Survival
The human brain is wired for survival.
Neurotransmitters which are microscopic messengers, generate energies or feelings that significantly influence behavior. Just like the physical pain of touching a hot stove influences us to pull our hand back and to be more careful next time, emotional pain influences us too.
We are internally driven to avoid pain AND to seek pleasure. Avoid pain. Seek pleasure. We are wired to desire pleasure.
And There Is a Powerful Pleasure Association with Certain Foods…
This is why when we are sad or hurting or frustrated or even bored we begin seeking pleasure. Being sad or hurt or frustrated or bored are forms of pain.
Wired to avoid pain and seek pleasure, the fastest route is through food. Comfort food particularly.
Think about it. We don’t reach for a hard boiled egg when we’re blue, we reach for sugar. We reach for some form of carbohydrate.
The egg delivers fat and protein. Fat and protein won’t give us the ‘fix’ our brain is seeking.
Sugar does. Pizza, potatoes, pasta, bread, rice, cereal, fruit, granola bars and candy are all forms of comfort foods because they’re all carbohydrate food. Every one of these quickly gives us a ‘hit’ of sugar. Even the whole and organic versions.
All of these foods digest rapidly into glucose. And it’s glucose your brain is seeking. The brain desires glucose.
Why Does The Brain Desire Glucose?
The brain is the omnipotent organ of the body. Supporting and protecting the brain is critical to survival.
The brain generates more energy and requires more fuel than any other body part. In terms of fuel, it is greedy.
In fact, the liver stores at-the-ready glucose specifically for the brain as needed. We never want the brain to experience a fuel deficit. We never want the brain to experience a lapse of energy. To do so puts the whole body at risk.
Weight Loss & Behavior Reward Reinforcement
Our innate wiring is designed to ensure fuel surplus over fuel deficit. And the mechanism that ensures this is typical behavior-reward reinforcement.
How do we manipulate a person’s behavior? Usually with some form of reward.
One of my favorite episodes of ‘The Big Bang Theory‘ is where Sheldon uses positive reinforcement to coerce a new behavior in Penny. She unknowingly begins to associate Sheldon’s desired action of her with her pleasure of being offered a chocolate by him.
Dopamine Triggers Euphoria
The brain releases feel-good neurotransmitters every time we give it glucose. We associate eating glucose-concentrated foods with a degree of euphoria.
It’s no wonder weight loss is such a challenge!
This is the neurotransmitter, dopamine. Dopamine gives us that jolt of ‘good vibes’. We get the same rush whether we’re sky diving or gossiping or eating carbohydrates/sugar.
Excitement (sky diving), social bonding (gossiping) and eating sugar each play a part in our survival. Action, connection, and fuel are essential elements of staying alive. No wonder our brain rewards us for these behaviors. They keep us in the game.
Another Key Brain Response To Food Is Endorphin Release.
While dopamine reinforces the action-pleasure association, endorphins seal it with a kiss.
Endorphins are the feel-good high that ensues when we fall in love, when we feel appreciated and valued, when we reach an internal state of bliss.
We can achieve this through sex, playing soccer, hiking in the woods, or eating chocolate chip cookies.
Which is the best choice for us?
We may be tempted to answer, “the chocolate chip cookies!”
Because we now understand that the brain needs glucose. However, we haven’t mentioned yet that our body makes its own glucose.
Our Body Makes It’s Own Glucose (Sugar)!?
Yep. That’s right. You could live your entire life without consuming carbohydrate.
Carbohydrate, as a food category, is strictly optional. But the brain-body will function in the path of least resistance. Why bother having to internally generate glucose from protein (gluco-neogenesis) when immediate external glucose is sitting right in front of me? It’s Easy.
“Eat the damn comfort food.” “Give me a quick hit.” “I won’t ever ask again.” Yea. Right.
These are the internal food demons that plague those trapped in the sugar-burner brain and body. Insanity!
The Final Weight Loss Insult… Insulin
And one final weight loss saboteur… Insulin
This time it’s a hormone. Insulin.
Those cravings. That chronic fatigue. Those energy crashes. The brain fog. That stubborn belly fat.
It’s insulin.
Insulin is at the very foundation.
Insulin, our anabolic growth and fat accumulation hormone, drives all of these plus.
Plus? Yep. Plus.
Plus… thickening blood vessels, plus debilitating neuropathy, plus cancer angiogenesis. If we want to die by heart attack, cancer, or Alzheimer’s we should ignore insulin. If we want to avoid these, pay attention.
1.) Insulin is innocent.
2.) Insulin is non-negotiable.
Every human alive at this moment has insulin circulating in their bloodstream whether their pancreas secreted it or they injected it themselves because their body can’t produce it. (Another story, another time.)
Insulin’s role is to ensure that the glucose generated from the carbohydrate you just ate, which is now in your bloodstream (blood sugar), can get into the cells of your body where it’ll be used as fuel for energy.
Becoming Insulin Aware
Your pancreas secretes insulin in direct proportion to the amount of glucose-based food you eat.
Going back to our comfort food discussion, your blood will be flooded with glucose and subsequently flooded with insulin.
Insulin is a signaling hormone. All cells of the body, except brain cells, have a restraining order on glucose. Glucose is not permitted entrance into cells unless signaled by insulin.
Brain cells have no such barrier. Right here. Right at this piece of science I pause and I question, “Why do the cells of the body have a shield up against glucose?”
It turns out that unlike the brain that is constantly firing, churning, and operating at full throttle, the cells of our body require far less glucose fuel.
Both brain and body operate on both glucose and fatty acids. Fatty acid entrance into cells doesn’t have a block but glucose does.
How We Gain Weight / Accumulate Body Fat
Each cell can only use so much glucose. Storage is finite.
Excess glucose gets shuttled into adipose tissue where it converts and is stored as fat.
Carbohydrates and the glucose molecules all carbohydrate is made from convert to fatty acids for storage.
But here’s where weight loss hits the fan.
Weight Loss Cannot Occur When Insulin Is Elevated
Therefore, the best weight loss program addresses insulin.
When insulin is stimulated, when insulin is secreted, when insulin is elevated, fat stores are unaccessible.
Weight loss is body fat use. To lose body fat we must USE body fat.
And to USE body fat, we must be able to access that fuel. Your body fat stores must be UNLOCKED.
No body fat can be used…even when we’re exercising!…if insulin is present. The body will operate on sugar instead.
Cool thing is, once you know insulin, you will lose weight without even exercising. Halleluhia! Am I right?
I don’t know about you but I get a dopamine and endorphin hit when science stamps out insanity.
I get a rush when I know the answer.
While the world scurries around morality and mantras, character and sacrifice, pretty products and mindfulness, counting calories and controlling portions, we stand square and sure on the non-emotion of simple straightforward science.
The best weight loss program is education.
The best weight loss program is science.
The best weight loss program is you. Smarter. Saner. Surer. You.
P.S. Can you leave me a comment below in the comments section? Let me know if this article was helpful.
Frequently Answer Questions On Best Weight Loss Program
1.) What is the most effective weight loss program?
The most effective weight loss program is forgetting to eat.
When a person forgets to eat they consume less calories. Their insulin level drops releasing body fat for burning.
True weight loss is body fat loss. Body fat must be accessible for use. Body fat is accessible for use when insulin is low.
One of the times that Insulin is low is when a person forgets to eat.
Forgetting to eat is not the same as trying not to eat. There is a considerable amount of stress associated with trying not to eat. Stress elevates insulin, making fat release a challenge.
But forgetting to eat means that they have eaten in a way so they do not desire food. They experience no cravings. They are not hungry. They are not stressed. They are calm.
Forgetting to eat is the most effective weight loss program because it addresses the underlying cause of weight gain.
2.) How do I lose 10 lbs. in a week?
Losing 10 lbs in one-week means the person will be losing both excess body fluid and fat. There is one single variable to releasing fluid and burning fat, insulin.
Here is the 3 step process to follow:
STEP 1: Reduce carbohydrate intake to under 10 grams daily.
STEP 2: Consume enough fat to satisfy.
STEP 3: Eat less frequently. The best way to making this happen is forgetting to eat. Forgetting to eat involves consuming fat (Step 2) in isolation.
3.) How do I control my appetite?
Appetite is controlled by your fuel intake sufficiency meter. A person who relies on sugar/glucose/carbohydrate fuel is more challenged with appetite control. That’s because carbohydrate digests quickly, burns up quickly, or is stored as body fat quickly.
When carbohydrate is the main fuel, insulin elevates and body fat stores are locked. The carbohydrate burner keeps craving or keeps a steady appetite for more sugar because their body cannot access its stored fuel, fat.
Appetite is effortlessly controlled in a person who consumes fat fuel preferentially. Fat burning provides long, steady energy.
And because insulin remains quite low, their body fat burning is also a “go”. This person’s appetite is sated for hours and hours because their body easily runs on their stored body fat. Appetite is controlled when we operate on our body fuel, fat.
4.) Why is losing weight so hard?
Losing weight is only hard if you are working against basic internal principles.
Losing weight without addressing insulin is a no win. That’s because when insulin is stimulated, body fat cannot be burned. A person can lose muscle but they can’t lose fat. And those who don’t address insulin will experience incessant cravings and a heightened appetite.
When we dial down the insulin, we ‘dine in’. We operate on our internal fuel, body fat. In this case, weight loss is not hard at all. Weight loss simply happens.
About Barbara McDermott
Regarded as America's #1 Insulin Suppression Coach, Barbara is the co-founder of SHIFT Health & Wellness Solution, and the best-selling author of the groundbreaking book, ‘FOOD B.S.’, With SHIFT, Barbara brings common sense to nutrition, weight loss and health gain. Her refreshing, no nonsense approach to uncovering the truth using non-negotiable rules of science demystifies food and how to defeat chronic disease once and for all.
Barb, I’ve remained on the sidelines just taking it all in but I must say that is the BEST explanation of the truth I’ve seen you put out there. Just perfect. Well done!