Just eat

Everyone knows you need to eat fruits and vegetables. But how many of us really eat the amount we should?

I began this week eating like a nutritarian -- which is Dr. Joel Furhman's prescription for a long, healthy life. If I wanted to, I could eat everything pictured spread through my three daily meals, but of course I would never be able to eat that much food in one day.

But looking at this picture, I bet if I added up all the calories in all that food, it would not reach the amount of calories I once ate daily. In fact, I would bet it would come in at least half the calories of my once daily total.

So here's a paragraph from Furhman's "The End of Dieting" that resonates:

"The bottom line is that you needn't adopt any extreme fad diet; instead, eat lots of natural plant foods. Forget fat. Forget carbohydrates. Don't worry about carbohydrate-to-protein ratios -- and for your own sake -- please ditch the diets. We need to stop the low-fat extremism, high-protein extremism (believe it or not, this is gaining popularity too). None of this is constructive to solving our nation's confusion and dietary quagmire."

Confusion and quagmire can just about sum up my eating life. If I read back over my blog, I find myself grasping at various diet plans, hoping that one will work while all others have failed. I also find myself going back to diets that have failed me in the past: Weight Watchers and Paleo.

I am tired so, so tired of dieting.

We should all follow Dr. Furhman's advice:

"Health is the first consideration; weight  is secondary."