good diet to lower cholesterol

Ask any group of women about their New Year's resolutions and most will tell you at the top of their list is to 'lose weight.' For many, this begins the year with the familiar and painful cycle of losing weight by dieting. There seems to be a belief that if we start a diet and lose some weight, then everything will be perfect.

We believe weight loss is something to attain. When our lives are better-when we have lost the weight-then we too can attain perfection. It is an impossible goal. While trying to achieve it we miss out on all the other aspects of life. Our focus is so skewed we don't see the real picture. The real picture is the life we have now, regardless of our weight. Once we focus on living, rather than on dieting and losing weight, we become happier and more confident. We lose weight easily.

Here's how to lose weight naturally with the top 10 reasons to leave dieting off your New Year's resolution list:

1. You are more likely to gain weight. Research has shown that the traditional dieting approach of restricting both calories and food types shows poor results in achieving long-term weight loss. Within five years, many dieters regain any weight they lose and often end up heavier than when they began. They also tend to develop very unhealthy attitudes towards food and to lose their natural ability to recognise when they are hungry or full. (Source: Eating Disorders Foundation of Victoria)
2. Diets are expensive. Most diets require special meal plans, pills, powders or potions. Buying food you don't really like or a month's worth of repetitive, artificially flavoured powdered drinks can be more expensive than eating good quality food you love.
3. Diet food tastes fake. Most diets require you to restrict your calorie intake by eating low or no fat, highly processed foods with added chemicals, artificial flavours and preservatives. Compare eating organic full cream yoghurt mixed with organic fruit to no fat, artificially sweetened yoghurt. Which one would leave you feeling more satisfied?
4. Diets mess with your metabolism. Each time you restrict you food intake, you send your body into starvation mode. It will want to conserve energy. Trust your own body signals. Eat when you are physically hungry and then honour yourself with food you love. You will lose weight naturally by working with your body, not against it.
5. Diets mess with your head. Women who diet frequently (more than 5 times) are 75% more likely to experience depression. (Source: Eating Disorders Foundation of Victoria).
6. Diets set you up for failure. When the focus of a diet is based on control, it is like being a tightly wound spring. You restrict and are 'good'; eventually you 'break the diet' then beat yourself up for not being perfect. Imagine this-you have worked hard, following your diet, exercising and at the end of the week you get on the scales. The scales don't change, or worse, you have gained weight. You wonder if it is all worth it and life is so unfair that you have to restrict your food, while others seemingly eat everything and don't gain weight. It is when you accept yourself for who you really are now that your weight will begin to decrease naturally.
7. Diets focus on control instead of tuning into natural eating. Learn to understand your real physical hunger. This is the key to understanding and listening to what your body really wants. You are more likely to eat quality food which is fuel for your body when you listen.
8. Diets give you an excuse to focus on food instead of yourself. Learn to express your feelings, rather than eat them. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly and the urge to eat is strong and demanding. Real physical hunger takes time and you can make rational choices. Ask yourself, is it physical hunger or emotional hunger you are feeling. If it is emotional hunger ask yourself, 'What do I really need right now?'
9. You get caught in the cycle of eat/diet /overeat/feel guilty/start the next diet. Diets can take over your life, leaving no room for anything else. Focus on a healthy lifestyle and refuse to follow the next diet trend. Listen to your own body and learn to trust it.
10. Spend your time, energy and money on things you really love. Imagine what you would do if you didn't spend all your time focussing on diets, food and weight. Learn how to deal with issues as they arise then make a list of the things you would like to achieve and start working towards those goals now.