* This is part of a year-long weekly series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". 

Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.

----
​
3 Easy (but Hidden) Keys to Weight Control

Of course what you eat and how much of it are the most important things when it comes to weight control.  

But there are some simple things you can do repeatedly to keep from gaining weight over your lifetime.  Make these habits which you don’t even have to think about and they will make it so much easier to lose or maintain bodyweight.  I’ve already written about these things several times before, and they overlap with each other, but they’re worth repeating.

1. Eat a little bit of protein at every meal
2. Eat more fiber.
3. Eat things that are going to take a while to eat. 

 
A little bit of protein slows down the insulin response to whatever it is you’re eating.  The more you control your insulin and blood sugar, the healthier you’ll be.  Protein also provides crucial amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, and it will make you feel full, preventing you from eating more junk food and empty calories.  Eating fiber also fills you up, lowers cholesterol, and aids in elimination.  Fiber prevents weight gain and overeating.  Lastly, take your time eating.  Enjoy your meal, and the company if you have it.  Deliberately choose foods like lean meats, cucumbers, apples, pears, peppers, and broccoli, which take time to consume.  This will slow you down and trick your brain into thinking you ate more than you did. 
 
To control weight in the modern world, you need to pull out all the stops. 
----

Like the blog? Pass it on!

Read Next:  Win the Morning, Win Forever

* This is part of a year-long weekly series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
----
​
The following are a list of 10 ways that I personally use to eat healthy on a reasonable budget.  These are things that I personally can vouch for.  Some are so simple that you’ll wonder why you never thought of, whereas others you may immediately reject for how seemingly hard they will be to follow. 

​Regardless, you can eat healthy on a budget, so go do it!
 
Buy food in bulk and prepare it ahead of time and store it in containers.    This will keep you from making bad decisions and help you save money by buying in bulk. 
 
Bring your lunch to work instead of going out to eat.Eating your own lunch that you made at home is almost always better for you and cheaper than going out. 
 
Focus on eating things like apples, cucumbers, oranges, or salads, that take a while to eat and have more fiber.Fiber is one of the single most important keys to eating better on a budget.  Fiber-rich foods fill you up, and are less expensive.
 
Vinegar and oil are inexpensive and healthy.  A small splash of vinegar and vegetable oil or olive oil makes a tasty and inexpensive dressing on any type of salad.
 
Pasta, brown rice, whole grains, lentils, and beans are inexpensive and good for you.This could really be a separate tip, but it’s related to eating more non-animal proteins like those listed.  Animal protein (beef, turkey, chicken, lamb) is expensive so simply by eating healthier non-animal proteins like these, you can save money and be healthier at the same time.  Many people eat more protein than they need. 
 
Frozen vegetables are just as healthy as fresh.  Often, but not always, they are cheaper too.
 
Drink a lot of water to curb your appetite.Sometimes what you think is hunger is dehydration.
 
Tell your friends and family you are trying to eat healthy and save money.  Ask them to help you and be supportive.  If they’re good friends that are worth having, they will.  Your best friend is the number one predictor of obesity.  I’m not saying to ditch your friends, but I am saying that if you want to be healthier, your true friends will want this for you too. 
 
Exercise or go for a walk instead of eating.Boredom can be mistaken for hunger.  The next time you are daydreaming about food, try walking or doing a quick workout or stretches instead.
 
Stay out of restaurants with calorie-heavy menu items that are hard to resist. Better yet, stay out altogether.  Go to places which have tasty items that are lower in calories, higher in fiber, and reasonable prices.  Asian restaurants tend to be lower in calories. Better yet, don’t view restaurants as sources of food, but rather as the place for a very occasional special meal.
 

* This is part of a year-long weekly series called "52 Weeks to Eating better than Ever". Click on the side bar for more information and to read the previous essays.
----

There are several major problems with supplements, not just one.

The primary problem with supplements is that they are not regulated closely and so they should be used with extreme caution.  There have been numerous cases in recent years where supplements purported to contain one thing contained something else entirely, and in addition many supplements even contained toxic substances.  Green Tea Extract is one such supplement, among many, and it comes in many products on the shelves of health food stores.  I personally know several people who got sick from taking it, and this is only one example.  Millions of people all over the world use weight loss supplements every year, and these too are poorly regulated and their safety and efficacy is questionable.  Herbal supplements too, are not certain to be of high quality. 
 
Secondarily, I’ve found that the supplement industry feeds off unwitting consumers.  The marketing of supplements is cheesy at best and predatory at worst.  Ask yourself this: If something is really that great, does it need millions of dollars per year in advertising and marketing? Billions of dollars per year are spent every year on supplements, much of it a complete waste.  Most supplements, frankly, don’t work or have not been proven to work.  Where does the “research” come from?  Usually, from the supplement company themselves!
 
Finally, many people take supplements thinking they will make up for a poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle by popping a pill.  If you don’t eat right, a supplement is not going to do much.  If you don’t exercise, I don’t care how many supplements you take, you won’t be fit.  If you smoke and have too much stress or not enough sleep, supplements won’t make any difference.  Supplements, if they are used, should be as an afterthought to a comprehensively healthy way of life- eating right, being active, and doing things daily that are good for you mentally, physically, and spiritually. 
 
It’s not that you should never take a supplement but you should never rely on them as a primary source of nutrition and health, and you should always be extremely cautious. 
 
From now on, food is our medicine.  Food is our joy.  Food is our friend, not supplements.
 
Eating is a pleasure to be savored and enjoyed, healthily and slowly, and with gratitude and enjoyment to nourish us inside and out. 
 
Pills are to be avoided, if possible.  We know what an apple, a grass-fed steak, or brown rice is. 
 
We don’t always know for sure what that little capsule is.  Eat to be healthy, don’t take supplements to be healthy.  
 
For more info, I created a free PDF for you on supplements.  Click here to download Scott Godwin's Guide to Supplements.

-----

Like the Blog?  Pass it on and sign up!

Read Next: The "Religion" of Health

​

"Every argument is a theological argument." - Hiliare Belloc 

I’ve noticed people, including myself at times, treat the pursuit of health as a religion.  In this modern religion, the individual person is the “god” and there are certain dogmas not to be violated like fast food, smoking, or eating fried food.  Smoking cigars and drinking alcohol is also questionable, as is not going to the gym.  Those who stick to the “moral” teachings of the health religion of the self, judge those unfavorably who don’t abide by the dogmas, the unsophisticated people who eat at Cracker Barrel, or like Soul food, or who don’t bicycle or love fried shrimp. 
 
The last thing we ever want to think about is our own death, and the pain it might bring if we don’t live right.  So, we hold up physical health as the highest ideal possible, and even look down on people who don’t abide by our religion.  The priests for this religion are therapists, trainers (like me), doctors, and gurus, acting as counselors, preachers, and life coaches.  They tell us what we want to hear, and assure us with educated talk about tests, procedures, and methods and achieving "our best life- whatever that means".  We analyze our cholesterol, our lipids, and our balance, but also our “self-esteem” and our body fat percentages. 
 
It took me a long time to realize this, but the modern health religion when taken to an extreme, degrades the human experience by tying all of life up too closely with the material and immediate world around us, attaching us to ephemeral objects, at the expense of more fulfilling things.  That’s why I would always feel uneasy about certain things I’d see in gyms and at health classes.   People get anxious and dogmatic about the health religion precisely because it lacks a broader perspective. Like "success" tactics, practicing health tactics can't give you health, just like "success" tactics do not really mean anything without clearly defining what success is.  Success tips can't make you "successful" because success depends on values, just like health depends on living by your values, not on techniques.  
 
The problem with this health religion is that it is a false god, a false idol, holding up a perfectly healthy human body as an idol, that masks the fact that we must grapple with our own mortality and attach ourselves more fully to things that transcend the material world if we really want to be healthy.  Because being healthy is primarily about first premises, about the way we see things.  We can choose to be healthy or not in an instant.  Our attachment to the transcendent things – our families, God, friends, faiths, communities, the moral order of the universe- not to the material state of immediate things is what makes us live a happy, fulfilled, and contented life.  Obsession with health is deep down a type of degraded existence, throwing us into a purely materialistic and decaying world with nothing beyond.  Even an old-fashioned stoic pagan of the pre-B.C. era would be puzzled by our disdain for philosophy and our obsession with temporary health scores. 
 
Think about the people who have heart defects, mental issues, injuries, food allergies, or arthritis.  Are they any less healthy and capable of enjoying life? Are people who don’t go to gyms not healthy? Of course, they are.  I like the example of Winston Churchill.  He smoked and drank every day but he was healthy because of who he was and what he stood for, not because of his health data.
 
No one is completely healthy. No one can meet the perfect health standard for everything.  Health is a right perspective and being able to do want we want to do, and sometimes we must choose to want to do different things.  Health is not about being perfect, but about being in harmony.
 
I used to believe that people should try to “create their own life”, and “you can do whatever you want to do” and all those other clichés. As I have grown and learned more about health, the more I realize that being healthy is much more about contentment and being able to mature into who God created you to be, to change what we can, and accept what we can’t. 
 
The religion of health is a perfectly “nice” religion. Sure, it’s judgmental, but it doesn’t mean to hurt anyone and it usually judges behind closed doors about others.  The health religion has its' sanctimonious "holier than thous" just like any other religion.  
 
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be healthy.  It’s good to take care of yourself and avoid fast food and smoking.  But health is a choice starting now.  Health starts first with how we see things. 
 
We should take care of our body, because it’s our only way to get around and live.  We should treat the body as a temple, like most religions teach.   But exercise, nutrition, and all the other things we do to be healthy are only means to an end.  They are not the ends themselves. 
 
The religion of health the way we practice it often is a distraction.  It is a way to keep us from facing our conscience, our B.S., our pain, and our ongoing mistakes and regrets.  It’s a roadblock for things that really need to be done, one of which might just be relaxing.  Sometimes, just being quite would be the best thing we could do for our health. 
 
I went for a long 4 hour walk last summer and something deeply significant occurred to me that I don’t think would have occurred to me otherwise.  I wrote someone a letter immediately.  But it’s an ongoing struggle with me to stay committed and focused on the simple things, on first things. 
 
Health is more than spin classes, whole wheat bread, and salmon. 
 
The truth is that we never know when our time will come.  This is much better for us to remember than a lot of the dogmas of our modern health religion. 
 
----

Like the blog? Sign up and pass it on!

Read Next:  The Make-Up Day