Dieting is much more than cutting calories and working out 30 minutes four times a week. Take this perspective, your mind is greater than every computer on earth. Why? It creates, it dreams, it learns at an astounding rate and, as some scientists believe, may contain the essence of your soul. No less is the rest of your body, also such a wonder of nature.

So when choosing a diet, watch out for these dirty rotten low down scoundrels:
Carbonated beverages. High in sugars and no nutritional value, carbonated beverages rob your system of magnesium, calcium and vitamin A, all key ingredients to weight loss. A typical twelve ounce can of cola have 7 teaspoons of sugar in it. Cutting out one can a day will drop your weight 16 pounds a year.

Potatoes. The starches and carbohydrates in potatoes cause insulin spikes which increase hunger. Potatoes are fried, drenched in butter, over salted and are dense in calories without these additions.
Portion control. Restaurants have trained all of us to eat bigger portions. Yet when the average dieter reads the labels, a serving of food is just about one half cup. Just enough to fit nicely in your cupped palm. A 3 ounce serving of meat are just the size of a pack of playing cards. So most people take in two to three times the calories they think they ate.

Combining improper foods. Did you know that animal protein and high starch foods like potatoes should not be eaten in the same meal? Or eating sweets at the end of a meat and taters meal is bad for you? These combinations leads to digestion difficult, unprocessed food in your guts and toxins building up in your intestines.

Emotional eating. By now most everyone has seen an episode of “The Biggest Loser” on television. Every episode someone deals with emotional eating. Dieting will fail if you constantly graze due to your emotions. Deal with these problems before you ever plan on dieting.

Medications. Check those labels and look up the effects of your drugs online. More susceptible drugs are antidepressants, diuretics, and sleeping pills.

Wheat and your diet. Wheat has addictive qualities and increases appetite. Wheat causes sugar spikes, and increases in blood sugars. When I say wheat, I mean bread (all types) cakes, cupcakes, pasta, cookies and pizza dough. And check those labels on processed or boxed dinners, I bet you will find processed wheat in those too.

Alcohol. After just one drink or a can of beer, your metabolism drops by a whopping 25%. Now how will you burn extra calories to drop weight? Alcohol is made from wheat, corn or other products and has zero nutritional value.

Exercise. We have all been told to exercise 3 times a week for 30 minutes. That’s a steady way to add muscle mass and lose body fat right? Wrong Lean muscle weighs more than fat and you might watch the scales go up. Instead try high-intensity interval training (HIIT) an exercise pattern of short intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods.

Okay! Now go to pick out that diet and start losing those pounds. Just remember that it’s not all counting calories anymore.

Check out all the flavorful recipes in The One Dollar Cookbook by clicking the link below.