A quick fix?

Do you have a fire in your kitchen?

Quick! Grab the fire extinguisher!

It will make a mess, but who cares — you’ve got to get that fire put out ASAP!

There are times we need to take immediate action to avoid a catastrophe, even if this action creates other problems. Such as driving your car into a ditch to avoid a head-on collision.

There are plenty of other times when a quick fix just isn’t a good idea — because the problems it causes outweigh the problem you’re trying to fix.

OR, the quick fix is temporary, and you get the problem back again.

OR, the quick fix just doesn’t work.

Where do “diets” fall in the realm of quick fixes?

Well, being overweight isn’t a good situation, but it’s not an immediate, life-threatening emergency.

Most diets can help you lose weight temporarily — but they come with serious “side effects.”

When the focus is solely on weight loss, we’re likely to make food choices that actually harm our health — such as eating Atkins type diets, or keto diets. (I actually took this list from an ad online!)

And most diets require such deprivation that they can’t be sustained long-term. Thus — when you achieve your weight loss goal, you “go off” your diet and begin eating the way that caused you to gain weight in the first place.
Also — in my personal experience, diets make you crazy! You can get obsessed about food — about your weight — about excessive exercise.
So I’m all for losing weight, but not at the price of losing our health or our sanity, or when it is followed by the almost inevitable regaining of all that weight — and often even more.
So — my focus is truly on health — and on losing weight as one aspect of getting healthy.This is why I call it the Yes to Life Solution to Getting Slim & Healthy.
This does require changing what we eat, since the Standard American Diet — even the healthier versions of it — are at the root of our health and weight problems.
And even though most people in my program see positive results quite quickly — within the first couple of weeks — this isn’t a quick fix.
It’s a permanent solution to a long-term problem, and it requires a permanent commitment to the many delicious health-promoting whole plant foods found in my classes, my cookbook, and in my own kitchen.
A few years ago, I sought out training in how to market my programs so I could help more people get slim & healthy.
The marketing gurus insisted that I needed to sell my program with the typical claims:
Lose 10 pounds in 30 Days!
When I argued with my coaches, telling them this isn’t what my program is about, I was told, “Sell them what they want, and then give them what they need.”

Well, I guess I’m just not cut out to be a great marketer as I couldn’t bring myself to follow their advice.
So I tell the truth. My programs work wonders for helping you get slim & healthy.
But if you want long-term results, you have to make a long-term commitment to healthy eating.

Occasionally, a student asks me: So how long do I need to do this?
My answer: Just as long as you want to feel good.

ALL weight loss diets require a lot of effort, so why not put this effort into something that will actually help you get healthy?

I recognize that food choices are part of a whole web of beliefs, habits, and traditions. That’s what makes it so difficult to make the changes we need to make if we want to experience optimal health.

But making these changes with other people makes it easier.

My classes provide an opportunity to learn about the healthiest foods, and how to prepare them in simple and delicious ways. They also provide the group support that makes it more fun and easier.

I’ll be sharing about another group program that I’m putting together that will help deal with the larger issues relating to changing our food choices in another blog post.

So, to sum this all up . . .

If you’re wanting to lose 10 pounds in 30 days, you can probably find dozens of programs online that will sell you that.

But if you want to get slim and healthy for life, I invite you to take my Yes to Life Solution to Get Slim & Healthy Zoom class.