I will neither deny myself the food I want to eat nor neglect to eat the food I need to eat. – Nomo
As I’ve stated many times before, I will not tell you what to eat or what not to eat. That is not what I am here to do. The Recipe for Weight Loss Success is all about giving you the tools you need to take control of your thoughts, feelings, and actions toward the food you eat, the exercise you do, and the healthy lifestyle you create for yourself. It’s about helping you learn about yourself so you can get what you WANT when it comes to your weight and health.
However, judging by all of the other weight loss and diet information floating around, people seem to like being told what to eat. I’m not going to fall for that trick. I have tried many different diets with varying degrees of success. However, my biggest mistake was always giving up and not making permanent, healthy, long-lasting changes in my lifestyle. I didn’t have the mental tools I needed to do what was best for me regarding my weight, fitness, and health. This is why I focus on the mental side of weight loss. You must take control of your thoughts and feelings to make the change happen in your life.
Having typed all of that, the title of this article is “The NOMO Food Pyramid” for a reason. I must comment on the subject of FOOD and describe how it fits into the Recipe for Weight Loss Success.
Good vs. Bad?
There is no such thing as good and bad foods. Those words just need to be eliminated from the diet lexicon. There is no good or bad food. Food just is. If you eat something that provides a benefit to your mind and/or body and doesn’t kill you or require the use of extreme medical assistance, you have consumed food. The benefit it provides is what makes it food.
The differences that do exist in foods have everything to do with their makeup. Some foods are a source of fuel. Some are short term fuel, others are long term fuel, and some have no fuel at all. Some foods provide the building blocks needed to grow and repair your body. Each in different quantities with some having a lot while others have little to none. Some foods have the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients your body needs. Some have none of these. But food is so much more than just a combination of calories, carbs, fats, fiber, and protein.
Food can be fun, food can be fuel, food can be indulgent, food can be full of nutrients, food can be something you love, food can be traditional, food can be lifesaving, food can be comfortable, food can be convenient, food can be reliable, food can be pleasure, food can be interesting, food can be exactly what you need, food can be experimental, food can be just food. None of these things are bad.
In reality, all food exists on a spectrum. Not a good vs. bad spectrum, but more like a nutritious vs. tasty spectrum or a fuel vs. satisfying spectrum. A plate of tacos, eggs with bacon, cake and ice cream, or a fresh veggie salad all provide a benefit to your mind and body. Knowing this enables you to take control of your thinking and put a stop to the “Good vs. Bad” guilt that so many diets and weight loss plans induce.
When you have control of your thinking, you can make the changes necessary to get what you WANT.
Standard Diet Advice
When a person is overweight, outside of the mental changes that must take place for true weight loss, diet is usually the next most important thing that needs to change. The old saying, “You ARE what you EAT,” holds a lot of truth even though I think the reverse statement, “You EAT what you ARE,” is more accurate and fits better with the principles behind the Recipe for Weight Loss Success. Nevertheless, when a diet needs to change, people will look for advice.
The problem with most diet advice is that it is often stuck firmly in the Good-vs.-Bad camp, or the Eat-This-Don’t-Eat-That camp, or even worse, the Do-Exactly-What-I-Say-And-Lose-20-Pounds-In-10-Days camp. Taken together, it all seems like a bunch of noise.
I’m not saying that quality diet advice doesn’t exist. What I am saying is that as you search for, study, or try out any diet advice, treat the experience as an investigation, or as an experiment. Reason with the information. Does it make sense? Is it pushing a Good-vs-Bad narrative? Should you accept the information? Should you reject any of the information? Ask the question, “Will this work for me?”
I often write about how you should be a leader, not a follower. You and only you are responsible for your life and health. When studying diet advice, you will find that the best advice will resonate with you and you can eliminate the rest. From this point, you can go forward trying to find out what foods work best for you. The whole point of the Recipe for Weight Loss Success is that you determine what is best for you. You are a leader and your solutions come from within.
Everyone is different. Everyone has their own fuel and everyone has their own kryptonite. It is your responsibility to find out what works and what doesn’t. Once you know how your mind and body react to different foods, you can make fully informed decisions concerning the foods you will eat to get the healthy lifestyle you WANT.
The Fatso Food Pyramid
As I think back on My Roller Coaster, it seems as if there are two kinds of food out there for me. Food that my body needs to be thin, fit, and healthy, and everything else. Again, the “everything else” foods are not bad. They provide great benefits to my mind and body. However, I would get into problems and the weight always came back when I would over-indulge.
My Fatso Food Pyramid was out-of-whack, completely unstable, and lacked a solid foundation. It is based on over-indulgence and accurately depicts why I have had weight problems for such a long period of time.
My massive weight swings, I would lose 25 then gain 30, lose 40 and gain 50 right back, were the result of me embracing my Fatso Food Pyramid. I would mindlessly over-indulge in foods of all kinds, while completely ignoring the foods my body needed. It was obvious through my successes, even though temporary, what foods worked for me for weight loss and health. But I would just give up, stop caring and ignore the foods I needed to eat. I have learned that this was a direct result of the “Good-vs-Bad” narrative that most of the diet advice I followed pushed onto me.
I would feel like a failure, a loser, a worthless human being when I would “cheat” on my diet. Even diets that had “built-in cheat days” pushed the “Good-vs-Bad” narrative, and I would end up “cheating” all of the time. I didn’t have the mental tools I needed to take control of my life. I was a follower and I looked down at myself when I couldn’t follow through. I didn’t have the Recipe for Weight Loss Success.
The NOMO Food Pyramid
The NOMO Food Pyramid is the exact opposite of the Fatso Food Pyramid. It is built on top of a solid foundation, focuses on the food you need, but doesn’t ignore indulgence.
The Foundation
You must know what you WANT concerning your weight and health. You must know WHY you want it. This is the foundation of the Recipe for Weight Loss Success and it is also the foundation of the NOMO Food Pyramid. Your purpose, or WHY, is what drives you to make the changes you need to make. It is also the source for your Statements of Fact, or philosophies, that you use to take control of your thoughts and feelings.
If the terms WANT, WHY, and Statements of Fact are new or confusing to you, please read The Recipe for a more detailed explanation for how these concepts can drive your weight loss.
Your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about food and health will form the foundation of your personal NOMO Food Pyramid. Build a solid foundation that constantly reminds you of your purpose and pushes you toward success.
The Food You Need
The bulk of the NOMO Food Pyramid comes from the foods you need to eat. And by the word bulk, I mean that the vast majority of both the calories and the volume of what you consume should come from these foods.
Therefore, every meal, every day, every week, every month, the bulk of the food you consume should meet the needs of your mind and body. You must eat consciously.
“Why so vague? Just give me a list.”
I will not give you a list of what you should and should not eat. Doing so would put me into the Good-vs-Bad camp and goes against the mission of this site. You are responsible for your diet. You are responsible for your health. The key word is YOU. What works for me may not work for you. You must take responsibility and take control.
In addition to focusing on YOU, the bulk of the pyramid focuses on the word Need just as much as the word Food. It is a fact that you need carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and other nutrients to survive and thrive, but you have other needs as well.
- You need tastes: Salty, sweet, sour, bitter, umami.
- You need textures: Flaky, crunchy, smooth, crisp, dry, wet.
- You need smells: Bread baking, a pot of soup simmering, freshly picked strawberries, meat grilling, a ripe tomato.
- You need satisfaction: Turkey and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, cake and ice cream on birthdays, burgers and brats at the stadium.
An all smoothie diet may give you everything you need from a physiological perspective, but it would be as boring as hell. Don’t neglect your needs.
If you are anything like me, you know what foods you need to eat to have permanent, healthy, weight loss success. You may not know exactly, but you do know how you are going to start and you are committed to studying and learning more about yourself to guarantee your success. The NOMO Food Pyramid encourages you to focus on the foods that promote weight loss for you. Use this knowledge to take control of your diet and start eating consciously.
Indulgences
Indulgences make up the remainder of the NOMO Food Pyramid. It is absolutely vital that you understand the concept of indulgence.
As I have stated earlier, food is neither good nor bad. The same is true of indulgences. It is totally false that some foods are indulgences and others are not. Food just is. Let me use an example to clarify this point.
An all-ice-cream-all-the-time-diet is probably not going to promote weight loss or lead to long-term health, but this does not mean that ice cream is bad (Good-vs-Bad). Also, even though ice cream is generally considered a dessert does not mean that it is an indulgence. Ice cream is what it is and sometimes you need the sweet taste, the creamy texture, the cold temperature, and the experience it provides. You can need ice cream just like you can need a healthy meal. It is up to you to determine what and how much you actually need.
Indulgence can occur when you go back for that second helping of ice cream. It is the conscious act of eating more than you need. Realize that this can be true of ice cream as well as the healthy meal.
An indulgence is done with full knowledge of your weight loss goals when you are fully aware of your purpose. The important point to remember is that you are conscious of your indulgence, you are in control, and never forget that indulgences are not bad. Sometimes you just want a little more and that is not bad.
On the other hand, over-indulgence is different. This is when you ignore your goals, deny your purpose and embrace the Fatso Food Pyramid. Over-indulgence ultimately results in mindless over-eating. Avoid this by staying conscious of your goals and purpose.
From Fatso to NOMO
It is almost impossible to flip a switch and change your diet from the over-indulgent Fatso Food Pyramid to the NOMO Food Pyramid. Drastic changes like this are almost always a recipe for disaster.
You need to figure out what foods promote weight loss for you and create your own pyramid based on your purpose, statements of fact, and philosophies.
This is not a get-fit-quick scheme.
Stop feeling guilty about the food you eat. Focus on what you WANT and WHY you want it. Eat the foods you need to eat to promote the healthy lifestyle you want. Indulge occasionally and consciously.
The Recipe for Weight Loss Success and fatsonomo.com are here to empower you to take full responsibility for your health by taking control of your thoughts, feelings, and actions concerning diet, nutrition, and fitness.
You can do this and NOMO is here to help.
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-Nomo