While munching on your post Pesach pizza, I thought I’d give you something else to chew on. You’ve promised yourself that you would start, but there has always been an excuse – before yom tov, after Yom tov, waiting for Yom tov …. But in reality, you are really afraid that if you make a commitment to lose weight it would mean depriving yourself of every type of food that you like at least for an extended period of time and you are just not ready for that.

And now it’s after Pesach and you’ve been telling yourself all Yom tov that “I’m going to let myself go because right after Pesach I’m starting my diet” and you really would like to start, but those same doubts are creeping in again.. so what’s to be done?

It’s time to stop “dieting” and time to start “eating” (healthy that is):

If you embark on an eating program that restricts you from eating certain food groups, or if your program calls for severely cutting your calorie intake to the point of starvation so that you can drop the weight in a very short period of time, then you may see some results, but I doubt you can keep to it for the long-term unless you have super human self-control. However, if you make a commitment to start eating a more healthy and well-balanced diet of fruits, veggies, lean proteins and minimally processed, high fiber carbohydrates as well as some exercise and keeping yourself hydrated, not only will you lose the weight, but after about six months, you will realize that you’re losing the weight almost effortlessly and more importantly keeping it off.

“So does that mean I can’t have any of the good, delicious food that I love?”

Let me introduce you to a certain concept and see if this helps:

“One of the biggest principles of healthy eating is something called “crowding out”.

If you are into politics, you may have noticed that when two sides are arguing in front of the township board or committee or whatever, one side may have all of their supporters come to the town hall early and fill the seats so when the meeting takes place there is no room for the people from the other side of the issue to sit and let their voice be heard. Which leads the members of the board to think that there is a lot of support only for one side of the issue. You see? the people who got there early “crowded out” the other side.

The same idea works with how we eat. If we incorporate lots of healthy natural, fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean proteins (more fruits and veggies than the whole grains and protein), which will fill you up so that when you do eat that slice of pizza, donut, hot dog etc…. you’ll be pretty full so you won’t eat as much of the “bad stuff”. And as you eat more healthy, you will notice your taste buds have changed and you won’t crave the unhealthy foods as much. Of course, it would be helpful if you had some guidance and help from a coach or nutritionist.

Now I ask again: If not now, When?

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I wanted to take a minute to talk about exercise.

People think that unless you don’t exercise for an hour or two at a time it’s doesn’t even pay to start and I am here to tell you that it is simply not true. Yes, you should do an exercise routine on a regular basis and yes, the more you do the better, BUT just 15-20 minutes of moderate to intense exercise as many times per week as possible will do the trick as well . Afraid that you will be bored? Find a scenic place to do your exercise or take different routes when you are walking, jogging, biking etc… Anything that you can think of to just get you moving will work basketball, tennis, paddleball really any type of sports will do the trick- but I caution you- start slowly and build it up. Too many times people start exercising and overdo it, get injured and stop right away.

Stretch before and after each workout and keep yourself hydrated (there he goes again about drinking water blah, blah, blah). And just enjoy the great outdoors!!

One last note… Please, please take advantage of exercising by combining it with healthy eating habits and don’t cancel it out by not making the right choices.

Ezi Levi is a certified health and diet coach and is the director of the Men’s Weight Loss Center. The center works with men and teenage boys who are committed to losing weight in a safe and natural way by learning how to make healthier choices in their primary and secondary foods. To find out more or to schedule a free, no obligation health consultation please call (732) 903-4129 or Email at [email protected]