The Most Basic Idea of Weight Management

Have you ever bought a diet book? Spent money to join a weight loss group or special "nutri-foods" ? Well, most Americans have, becasue the dieting/weight loss industry is booming to the tune of $40 Billion a year; I guess I have contributed to that economy - I am always on the look-out for "what works." Yet despite the money spent, people continute to gain weight. Why? 

A few years ago the book I read on my beach vacation wasn't a thriller, it was The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen - it's about the American food industry and our way of eating. His next book,  In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto, had a simple rule for eating healthy and staying at a healthy weight:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

By food, of course , he means "real" food: substances we can identify as coming from a plant or animal: an egg, milk, vegetables, a fish.  Mac'n'cheese in the box? Twinkie? Energy drink? Probably not.

Another short manifesto I like is EAT LESS. MOVE MORE. That would be my recommendation for today.

The most basic idea then of losing weight is to eat, but eat small portions, and eat the most nutritious food you can when you do eat. And then balance your calorie intake with activity output. And that's what Lighten Up is all about.

How much would you have to change to eat real, food, eat mostly plants, eat less and move more?
And how willing are you to change?