By Rick Schaff

With so much information out there about weight loss and diets, it can be confusing to the average consumer about who or what is right. Being involved in the fitness industry for close to 20 years, I've come to realize that despite all these complicated claims about this diet or that diet, it's really more simple then they've made it out to be. For this article, let's focus on what creates a healthy body and I think you'll see that weight loss can be simple.

Digestion of foods and drinks, in particular, foods and drinks that are broken down to supply your blood with high quality nutritional needs, creates blood that is rich with nourishment that can be transported to all parts of your body. This process is liken to building a strong foundation of a house. A strong foundation will support the structure to construct and reconstruct vibrant health with every meal that you eat. However, good circulation of blood is crucial in order for the essenials to fuel your body with genuine health.

One way to build good circulation of the blood is through physical activity. Physical activity along with a solid foundation of nutritional choices helps to prevent illness and disease. It allows your body to become more efficient in releasing excess toxins and waste from your body through good circulation. Also, good circulation makes it easier for your organs to do their most basic tasks:

1: Breakdown food to create blood for transportation.

2: Utilize the nutrients from the broken down nutrients to carry out specific cellular functions.

3. Eliminate waste and toxins created by those metabolic processes and other external toxins.

By filling your diets with foods that are unnatural, your organs have a difficult time eliminating waste and thus toxins build up. To alleviate some of the pressure, our organs use up more energy to eliminate these toxins taking away energy from other functions which leads to a physiological imbalance that pulls us out of homeostasis. This can lead to us us becoming worn out, lethargic with a lessened immune system. Moreso, some of those toxins become stored as fat, making it harder to lose weight.

Over the last decade, thousands of new supplements, diet fads and food products have been introduced to the marketplace, such as; fat-burners, fat-blockers, cortisol-blockers, sugar-free cookies, fat-free potato chips, high-protein diets, high-fat diets, low-carb diets, etc. Today, more people use diet products and eat more diet foods than any other time in history, and yet we are fatter than any other time in history. And not just fat, but as a society more and more obese!

We have been so inundated with losing weight quickly that we've filled our bodies with unnatural chemicals and restrictive diets that serve only to produce temporary results, at best. We have to come to realize that the way back to health and genuine weight loss is by simply going back to simple basics. It really is simple. We all have an internal guidance system that instinctively knows what is healthy for us. Think about it for a moment? Does a hot dog filled with sodium and nitrates match your innate cellular knowledge of health? Of course not! You might have even felt that "block" when you read that question. Listen to your instincts, it knows!

Make the decision right now that you will stop the cycle of following these fad diets and consuming these diet products and pills. Let me let you in on a little secret. I've personally worked with models, celebrities and professional athletes that get paid to endorse those products. And, when I've taken them aside the've told me that they would never take "that garbage." I go more in depth about this in my book "Misled."

For now, this may seem like too easy of an answer, but come back to natural healthy whole foods. I bet if you sit quiet for a few moments and listen to your body, you'll be able to hear how it's been craving natural foods to eat, not that big mac or taco supreme which are seriously lacking nutrients, creating stagnation in your blood and only perpetuating a cycle of "yo yo" binging and starving. Feed your body with whole foods and your body will reward you by helping you feel full faster and giving you more energy for your daily functions!