There Is No Silver Bullet

In this crazy, unbalanced world we live in, most people – at least in the “civilized” world – want or expect instant gratification.  I can push a button on a website and instantaneously receive a text from them.  In New York you can push a button up on Amazon.com and have the stuff delivered to your doorstep within 60 minutes.  I can post a picture or a status update on Facebook from my phone and within minutes have interactions from friends all over the world simultaneously.  I can upload a check (cheque) to my bank on my cell phone while sat at my kitchen island in my pajamas at 5:53 am, coffee in hand, and within 30 seconds have used that money to buy something online that will show up at my house the next day.  It’s magical.  I am constantly marveling at the technology we have in this day and age.  The things we can do are just totally stinkin’ awesome.  It wasn’t so long ago that getting a message to someone on the other side of the country  – or heaven forbid an entirely different country – took weeks if not months to arrive.  Now I can sit in my favorite green leather chair in my lounge in Seattle typing a message into my phone and have that message pop up on my brother’s cell phone or laptop in England within seconds.  It’s wild.  We can even communicate – in real time – while we’re flying through the air, 30,000′ above the ground and get a response back from someone on the ground or on another plane almost faster than our ability to think.  Sometimes the incredibleness of what we are able to do has me feeling like my head will explode trying to grasp the complete wonder of it all.

We’ve got so used to things around us happening immediately, to the point where we expect everything to work that way, but there’s some things that just don’t.  Our bodies are such an example, which is both ironic and annoying because it’s probably the thing we’d most like to have instantaneous results with.  And yet, every January when the New Year rolls around, we scour the internet for The Thing that will finally work miracles on our bodies.  The missing link.  The wonder potion or miracle diet that will magically make the number on the scale go down and the fat rolls shrink.  Every time Dr. Oz spins up another bottle of snake oil people all over America think this time it’s The One – despite the fact that he has been called on the carpet over and over again for peddling rubbish that doesn’t work.  Because surely in this instant gratification world that we find ourselves in, we must be smart enough to have developed something that will bypass nature and biology to transport us to health and body-fat-free nirvana in – at most – a week, right?  Even when people do start eating the right way – the way that actually causes their bodies to automatically  balance hormones and burn fat – they’re still secretly searching for The Thing that will make it all go faster and easier.  We’ve become Now Junkies.

I get it – I really do.  I haven’t always enjoyed the health I do now.  I understand the frustration of feeling like you’re not getting results.  I understand the intense emotional pull and excitement of all the infomercials and get-thin-quick potions, books, and programs.  I’ve been there.  We’re just so desperate for something that actually works to magically erase the results of years of dodgy food choices, messed-up hormones, and broken metabolisms.  Despite all I now know I still sometimes find myself wondering if maybe that latest Thing does work and whether it would allow me to get there faster or with less effort.  Newsflash: They don’t. They won’t.

The truth is, when it comes to health and fat-loss, there’s good news and there’s bad news.  I’ll give you the bad news first: There is no silver bullet.  There is no magical pill, potion, liquid, diet, program, or anything else that will transform your body into a healthy, fat-burning machine – especially in 7 days, 10 days, 2 weeks, or even a month.  There are no shortcuts to health and fat-loss.  Dear people – there is no secret.  Or rather, the secret is…there isn’t one.

So what’s the good news?  There is no silver bullet.

Wait.  WHAT?!  How is that good news?  It’s actually not ‘good’ news, it’s awesome news.

Diets (where a diet is defined as a way of eating that is not sustainable, viable, or reasonable to follow long-term or does not provide basic nutrition requirements) don’t work.  Raspberry ketones don’t work.  Green coffee beans don’t work. Slimfast doesn’t work.  I could go on and on.  And on.  But you’ve all seen the endless commercials, books, websites, videos, DVDs, and what-not proclaiming that this time our search for The Thing is over.  And it just occurred to me that they are all right.  Your search for The Thing IS over.  Because there isn’t A Thing.  Stop the search!  Let’s call this whole thing off.  That’s the awesome news.  You get to stop doing all those things that don’t work.  You get to stop spending money needlessly.  You get to stop counting calories, exercising for hours on end, and starving yourself.  You get to stop eating weird things and things that taste awful.  You get to stop being frustrated, hungry, tired, and grumpy.  And if that ain’t fantastic news, I don’t know what is. There is no silver bullet. YAY!

Here’s what will result in long-term health and fat-loss: living a low carb or keto life – which simply means eating the lowest carb real food that you can and pairing that with a small amount of eccentric exercise every week.  Then add some stress-reduction and improve the quality and amount of sleep.  That’s it.

You won’t get overnight results, not because a low carb or keto lifestyle doesn’t work, but because our bodies don’t work that way.  It takes time for our bodies to heal from years of dietary abuse and hormonal imbalances.  Your body didn’t take 4 weeks to get in the state it is today, so why do we think it’s possible to reverse all that in a heartbeat?  But when you have healed your body, got your hormones sorted out, and fixed your metabolism, your body will start to work as it is supposed to, which includes burning off stored fat.  And how do you make all that happen?  You simply live a low carb life.  The results won’t be immediate, but they will come.

So starting right now, because there is no silver bullet – if you are serious about getting healthy and burning body fat – here’s what I’d love for you to do:

1. Stop spending money on diets, pills, potions, liquids, programs, books, DVDs, or anything else that promises you dramatic weight-loss results, or weight-loss results in a short amount of time.  Stop spending money on diets, pills, potions, liquids, programs, books, DVDs, strange sports equipment, or anything else that promises you weight-loss results with no little or no effort from you.  You’re wasting your money, truly you are.  In your heart you know it.
2. Stop spending money on junk, fast, processed, sugary, and starchy foods.
3. Instead, spend that money buying real food – the lowest carb you can, and a gym membership or some simple, inexpensive home equipment – although it should be noted that many, many people just do that food part can get them them to their goals.

All the time I hear or see people complain about the price of real food – which will actually help them reach their goals – while simultaneously handing over their hard-earned $$$ for diets, pills, potions, liquids, programs, books, DVDs, or other things that will not.  Not only does the money spent on 1 and 2 above not get them closer to their goal, it actively moves them farther from it.  Spending hard-earned money on real, low carb foods will move you closer to your health and fat-loss goals than anything else.  Anything.

I realize that this may not be what you wanted to hear, but I want you to know the truth far more than I want to be popular.  There is no silver bullet. I *really, really* want you to reach your health and fat-loss goals, so I simply refuse to tell you lies in order to make money or win friends.  You need the truth if you are going to reach your goals and stay there permanently.

If you came here looking for the latest, greatest flashy program with innumerable fancy videos and other bright shiny ways to persuade you to part with your cash in return for something that sounds like weight-loss utopia, you’re in the wrong place.  If you’re looking for a hype-free, sales-pitch-free, gimmick-free lifestyle that will help you reach your wellness and fat-loss goals permanently – plus a whole bunch of delicious recipes to help get you there – you’re in exactly the right place.

There is no silver bullet.  The faster we truly internalize this, the sooner we can start focusing on doing what will get us to where we want to go.  And the sooner we will get there.