One can spend a lot of time and bandwidth extolling the physical benefits of smart eating and exercising. Weight loss! More energy! Better sex! Heavy duty selling points, all. But what if you look beyond lifestyle?<\/p>\n
Can a new way of looking at diet plans and eating, a new fat loss formula<\/a>, along with a new way of exercising make a chronic disease go away and restore health? For David Musikanth, the answer is a resounding yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n A good plan is one where you eat what you like. It’s something you don’t see in most diet plans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For most of his life, Musikanth had suffered from Crohn\u2019s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder that brings on unpredictable spells of pain, diarrhea, bleeding, and constipation. It also causes fatigue and, in general, makes your life miserable.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can be at home and you want to go out and all of a sudden your stomach isn\u2019t 100 percent and you can\u2019t go out,\u201d he says. \u201cYou absolutely can\u2019t. You have to stay somewhere where you have facilities. Crohn\u2019s ruled my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Musikanth was medicated for the condition, and he did exercise, but even then he says it\u2019s still difficult to control symptoms. Finally, a little over two years ago, at age 43 with a wife and two children, he reached a point where something had to change.<\/p>\n \u201cYou realize you\u2019re not getting any younger,\u201d he says. \u201cHealth is a bigger issue and it was hitting home much harder than it ever did. I wanted to do something for myself that didn\u2019t involve doctors and treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n His first stop, as it is for most of us, was the internet. What could he find? Who could help? He didn\u2019t really have a set diet (\u201cI didn\u2019t think much about it at all\u201d) and his workouts had never changed his body in any meaningful way.<\/p>\n Soon he stumbled on trainer Adam Bornstein\u2019s Twitter feed<\/a>. \u201cI was intrigued by his posts,\u201d Musikanth says. \u201cSo I just asked him some basic questions about nutrition and exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n Bornstein engaged and suggested that Musikanth overhaul his approach to both eating and working out. The first change? Instead of eating the way he\u2019d always had, Bornstein suggested intermittent fasting<\/a>. It\u2019s a simple concept: Between the hours of noon and 8 p.m., you eat all your normal meals. The rest of the time you consume nothing. \u201cIt sounded completely crazy,\u201d Musikanth says.<\/p>\n He and his wife decided to try it together \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier if you have someone to do it with\u201d \u2013 along with a change in what he was eating. \u201cBefore, there was no concept of diet. A typical meal would be like hot dogs or hamburgers and chips. And a Coke. I wouldn\u2019t even think twice about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Musikanth eliminated the garbage food, but also changed what he eat for the majority of his diet. He\u2019ll eat chicken and vegetables. Fish. Eggs for breakfast. An occasional steak. \u201cIt was very strange at first, fitting all my meals into a set timeframe,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The biggest difference, though, was the flexibility. There was no talk of removing family favorites like pizza night and sushi. Instead, it was understanding how to build a eating style around a lifestyle<\/a>, and then make sure the plan was doable.<\/p>\n The first three months were tough because of the adjustment of the “good foods” to eat, not because of what was restricted.<\/p>\n “What was amazing was where I initially struggled,” says Musikanth. “It’s not strict in terms of avoiding all foods. A good plan is one where you eat what you like. It’s something you don’t see in most diet plans.”<\/p>\nThe Ultimate Weight Loss Battle<\/h2>\n
Ditching Diets for Nutrition Plans<\/h2>\n