Despite the importance of food in health, I haven’t paid much attention to what I eat. Having children often changes people. It was the same for me. Last spring, I adopted two adorable kittens. As soon as I became responsible for the life of these little beings, I felt compelled to learn about proper nutrition. After some research on feline nutrition, I realized that a lack of knowledge is harming the health of our furry companions. Although cats are obligate carnivores, many cat parents in Korea feed high-carb, low-fat dry food to their cats because of the widespread misperceptions that high protein causes diarrhea, fat causes obesity, and wet food causes tartar buildup. I also learned that we are damaging our own health due to misinformed nutritional beliefs.

Dr. Zenji Makita, a well-known diabetes specialist in Japan, debunks many nutritional beliefs. He emphasizes that the primary cause of obesity and diabetes is carbs, not fat or calorie intake. This is because carbs increase blood sugar levels and the state of high blood sugar causes obesity. Carbs are turned into glucose in the body for energy. Glucose is critical to our brain and body functions. Due to its importance to our survival, glucose is fully absorbed into our body. Excess glucose, or unused energy, is turned into neutral fat to prepare for emergency (famine) situations, which nowadays we usually don’t have. Then, we become fat. The fat we eat is not stored as fat because we excrete most of the excess fat we consume.

Here is the gist of the dietary tips to get slim that I learned from Dr. Makita’s book, You’re Eating the Wrong Food:

1. Cut down on carbs (e.g., white rice, white bread, potatoes). When consuming carbs, eat with fat. Fat helps blood sugar levels rise slowly.
2. Cut down on sugar. Be wary of hidden sugar (e.g., canned coffee)
3. Eat more protein (e.g., beans, tofu, fish, unprocessed meat)
4. Eat more fiber: two handful of leafy vegetables a day, seaweed, mushrooms
5. Eat a moderate amount of healthy fat (e.g., olive oil)
6. Eat fruits moderately. No fruit juices. Overeating fruit causes weight gain because fruit sugars are not an energy source and so are quickly turned into fat.
7. Drink two liters of water. Water lowers blood sugar levels.
8. Eat plain yogurt with blueberries in the morning. It helps increase good gut bacteria, which is critical to staying slim.
9. Snack on nuts, natural cheese, and over 70% cacao dark chocolate.
10. Exercise for 20 minutes after eating. Exercising with an empty stomach causes overeating and blood sugar spikes, making us fat. Exercising after eating prevents blood sugar from rising, making us slim.

Changing eating habits is a journey of finding healthier alternatives for our favorite foods. Any behavior change that relies on willpower is bound to fail. Like battery power, our willpower is limited. If we use our willpower to resist the temptation to eat the food we like, we will lose the willpower to do other important things. In the same way, if we use our willpower to get work done or manage stress, we won’t have enough willpower left to resist the temptation.

That’s why it’s so important to find healthier alternatives that we like as much as our current favorites. I love high-carb food, such as bread, pizza, pasta, ramen, and potato fries. Instead of cutting bread from my diet, I found a rye bread that I actually enjoy more than white bread. And I decided to make my favorite foods more special than they are now. I make them into rewards that I need to earn. When I stick to my One Thing for Me a Day plan for a week, I will reward myself with any food item of my choice.

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