Welcome to Michael’s Blog!

It all started when I was in a small Russian Town Called Sormova about 15 years ago. (We had pretty much run out of food (at least the good kind) and had to get really creative. I started going through the cupboards and found two things, raw oats and cocoa. So, I decided to try it out, and to my surprise, I really liked it. There are a lot of variations on this, really, any drink that it sweet will work, Ive done it with all kinds of stuff, Crystal Light, Lemonade, Sugar Free Soda, Orange Juice, Grape Juice, Sugar Free Cocoa etc.

Now, every time someone sees me do this, I get all kinds of questions, and it leads to my basic eating strategy:

1. Eat foods that are tasty, healthy and whole type (unprocessed) consistently. (this means trying all kinds of things until you determine a handful that you truly like, ie wont get tired of eating over and over).

2. Whenever I eat out with friends, which is usually 1-2 times a week. I can eat whatever I want.

The result of this has been that my friends always see me eating junk food, so they assume this is ALL I eat, which isnt true. When I am alone I usually eat very disciplined, and its worked good for me. I think 80% of obesity problems can be controlled with proper diet, most of it comes down to discipline. Sometimes I am asked what to do to lose weight, and the first two I always recommend:

- Stop drinking soda (I even made a video on it) Not only are they sugar laden, they are habit forming.
- When eating bread, always eat 100% whole wheat.

What you consistently eat, will effect you most consistently.

So...with that in mind...what would you recommend to someone who was trying to lose weight?