There is no secret to healthy eating. All you need is common sense, lots of readily available information about weight loss, and a firm resolve that it was time to feel better, live longer, and look better.

Related Articles

Chocolate: More than just yummy - it's good for you!

Eat right to reduce inflammation

Dieting Mediterranean style

Protect your bones as you age

Fast food. The United States is the most overweight nation and the world's leader in large portions and fast, processed foods. And we take pride in that! We either have little to no time to prepare meals, or we are part of a culinary "elite" for whom cooking is thought of as a pastime or hobby. So, instead of cooking for ourselves, we visit restaurants and fast food joints for lunch and dinner. We gulp down meals full of dangerous trans fatty acids and excessive amounts of sugars, salt, and unhealthy oils.

Soda. We quench our thirst with carbonated sodas that have excessive amounts of sugars or artificial sweeteners that trigger yet more sweet cravings. They are also highly suspect for causing many serious neurological and immune disorders.

Vending machines. Vending machines in schools, the workplace, and public places are filled with selections that have little nutritional value - except calories!

Generous portions. Recently, a national hamburger chain proudly introduced a gigantic hamburger to fill the void in our very large tummies. Remember when we were young, if we could afford to go to a restaurant, it was seen as a "good deal" if the portions were overly generous. I came from a family of modest means, and my parents thought a sign of good parenting and a sign of achievement was that they could keep their son's stomach full at all times. At home, the thought of dishing out less food never occurred to my family. We all indulged. No surprise then that my father died of complications of type 2 diabetes - the result of insulin resistance and obesity.

The clean-plate club. I was one of those children who was required to be a member of the "clean plate club." Why? First, we did not have much money so each morsel of food was not to be wasted. I participated in the guilt conspiracy of the '60s that reminded each American child that children were starving in other countries. The logic? If they are starving, then you must eat every calorie-laden molecule of food on the plate (mashed potatoes, gravy, etc.) or bear the full guilt for their poverty and lack of food.

The logical result - I know that you have heard this before - is a national epidemic of diabetes and heart disease.

Obesity and excessive sugar consumption (and you consume sugar in, oh, so many ways that you are not aware of, not just as sweetener or in a dessert) is related to cancers, mental decline, and aging.

If you have a weight issue, it's not such a mystery. You need to take responsibility, regardless of the "cause" of your obesity problem.