New Years Resolution Diets....

There are a lot of people who are resolving to make 2011 the year they get in shape. The vast majority will not be successful. Too bad, so sad.

Here are 10 things to look for in your diet to ensure that you are trying to execute a crappy diet solution before you even get started:

1) You should NEVER have to eat anything that you don't like. There are essential nutrients, but there are no essential foods.

2) You should feel better a half hour after you eat, not worse. (Hey, I know some of those food that make you feel worse taste really good. Unless you are a fruit fly, you want to think longer term).

3) Your diet should allow some flexibility if you don't follow it 100%. If it doesn't, it sucks. As one of my engineering professors would say, your diet is not "robust." A good diet regulates your hormones and gives you "metabolic flexibility." Remember when you were 17 and could eat whatever your wanted. That was before you destroyed your hormones.

4) You should not feel hungry all the time. If you are, your insulin is out of whack.

5) At least 90%* of the cost for what you put in your mouth should be food. 10%* or less should be supplements or drugs.

6) Sticking to your diet should not mean that you have to avoid social situations. Both eating and social interaction are basic human needs. You don't have to sacrifice one for another. Also, WoW is cool, but it is not social interaction.

7) Your diet should help your performance, not hurt it. "I can't lift heavy because I am on a diet" is BS. You can't lift heavy because your diet sucks.

8) You should be willing to feed a young child with what you eat.

9) Ideally, everything you put in your mouth should be able to be "hunted" or "gathered" (and no, going to McDonalds is not hunting down a Mac and going to 7-11 is not gathering a Slurpee).

10) At least 80%* of the food you eat should go bad within a week.

* -- These are guesses subject to additional analysis.