Being overweight is a big health problem for too many people. Going on a diet is one way to try to lose those extra pounds, but they so often fail. Why is that?

I suspect the answer lies in that it is simply too easy to buy food. By that I mean, when it comes to food purchases – our budgets are always open ended, making it easy to break our dieting plans. For example, let’s say you had a really good week on your diet – you actually lost two pounds. You are at the shopping mall and you have a sudden urge for a mocha latte with a scone on the side, the cost of which is only $6.00. It would mean breaking your diet, but hey, you have had a good week so where is the harm? And the next thing you know you are off your diet and back to your regular eating habits.

But what if you were on the Fixed Income Diet (FID) and did not have an extra $6 with which to purchase that treat? There would be no breaking of your diet and greater chances of continuing to lose weight towards your desired goal.

Here is another example to ponder. Have you ever watched one of the TV shows featuring people who weigh 600 pounds or more. They are so heavy they cannot get out of bed – – they cover their bed as if three people were lying in it. And yet they are fed 3,000 or more calories a day. How is that possible – the food wallet is never empty. If there were only enough money for say 2,000 calories a day – the weight would slowly decrease or certainly no longer increase.

So how does the Fixed Income Diet work? Basically, limited money means limited food intake, but in a smart way.

First determine how much money you spend on food each month. An estimate is fine, subtract $100 from that total and that is the amount of money you have to buy food each month. Adjust this amount downward (or upward) the next month, if the following has not happened…

On the Fixed Income Diet:

• You do not eat out at restaurants.
• You do not have desserts or very limited ones.
• Your portions are smaller.
• You do not consume bagged snacks.
• You eliminate or limit packaged meals.
• You cut foods like fruit in half and eat the second half the next day.
• You focus on getting the most nutrition from the smallest amount of food and find out why organic foods make so much sense.
• You have one sandwich, instead of two.
• More of your proteins come from cheese, beans, rice, nuts and yogurt rather than from meats.
• You worry about being able to buy food during the last ten days of the month.
• You consume less food and less calories than you did before.
• You learn more about budgeting and prioritizing.

The trick of the FID is to adjust the amount of dollars in your food wallet to obtain and maintain your desired optimum weight.

For everyone who makes more than enough money to pay their bills each month, the Fixed Income Diet is a useful to tool for focusing on how much you spend on food, and thus, how much you actually eat in a month. And followed wisely, the FID can help you lose weight in a steady, consistent fashion as you learn what foods you should eat and really want to eat.

Personally, on the FID, I discovered you can make an organic dark chocolate bar last a week, a pint of ice cream last longer than 1/2 gallon. I discovered that I actually like kiwis and yogurt. I learned that two tostadas are just as filling as three and to make sure to eat a variety of fresh foods in smaller portions to maintain the flow of nutrients with the minimum amount of calories. And now I have shirts that come out of the dryer larger than they went in, and I can tighten my belt down another notch.

Of course, millions of Americans are on the Fixed Income Diet, not by choice, but out of necessity. Those people are on Social Security or have minimum wage jobs or live in some kind of poverty.

I think the the Fixed Income Diet should never be a necessity, but a useful choice. If you think so, too, consider this.

Over the last 50+ years, American workers’ productivity rose by 74 percent, but their wages rose by 9 percent. The difference in productivity and income, ie, the extra money, went to the rich.

Here is another way to look at this. If the value of productivity was reflected in the minimum wage, the current minimum wage would be about $24/hour. In this country today, the minimum wage ranges from $7.25/hr to $15/hour depending upon the state. Again, the extra money workers should be receiving have gone to the very rich.

We can take back those “stolen wages” in a couple of ways. Increase every recipient of Social Security benefits by 50%, today – as most of those retired workers were robbed by the rich during their working years. This can be paid for by specific taxes, like taxing computer stock transactions. Hilary Clinton had a host of taxes that would only effect the very rich to help pay for things like Social Security increases and repairing the damage from hurricanes and other infrastructure. Democratic Senators like Warren and Merkley have those “tax the very rich” blueprints ready when they can be applied.

By the way, for those working today, if the base of benefits from Social Security are increased – you will benefit from fairer and higher benefits when you retire.

Another way to make incomes more balanced is to get the minimum wage increased to, at least, $15 across the country. That would help people make the Fixed Income Diet more of a choice than their only option.

A funny thing, every time the minimum has been increased over the years, and including 2016, small business stayed open, people kept their jobs and more jobs were created. People who have extra money in their pocket – spend it – and this stimulates the local economies!*

In conclusion:

A Diet Plan That Works

“To lose that weight
You don’t have to buy it,
For poverty helps
With the Fixed Income Diet!” – Scott Harker

Well, I hope that you find this post about the Fixed Income Diet as good food for thought and of use.

*Related Links: An interesting article on Alternate Economic Plans here: Alternate Economic Plans.