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We Americans are an odd
bunch. We cling stubbornly to a number of values which are diametric opposites, seemingly
unaware of the conflict of interest.
We value, for example, "getting our money's worth." As a result we
flock to restaurants made famous by gargantuan portions. We thrill to the concept of
"all you can eat" for a set price. We readily "supersize" our fries
for an extra 39 cents, and we polish off the dessert that comes with the special of the
day, not because we want it, but just because it's free.
The irony is that we also value being thin. Every year we fork over an estimated $40
billion to shed those unwanted pounds and inches in our perennial pursuit of thinness. We
go from pills and potions to powders and plastic wraps. We buy whatever fad-diet book is
currently on the best-seller list, all the while cursing a sluggish metabolism. We live in
hopes of some miracle cure to melt down fat, fast, fast, fast!
Alas, it is ultimately an exercise in futility. We need to learn to feed our bodies,
not our values. "Getting your money's worth" may work when you are shopping for
towels, but it hardly justifies taking in more food than the body requires, just because
it's there, or just because it's free!
The truth is that excessive portions are never free. We pay a steep price, not only
with padded hips, but with clogged arteries, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.
We need to downsize our meals, not supersize them. When it comes to food, more is not
better. We need to learn to stop eating when we are no longer hungry, not when the plate
is empty.
If you catch yourself thinking: "It's a sin to waste," ask yourself if
it's any less of a sin to treat your body like a garbage can.
Everyone wants to know the secret of melting those excess pounds of fat -- fast, fast,
fast! And there are lots of opinions about how-to-do-it, all available for the price of
the latest best selling book, or the newest pill, potion or powder.
But save your money. I'm about to give you the secret for free. Are you ready? It's change.
If you want to be thinner than you are, change your behavior to what it would be if you
didn't have a weight problem. Eat the way you would eat if you were already at your ideal
weight. Exercise the way you would exercise if you were an in-shape athlete, rather than
an out-of-shape couch potato.
Do you, for example, stop eating when you are no longer hungry? Or do you finish
everything on your plate just because it's there? Or because this is your last good meal
before you go on another diet? Think about it. If you were already at your ideal weight
you wouldn't be going on another diet. There would be no need to overeat now because you
would know you could have more tomorrow.
And think about all those diet products you use. The diet sodas, the meal replacement
drinks, the fat-free cookies, those low-calorie frozen entrees. Be truthful. Would you buy
any of those products if you didn't have a weight problem? I think not. So, if you change
your behavior to what it would be if you were already at your ideal weight, you'd have no
use for products designed for "fat people." Get my point? Using diet products
reinforces the self-image that says, "I'm fat. I have a weight problem."
For the record, thin people eat, and they eat regularly. On average, the skinniest
people around eat 6 times per day. The heaviest people tend to eat only once a day.
The most successful people at losing weight understand that the problem isn't pounds,
it's patterns (of behavior.) They don't diet or try to get thin. Rather,
they practice living thin. They focus on habits, instead of food. And they learn to
listen to their bodies, eating in response to physical cues -
(e.g. hunger) - rather than environmental ones (e.g. the sight
of food.)
Think you're ready to try an alternative to dieting? Wouldn't you rather be thin,
rather than trying to lose weight? Forget trying. The harder we try to do
something the less we are able to do it. It's called the "law of reversed
effect."
Suppose I said to you: "Between now and midnight don't think about pink
elephants." Pink elephants would be the only thing on your mind. A similar thing
happens with food. We try not to eat and end up eating more. We become obsessed with
eating. Soon we’re off on a binge and eating everything in sight. Alas, we gain
weight rather than losing. And with every dieting attempt we gain even more. Is it any
wonder obesity is such a problem in America?
Tomorrow is the day most of us have set aside
for change. Tomorrow we will change our eating habits. Tomorrow
we will quit smoking, and get serious about exercise.
The problem, of course, is that tomorrow never comes. It is always one day
away.
From time to time someone will confront us about our plans to reform, and about our
constant procrastination. Defensively, we insist we fully intend to change ... soon.
Soon is the other day we have put aside for change.
None of us ever believe that we will continue to eat junk food forever. Nor do we
intend to smoke forever. And our couch potato days are definitely numbered. We
just don't have time right now. We're tired. There's too much to do. Too
much stress.
But, if not now ... when? Pick a day. Next Tuesday? Thursday? Be
specific. Write it in your appointment book. Don't wait until you have time.
It'll never happen. And don't wait until you have the energy. That'll never happen
either. And don't kid yourself that you must wait until you've no stress. Ha!
The time for change is now. Taking care of your body is your single most important
responsibility. It comes before washing the dishes, before dropping your shirts off
at the cleaners, and even before taking the car in for an oil change.
Amazingly, most of us take better care of our cars than we do our bodies. We
understand that if we want to take a trip in the car we must put gas in the tank.
Yet we go all day without eating, and then gas up at night, after we've put the car in the
garage.
Like I said, the time for change is now. And if not now ... when?
Most people think of a nutritionist as a member of the Food
Police. Someone out to pass judgment on every morsel or tidbit that passes your lips.
Someone who will not only point out your eating sins but dole out appropriate punishment
as well.
Because of this perception people tend to choke on their food if I walk by and catch them
mid-bite. They think: "Oh God, she's going to see me eating chips!" (Or cheese,
or candy, or whatever.)
I once ran into a client in Ray's Pizza in the Village in Manhattan. Poor girl
cringed so badly I thought she would surely fall on the floor in a faint.
Just the sight of me makes most people feel guilty, which is certainly not my intention.
Typically, people who might benefit from my advice actually avoid me, fearing that once I
get them cornered in my office I'm going to:
- yell at them because they haven't been eating their peas and carrots,
- take away all of their favorite foods, and
- force them to eat tofu.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Like I said, your eating habits are none of
my business. But, if you should want to change your eating habits, I can show you
how. I can teach you how to modify what you do in order to have more energy.
I can teach you about supplements, or help you overcome depression, or help
you discover some of the many nutritional alternatives in health and healing.
But I'm not a cop, and I don't believe that eating should be a moral issue. I
don't believe we're "good" because we eat spinach, or "bad"
because we eat cookies. So if you happen to be eating the next time I walk by,
enjoy!
And if what you're eating doesn't give you pleasure, or if you don't feel as good as you'd
like to, contact me. I may be able to
help.
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