I decided to start this blog because this week the news has been chock full of stars publicly stating that they are going to go on diets. Do we not go through this every single year? Many , if not all, will lose weight but at what cost? There are many reasons most diets do not work for the long haul. An important issue is the place from which people start. When you start from the place that you are bad, your body is bad and it has to be changed and altered because you are not acceptable.....as Julia Roberts stated in Pretty Woman..... BIG MISTAKE. It generally is already a lost cause for the long term.
Part of my journey back home to my own body ( as it is today) was about getting clear that all the many diets I have been on ( and I have been on many and lost many, many pounds) had a number of problems from the start and one of the biggest ones was my giving my power away and letting society and other's opinions about what I should look like matter more to me than my own relationship with my body( how I feel). I did terrible damage to my body all those years I was giving my power away and starting the next diet. After reading the book " Big Fat Lies" by Glenn Gaessar last year, I now know that it was foolish and dangerous to be yo-yo dieting. You can be fat and fit ( I know, I know.......take a deep breath because there is evidence for that statement).
For most of my life, I was so desperate to be thin. I would always start the next diet with all the best of intentions, this was going to be the time, I was going to make it happen and all would be well. Most times I would lose weight by counting calories , points , grams of fat or carbs, go to various diet institutions etc.. I think I have done them all except a liquid diet. I would be diligent about exercise and I would get down but what came next sometimes happened right away but often it happened down the road but it inevitably came. And that was the desire to eat non stop. It was like my body was trying very hard to get something back. At the time I had no understanding but now I know my poor body was screaming out for nutrition. My body remained in a mini starvation mode for whatever time I was on the diet and then my body craved nutrition( healthy fats and foods) but what I had given it during dieting( and after) were horrible trans fats ( margarine was in then) and processed carbs all hidden in low cal and low fat foods. I thought I was being healthy but all one had to do was look at the labels of most of what I was eating and it was not good.
Of course there is more information of out there, but low fat or non fat is still in. Does that make any sense when we knowthat our brain is made up of at least 60% fat. We need healthy fats in our diets( that is a topic for another day) and we need to get processed foods out of our lives and I mean ALL processed foods. They are killing us.
So here we are in January and probably many people you know are on a diet ( again) hoping this time will be the time. I go to a gym and it never fails at this time of year, the over weight ( most of the obese don't even try anymore) have to do something so the number of gym attendees increase but will those individuals still be coming in a couple of months? Probably not, and you know why they won't, because they will get tired, tired of working out and not losing weight as quickly as they think they should be losing weight and if their food plan includes less calories, less fat and less enjoyment- they will not stick to it, over time the drive to eat something they like will take over. That is the cycle that 95% of overweight and obese people go through and each time they lose and then gain it back plus more, they unknowingly, set themselves up for the next failure down the road.
There is a way to eat healthful, move your body , enjoy every bite and get off of the "diet rollercoaster".....there is freedom it just won't be the way you think.
Until next time,
Joanne
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