The insanity of dieting

[grammafreddy]

From viewtopic.php?p=1233261#p1233275

In my experience, most diets fail – mainly because they are not sustainable.

The word “No” is a powerful motivator to do the opposite.

Diets usually require a person to give up something … and that creates a negative desire subconsciously to have what has to be given up. Sometimes the diet requires special food available only from the diet company which is usually fairly expensive. Sometimes people feel they can’t go out for dinner with friends because they can’t eat the food or have the drinks and their social life is suffering because of it, which stimulates that unconscious compulsion to go back to their old habits. Some diets also require a set pattern or timetable which may not fall within the dieter’s schedule demands or may be inconvenient for their lifestyle.

For me, the best diet is to use a smaller plate and to not cut out anything. I never tell myself I can’t have fries and gravy. I don’t pass on anything. I just limit my intake. Instead of a whole chocolate bar at one sitting, I buy the kind that can be broken down into bites and just have a few at a time. At meal time, I use a lunch plate instead of a dinner plate but I have a full meal – just less of everything. I pass on the bread or buns, though, but I never was a big bread eater so that’s not a hardship for me.

As far as the real no-no’s go, I limit how often I have them. Instead of fries or onion rings every day, I maybe have them once a month. I don’t feel that I am giving anything up that way and actually don’t crave them. Quite often several months will go by and I’ll realize I haven’t had any for a while. The fries and gravy at the hot dog truck at Canadian Tire are my big passion and I used to go into withdrawal when the truck had holidays in January and February every year and I couldn’t have them. Now I don’t miss them and haven’t been there since about October.

The biggest change one can make to improving their diet is to cook more at home from real ingredients. No prepackaged stuff which is high in sodium and chemicals and extra fats. By pre-planning my meals, I can juggle them and try to create some kind of balance between the ones that are healthy and the junk ones. I love junk food and eating out but my wallet doesn’t – and it is so much cheaper to cook at home.

Sometimes I wonder if it’s really the food from Mickey’s or DQ that is calling me or if it is just the no-no of it. I can make hamburgers and fries and onion rings at home and I can make them cheaper and healthier by grilling or baking in the oven, too.

I think I will try that next time I get a craving … if someone will please wash the dishes and clean off the mess on the counter for me first!


Quote for this day :D
“The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day, you’re off it.” ~Jackie Gleason

[Jo]

Well written, GF! Good points.

In lieu of dieting or other insanities, I stick with two simple things:

1. Eat 95% healthy stuff and as much as needed to stop feeling hungry, and

2. Do the things I love to do, ie bicycling and hiking.

Whatever kind of body that produces is the one I'm meant to have, and I don't spend any time worrying about it one way or another.

I do have foods that are a no-no in my mind, but find it easy enough to avoid them simply because the ban list is comprised of foods I don't like anyway, ie junk food, fast food, foods with added flavours and colours, etc.. Besides, there are quality substitutes for almost any banned item, ie a cheap over-the-counter chocolate bar made with low-quality chocolate and flavours/colours galore is easily replaced by . . . Bernard Callebaut. Also, if you pay more for a treat, you have to eat less of it or go broke, lol.

[-fluffy-]

I made a pretty serious effort to clean up my diet a couple of years back when my Doctor informed me, to my utter horror, that a "balanced" diet did not mean splitting my time evenly between Dairy Queen and KFC. He hooked me up with an gov't branch called Integrated Health that treated me to a series of seminars and such to help me get my nutrition head on straight. It took a few months to get the instruction rolling, the Doc said that in the meantime "Don't eat anything white". Sounds like an over-simplification but it hits two of the biggies right square on the head, sugar and salt. They are freaking everywhere when it comes to processed foods.

One thing I did notice that as I became more and more into a healthier diet, the less healthy choices became less appealing, and a lot of them down right repulsive.

[Bsuds]

"Don't eat anything white". Sounds like an over-simplification but it hits two of the biggies right square on the head, sugar and salt. They are freaking everywhere when it comes to processed foods.

Don't forget white flour! That spikes my glucose faster than sugar.

[Nebula]

As Garfield (the cat) said:

Diet is die with a 't'.

[Jo]

True that when you stop eating junk food, any attempt thereafter to eat it is a fail, it just no longer tastes good and no longer appeals. It's probably the best thing of all when that happens, because then will-power is not an issue, it's not needed, you're not 'depriving' yourself of anything, you're simply not eating stuff you don't like. Win-win (oh wait, there's one to add to the Flavour of the Month thread!).