Food for thought....

Many times over the last couples years, as I have been speaking to audiences, I have used the example of losing weight on the Twinkie Diet -- if only a person was cutting down on the total amount of calories they were eating.  Well...here's the story of a university professor who did just that!  This prof lost 27 pounds in two months by eating mostly snack foods.

Please know I am not adovocating this particular diet.  My goal is to get you thinking about the relative importance of "healthy" eating versus our tendency to EAT TOO MUCH OF EVERYTHING!!  Science is coming out daily to support the idea that we are eating too many calories...period!  And if we focus on reducing our portions, we won't need to concentrate on "healthy" eating quite as much.  THAT might be something that keeps us healthier in the long run!

Click here for the story!

For those of you still clinging to the hope that a diet will save you...

Please do me a favor and pick up a copy of the book In Defense of Food. I will confess that I am only 50 pages into the book, however, I have learned a ton about the U.S. culture of being concerned with nutrients and health, as opposed to taste, dining, the experience of food.

The author makes the distinction between real food and imitation food (margarine, Cheez Wiz, low-fat snack cakes that actually have a shelf-life longer than the warranty on my car. How certain macronutrients have been vilifies (protein by Dr. Kellogg of corn flake fame, fat as the scapegoat for heart disease and cancer even though there was good science to prove other wise).

The author puts forth the position -- Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

What if you adopted this as your guiding principle? You wouldn't have to worry about what you were eating because there isn't a magic formula. You don't need to try to get the balance right because balance is inherently right. These are common sense thoughts -- not too much food -- make sure it is really food (at least most of the time). Eat a lot of plants.

If this was your criteria for eating, how would it change how you shopped at the grocery store? You would spend more time in the produce aisle. You might spend more time preparing your foods at home -- but honestly, it might be more energy preparing dinner but I bet it wouldn't be more time that it takes to run through the drive thru to pick up dinner and bring it home.

The author's principles would change how you looked at a menu at a restaurant. Gone would be the thought that this has too much fat and you just shouldn't have that. If you are eating 600 calories of something -- it is 600 calories and it doesn't matter where the calories come from.

I believe that your acheiving a healthy weight comes down to learning to enjoy your food more and eat less of it. No magic bean. No magic fat burning food combinations. As a nation, we eat too much. We don't eat what would really make our hearts sing, is fabulous. Go for fabulous, my friends. Open the menu and experience the pleasure of looking it over to see what looks the most delicious. Having high fat food won't kill you (otherwise there would be no one left in France) -- you just need to enjoy it more and eat less of it.

We have tried to eat less in the past -- maybe you should consider trying the "Eat only what is Fabulous" diet. If it doesn't look/taste/smell fabulous, don't eat it -- save those calories for something that is fabulous. Eat and enjoy.

Ebb and Flow

Okay -- the above is not my favorite phrase. A couple of years ago, I actually hated that phrase. It was spoken to me (again and again) by a dear friend with the best of intentions, talking above how one moves through life -- sometimes you are going with the current -- things are smooth -- you can do no wrong and then....sometime not. There is no groove to be found. Everything is hard and unrewarding and unsuccessful and fruitless. Sure...it is easy to love the phrase when you are in the flow. When you're in the ebb -- not so much, to say the least.

But here's the thing about ebb and flow: when you are in one stage -- the other is coming -- no avoiding it, that is how life works. The secret is to trust in the cycle -- a whole "this too shall pass" mentality. The goal being an average that ends up more in the flow than the ebb.

There are times when I fear winter. I HATE being cold. I like the snow. I like being outside. I like the beauty. But I really HATE being cold because it causes me pain.

Today, it was beautiful outside. So sunny that it was almost blinding. And after multiple days of it being darned cold, today was only reasonably cold -- so all things considered, not bad at all temperature wise.

Besides being cold, the other thing I HATE about the winter is the dark. The short days of winter, going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark, get to me. But today was not one of those days. Today there was so much sun I didn't know what to do with myself first. So, today, I opted for a run...outside...in the winter...crazy!

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!

And the best thing about it was I could smell spring. Okay -- it isn't even Ground Hog's Day. And I don't know where you are from but I know where I live, we have plenty of winter left. But it smelled like spring was coming. AND I know it will. You know why?? Because the weather has gotten warmer and the days have gotten longer every spring I have been alive. Ebb and flow. Sometimes it is dark and cold and then the days get longer and the weather warmer.

I sit here tonight and am just tired! (no...not from the run...it wasn't that long) I don't know why I am tired. I went to bed pretty early all weekend. I relaxed this weekend. I got things done this weekend -- pretty balanced weekend. But here I am tired. Guess what? Tonight I am tired (did I mention it is still early in the evening?) and maybe tomorrow I will be tired too but eventually I won't be tired at this time of the evening -- I will be full of energy and ready to do something really fun -- Ebb and Flow.

Sometimes I can crank out posts to you guys like there is no tomorrow -- the words and ideas fly out of my fingers and on to the screen. And sometimes there isn't an idea to be had -- not one -- and it is like pullin' teeth to come up with something to say to get you thinkin'. Ebb and Flow.

How many times have I written a post telling y'all how starving I was -- how I thought I was just going to die before I got something to eat?? And there is always the other side of it for me -- the one that drives my friends crazy -- when I have no appetite and don't really want to eat. Ebb and Flow. Sure, you've also heard me tell you I have gotten to the freak out stage where I scare myself to death about how hungry I am and how (in my head) I think I am going to gain a 1000 pounds if I keep eating like I am eating right then. But it doesn't happen because right about then whatever was going on to make me sooooo hungry turns off and I am less hungry than normal for a while and things even out. Ebb and Flow.

The thing that makes ebb and flow survivable is understanding that this isn't the one time where it isn't going to work. Every winter, I need to have faith that spring will return. Every time I am discouraged because I am unreasonably tired (and I shouldn't be!!!), I need to have faith that for some reason, my body is calling for more sleep and I will feel well rested and full of energy again. When I have greater physical hunger, I need to stop my freaking out and have faith that there is nothing wrong with me. My hunger signals will diminish when my body has enough calories.

And at some point in the future, the world will be cold and dark again. I will be tired again (for no reason!!), my hunger will be seemingly unstoppable again. Ebb and Flow.

And the more I try to deny that I hate being cold, I am tired, that I am insanely, physically hungry -- the more I will slow myself down. I will waste energy fighting against something I cannot change -- the Earth's rotations, my fatigue, my body's need for energy. I will fight. I will get frustrated (with myself, with the world, with the people who seemingly don't have to fight as hard as I do...) until I realize that I don't have to fight either.

My job is to understand what it going on. See and acknowledge the patterns of ebb and flow. Learn how to work with the world (and my body). And appreciate what each state can teach me.

Easier said than done. But so worth it if you can get there -- at least during the flow -- it is so much harder to remember during the ebb.

Chemicaly Altered Diet-Friendly versions of Food

This was a descriptor from Michelle May's new book "Eat What you Love, Love what you Eat.

I was talking to someone the other day who is not fully verse in the whole mindful eating concept. He was telling me about his want to lose a couple pounds -- not many -- just a few. But, his current lifestyle (freewheelin' recent retireree traveling here, there and everywhere) was not supporting his weight loss plans. Bar burgers and fries are not generally considered "diet" foods.

So what are "diet" foods? Who makes up the rules? Honestly, "diet" foods are foods marketed to be just that.

Weightloss shakes are liquid chemicals that will supress your natural appetite -- that isn't as sellable of a concept as "A shake that tastes great and helps you lose weight!" But it doesn't change what it is just because we call it something else.

Protein bars instead of real food -- can it be truly good for you if it has a shelf life longer than a Presidential Term? Food that looks like your grandma might have known what to do with it -- that is the kind of lifestyle I am advocating.

I have said it before -- just because something says it's low fat doesn't mean you can eat as much of it as you want. Does it taste great? I love soda! Just because Coke is laden with high-fructose corn syrup doesn't mean I have to give it up -- I just need to be sensible with how much of it I drink. If you love Luna bars -- you don't need to give them up -- just be aware of how many you are eating in a week. Make sure you balance the things you love that are highly processed with other things you love that are less processed.

You're the boss of your own body

How much do you believe this? How do your eating patterns change when people are observing you? I expect most of you change your behavior, at least some of the time, when you think you have an audience (I know I do).

But here is the thing -- shame is never a long-term motivator. If you can't deal with what you are doing, if you are sneaking around and hiding the kinds of eating you are doing, is that really being helpful to yourself? Are you really taking care of your own body?

It is not another person's job to get you to the healthy weight you are working towards. That means their comments on what you are eating, should be eating or should not be eating are not necessarily helpful -- And can, at times, be harmful or hurtful.

How would your life change if you NEVER had to sneak around to eat what appealed to you? If you felt confident enough to eat the large piece of cake in front of your friend, not by the light of the fridge after everyone else was asleep?

Reaching a weight that feels healthy to you means coming to grips with the fact there are foods in this world that some people think you shouldn't eat. But if they add value to your life, eat them. Disregard the naysayers that obviously don't love cake the way you do. You are the boss of your own body -- you are the one that needs to care for it. Sometimes, that means a walk in the evening. Sometimes, that means a salmon salad. And sometimes, that means a big piece of cake for dinner.

The difference between being thin and being healthy

Yesterday, I spent some time thinking about thin versus healthy. I have talked in the past about how there are many people that are not at their "healthy weight" -- by whatever measures you chose to use -- height/weight ... BMI ...weight charts -- that are still very healthy. Conversely, there are people that are thin and fit into the tidy catagories of height/weight ...BMI...weight charts -- that are unhealthy.

More and more research is showing that weight is not the determining factor in diseases. The determining factors are those behaviors that CAUSE you to gain the weight -- not the weight itself.

You may have heard that "moderate weight loss", as little as 5-10% of total body weight, can be enough to bring blood sugars and blood pressures under control. That means for a 200 pound person, they could lose as little as 10 pounds to become more healthy.

Why? Because when you are working with your body (eating smaller meals which stabilized the blood sugar, and taking time to taste your food -- which means you are paying attention to what you are doing and not letting 1000 other things stress you out while you are eating) the body functions better. When you are enjoying your food, you absorb more of the nutrients from the food. When you are not stressed, your blood pressure goes down -- we all know that is a good thing. When you are being mindful, you will eat less which will make you feel more in charge of your eating behaviors -- reducing your stress. Get the picture?

In many cases, it is not the weight that is the problem. It is your behaviors. People who get liposuction do not see the reductions in BP and blood sugar levels that people who lose the weight do. People who get liposuction are not healthier for having removed the fat!

Get to the root of the problem -- it is not your weight -- that is a symptom of your behaviors.

Want to read the studies? Check out Health at Any Size