A No Diet Resolution

I hear people talk about their new year’s resolutions a lot right now and I’d say most of them are about weight loss.  “I got  some weight I’d like to get rid of.”  “Oh you know I over did it over the holidays!  I gained so much weight I got to get if off.”  Then they go on talking about what diet they’re on—the low carb diet, the low fat diet, the cabbage soup diet, the body shape diet, the diet that actress was on who lost all that weight.  Of course they have to get into exercise, somebody walks while the other one goes to the gym, another one has a treadmill at home that gives her a real good workout.  It’s all the hype right now at the beginning of a new year and everyone is fired up, determined to make this year the year they actually follow through and get the weight off.  But by Valentine’s Day, when the chocolates hearts are dangling in the seasonal aisle at the grocery store and all of those candy boxes are staring us down when we shop, it’s going to change, it always does.  Somebody is going to crack from not having any sugar, another one is going cave from lack of pasta and one by one the New Year’s brigade of dieters is going to abandon ship and start pocketing the chocolate.  Once the chocolate becomes okay then they’ll start thinking of that nice romantic meal they have to make and how it’s okay because it’s Valentine’s Day, for goodness sake.  And then it begins, all over again. 

Why can’t people stop trying to diet and just want to eat healthy? 

It stands to reason that diets don’t work, the mere fact that we keep having to go on a diet is proof of that.  Some people aren't as bad as others, while one man may gain twenty pounds at Christmas time, his month at fitness and exercise before the big Chocolate Heart parade may be enough to get those unwanted pounds off but for another woman, her trouble begins when she gains ten pounds over the holidays.  Her battle is intense to lose a pound a week and by week five she gets hit in the face with a box of chocolates from her husband and she isn’t interested in losing weight until after Valentine’s Day, then comes Easter then her birthday,  a summer cruise, Halloween and before she knows it, it’s Christmas time again and she has gained another ten pounds over the ten she never lost from last year.  We’re always going to find reasons to over eat and splurge on candy, cookies and cake, to dive blindly into a buffet glistening with high fats and over processed foods we know are bad for us.    So Instead of trying to deny ourselves of the goodies we love until we lose the weight we gained for eating too much of them, wouldn’t it make more sense to  want to change what we’re putting in our bodies and to make healthy modifications to keep us on track all of the time? 

Being Healthy means making a commitment to lifelong changes, not a diet of sacrifice that only holds us in between seasons.

The way we eat is a choice we make all on our own.  Sometimes we just get lazy and don’t take the time to cook for ourselves, we worship the Golden Arches and pay tribute to the king of fast food.  Who wants to go home and have to defrost chicken and bake it up in a pan when you can just stop at the colonel’s?  Even at the grocery stores now they are preparing foods for us or we just go into the frozen foods and choose the frozen, fatty, processed nutritional nightmares.  No fad diet is easy it requires time and planning.  So why do we expect life to be any different? 

Chocolate does not kill people, but people go into overkill with chocolate. 

It’s like that with a lot of foods.  I have always been told to eat like a skinny person but in my life I have seen skinny people grow into not so skinny people.  Some people are extremely disciplined and I appreciate that but eating 4 almonds for breakfast with black coffee?  Please, that won’t work for me.  And I have also seen people who preach moderation who are really good in some cases, but when it comes to particular foods, I’ve seen their moderation go right out the window.  I think possessing the ability to be able to eat a sliver of cake and be satisfied is a good thing, but I’ve seen many a diabetic go for ‘just a little piece’ and walk away with the shakes or feeling quite ill, then turn around and go for it again.  There are just some things we have to face the fact about; we just can’t eat them.  I had a friend in Louisiana who was allergic to shell fish; the woman never stopped when her face swelled up, she didn’t pause when her stomach was the size of the pot they were boiling the crawfish in.  When she started to have trouble breathing, she went for a Benadryl tablet, and you’d think she’d walk away.  Not without a take home box where I’m sure he went through the same thing.  It’s crazy right?  But I’ve seen people with wheat allergies do the same thing, lactose intolerants suffer through cramps and diarrhea just for their favorite treat.

 When do we stop hurting ourselves for that temporary piece of feel good that sometime makes us so sick we can’t function?

I've been without breads, pastas and sugar for two months now and I feel the difference.   I’m not suffering with stomach problems, no nervousness, fits of moodiness and depression.  No skin rash, whelps or yeast infections.  I know these foods are hurting me, so why would I ever want to go back to them again?  It’s the same thing with excessive servings of butter, oils and other unhealthy foods.  I am in a place now eating wholesome foods, fresh vegetables and fruit, no dairy except for Greek yogurt and incorporating healthy whole grains into my meals.  Why would I want to go back to eating the other stuff and feeling bad again?  I don’t want to and I am aware of the fact that being healthy takes work.  Planning, prepping, preparing healthy meals—that’s work.  I can’t allow myself to get lazy and I can’t allow myself to believe the lie that if I eat those things again, it will make me feel better.  Healthy is in how we eat, in the changes we make and the choices we take.