"I'm on a diet" I literally hate when people say that (oh, and please read "literally" with a British accent, it makes it sound not so harsh)! : ) Seriously though, when I hear "I'm on a diet", I hear, "I'm forcing myself to eat a certain way because I want to look a certain way, but I really hate it, and I'll probably bail and backslide, and feel guilty, and give up!". I have to keep reminding/reprimanding my husband for telling people, "oh, she's on a diet....she doesn't eat wheat.....or dairy.....or sugar....or beans......" when we're at a restaurant and I'm asking about different options and he feels the need to prattle on and let the server know why I'm asking questions and making changes to the food I'm ordering. The server will walk away from the table, and I'll give Adam that look..... Then we have a conversation that goes something like, "Adam, you don't need to give reasons for why I am asking questions and changing things. People can (and should!) feel free to make alterations to foods to make them healthier!". We are not being forced to go out to eat, we are not being forced to eat whatever the heck they bring us, we are there by choice! And by that same choice I can ask (while being extremely polite and friendly) if I could swap things out for something else, or to exclude something, or whatever! Recently while in a liquor store, we were asked if wanted a sample of a cider, and I asked if I could see the bottle first to read the ingredients, and Adam pipes up and says, "she doesn't want sugar in it, she doesn't eat sugar", so I added, "I'm also trying to avoid strychnine and want to see if it's listed". The lady working at the store wasn't too sure if I was being serious or not! Haha, oh man. If I had heart disease and needed to eat better, would Adam go, "oh, she's got heart disease, she could die if she doesn't eat a certain way", or if I had Diabetes, would he feel the need to disclose that? I seriously love my husband a lot (just to be clear), but he's part of a group of people who don't fully understand that eating a certain way, or what we would call someones' diet, is different than "being on a diet". Someone living in India would have a different 'diet' than someone living in China, or people in the Middle East have a 'diet' that is very different from most of my neighbours in Northern Ontario. A 'diet' is just what we choose to eat. I saw somewhere (and I can't find it now!) that someone said: D-Decide (what) I- I (will) E-Eat T-Today A diet is simply deciding what I will eat today. People do change what they eat for different reasons like eating poorly during a stressful time, eating really well while training for something athletic, or eating a ridiculous amount of candy because it was just Halloween (....not that I did that....) : ) Wikipedia says "An individual's diet is the sum of food and drink that he or she habitually consumes. Dieting is the practice of attempting to achieve or maintain a certain weight through diet. People's dietary choices are often affected by a variety of factors, including ethical and religious beliefs, clinical need, or a desire to control weight" I think that is well said! You can read a list of diets on that particular article. I know Wikipedia isn't the authority on anything, but it's an interesting read. There are literally hundreds of special diets to choose from too. The tops 15 that were listed on NHS included the 5:2 Diet, the Paleo Diet, The New Atkins Diet, Alkaline Diet, and many others. If you want to see that full list and what each diet is, check it out here. Some hilarious diets my husband and I have thought of (while talking about how, if marketed properly, one could sell any diet) are: ~The Chopstick Diet-anything you can pick up and eat with chopsticks is permissible! You do have to holding the chopsticks correctly though, so, no cheating! : ) Jelly beans would be torture... ~The Letter Of The Alphabet Diet. Start at 'A', and eat any 'A' foods you wanted! Next day. move onto 'B'! No, "bag of chips" doesn't count for 'B' day, that'll have to wait for 'C' day, it could also be on 'P' day for "potato". Continue through the whole alphabet (sorry about 'Z'!) then start again!!! They're awesome, right? I know. : ) I don't want to go on and on about diets, really. What I want to do is change the way you think about health & wellbeing, diets and dieting, and also share what I eat. What do I eat? I eat lots of veggies and fruits, meats, nuts and seeds, and healthy fats like coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil and walnut oil. I avoid foods that leave me feeling less than stellar like wheat and grains (yes, all grains), beans (I'm not a huge fan of being extremely gassy!!!), sugar (I like to ride the sugar-high, but the crash can be a little too much!), and dairy (I eat it from time to time, it doesn't make my tummy feel yuk, it just makes my throat feel mucus-y, which isn't conducive to nice singing!) Does this way of eating have a name? It does indeed, it's called "Paleo". So, this is why Adam tells whoever will listen that I am "on a diet" because I follow a principle that someone laid out as "a diet". Truth is, I don't remember setting out to be Paleo, it was trial and error, experimentation, and then one day stumbling on this way of eating and going, "oh, that sounds like a good fit for me!". After have my third child I had lost weight by eating whole foods-basically any food that was what it was! All meats, fruits and veggies, any whole grain (rice, quinoa, corn, etc., though I didn't eat wheat still), I ate dairy too. I didn't eat any white sugar though, and I avoided bad fats like canola, vegetable, or soy oils. Add this experience to a friend who ate Paleo a few years ago and I remember hearing her explain what it was and thinking, "yikes, what a lot of restrictions!" because I was used to whole foods including grains & beans. Anyway, back to the present time, when I set out in March of 2014 to get back into shape and be healthy, I knew I was going with a whole foods approach, but doing it while still including grains & legumes wasn't feeling right. So, I switched to whole foods & no grains or legumes, and I personally felt like that was my ticket. It just so happened to be Paleo. Do I want to convert everyone I know to eating Paleo? No, not at all! But do I want the people in my life to live a healthy life? Of course! It's hard to say what is exactly the very best for each person because each person is different! But really, in general, if you are looking to feel better, loose weight, get into shape, etc., the best place to start is with the food the earth gives us, perfect, whole, full of vitamins & minerals. Power food to power your life! I remember once talking to someone who had just started a low-carb diet 2 or 3 days earlier, and she was complaining about all the things she couldn't eat and how stupid the diet was. I thought, "geez, is she being forced at gun-point to do it?". Food is intended to fuel you, to nourish you, to be enjoyed, to bring you together with people. If you are saying the words, "what I am eating is stupid", well, maybe it is? What you eat shouldn't be some ball & chain you're dragging around. Get this "diet" thing out of your mind! Do it! If you hear yourself saying to someone, "well, I'm on a diet....", with that sound of hesitation and a hint of embarrassment, rethink your feelings toward it. You need to own whatever you D.I.E.T. (decide {what} I {will} eat today)! I always tell people that I'm talking to about eating well that one of the most important things is listening to your body, seeing how you feel after you've eaten something. Notice your skin, your mood, and your bodily functions (really stinky urine or poop isn't a good sign!-we'll have toilet talk in a few weeks-I know, you can hardly wait!) : ) So, just for the record: I am NOT on a diet! I don't want to "diet"! My diet is "the sum of food and drink that I habitually consume" , and I choose (80%-90% of the time) whole foods! I also enjoy bad-for-me foods on my treat days, but that's part of how I operate, it's what works for me! On a parting note, let me share with you one real diet that will horrify you....it's called "The Tapeworm Diet".....you know where this is going, right? Advertisements for tapeworms as a weight-loss tool from the early 20th century indicate that tapeworms have been marketed as a weight-loss product for over 100 years, and despite the known health risks, tapeworms continue to be advertised and sold today. Yikes! This diet first involves getting worms! Usually if someone gets tapeworms it's because they ate raw meat, were in contact with infected faeces or other foods containing tapeworm, people can also become infected from contaminated water or from eating food prepared and contaminated by infected individuals. These are all accidental ways to end up with tapeworm, but this diet is on purpose! Pills can be purchased with tapeworm eggs in them, you ingest them, the eggs hatch, and you are the host to your very own parasite! Once ingested, the tapeworm makes its way through the digestive system, attaching itself to the intestine and feeding to it's little hearts content! The idea is that introducing tapeworms into the body means that the food you eat is split between your own body and the tapeworm. Eventually, it will make its way out of the body with bowel movements (but, fyi, this could take up to 30 years, and can grow up to 80 feet long!!!!). I don't need to think on this too long to know that experience would be terrible- both physically and psychologically! You can also take drugs designed to reduce the lifespan of the tapeworm so that it is already dead when it is removed from the body....because that would be better.... And taa-daaa! You will have your new, slim body! (...shudder....) Please don't do the tapeworm diet. Please no. The End : ) Oh, and please leave a comment if you've stopped by or want to share some thoughts on food & dieting!
2 Comments
Sharon
11/4/2015 12:28:09 pm
You are, literally, Chris Traeger from Parks and Rec.
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Amy-Lyn
11/5/2015 03:49:13 am
Hahaha, laughing out loud....literally.... :)
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