It’s the holiday season. The newsstands are
filled with magazines with holiday entrées and cookie recipes. People arrive to
visit bearing homemade treats, wines and spirits. Then there are the countless
office holiday parties with a veritable feast for employee’s eyes and stomachs.
Most of us
go into the holiday season with our minds set on not overindulging. Some of us
win that battle while others decide Carpe Diem and head straight for the
chocolate fountain. We’re all aware of the obesity rate here in the United
States and how it’s affected more than just our physical health; it affects our
economy in terms of what money is spent for healthcare for diseases like Type 2
diabetes, hypertension and heart disease to name a few.
I live with
several conditions. I have MS, Celiac disease and hypertension. I am very
conscious about what I eat but I am still a curvy woman. Yet I don’t belong to
any weight loss program regardless of how many times I’ve seen their television
ads. I subscribe to something called moderation combined with a gluten free
diet due to Celiac disease.
We are only
a few weeks away from New Year’s Eve when everyone makes their resolutions and
you can be sure that weight loss will be at the top of the list overall. By
January 2nd all those weight loss ads will triple in air time and
all those celebrities who embraced their curves in December will have been
courted by a weight loss program or product to trim those curves they loved so
much before Christmas. Then when we’ve been on the edge of our seats (or
sometime around the fourth to sixth commercial) we’ll have the inevitable and
magical reveal of their newly trim physiques. We have so much to look forward
to.
The reason
I decided to write about this wasn’t to bash weight loss. I realize the
importance of good health. I am just a little tired of the weight loss
industry. It’s basically a business that in reality is based on more failure
than success. A study led by UCLA associate professor of psychology Traci Mann,
and reported in the American Psychologist in 2007, the journal of the American
Psychological Association, essentially reported that the initial 5 to 10
percent of weight loss on any number of diets is eventually regained.
MSNBC followed up on contestants
from several seasons of The Biggest
Loser to see how they were doing after the finale. Some contestants kept
most of the weight off with only minor fluctuations from their finale weigh in.
However, most seemed to have gained the weight back and a few did that and then
some. We have to take into account the fact that the way their weight loss was
achieved was atypical. They had access to a nutritionist, personal trainers and
the greatest motivator outside of getting healthy; there was a great big cash
carrot at the end for the most weight lost.
Now that I’m north of forty plus, I
wondered if I could use some of this wisdom that’s supposed to come with age to
argue for a healthy, balanced approach to living well and not succumbing to a
great sales pitch and sexy, slim celebrities and fabulous everyday people who
lost weight and magically solved all their problems. The truth is weight can be
a vicious cycle. Yo-yo dieting is worse than
not dieting at all. Our bodies can only take so much and as we get older it
take less and less.
Therefore, I say instead of making
the standard resolution to lose fifty pounds before the first crocus peeks
through the ground, set realistic goals you can live with and not eventually
fight against. For example, if you live in a temperate climate begin with a 15
minute walk. If you live in a colder climate dust off the treadmill or other
exercise equipment and do 15 minutes.
In terms of food unless you have an
underlying condition and even if you don’t see your doctor and talk about what
works for you. Together you can come up with something that makes the both of
you happy. I’m lucky. My doctor knows that my hypertension is genetic. I am not
and have never been a salt lover. I take medication and watch my diet. Diabetes
runs in my family so I watch my carbohydrate intake. All of this is a lot of
work but the first step is always the hardest.
By no means am I a skinny girl. I
am a curvy woman and I’ve embraced it. I decided that I wanted to live life in
the middle (moderation) lane. I won’t say that I
don’t indulge now and then but what’s life without a least a trip or two
to the chocolate fountain. Enjoy!
Happy Holidays
