One size fits all. What a complete falsehood, this is especially so when it comes to an eating and exercise plan. These days, we can’t go into a bookstore or even listen to a health show without being confronted with our weight issues. There are 4-day diets, 3-hour diets, packaged foods, counting points, diets by blood type, low fat eating, low carb eating, eating high protein, raw…the list goes on. For the record, whatever diet you follow, if you follow it, would probably yield results. Why? Most the diets we hear about are really low calorie diets in disguise. The diet industry is smart. They know how to market to you. They know that certain buzz words like ‘calorie’ or ‘no’ or ‘limitations’ or (insert your scary word here)-- will make some of us defiant—and if we see these words linked together in the same sentence, it can trigger our ‘oh hell no’ response and have us making a bee-line to our nearest comfort foods, digging our heels in and vowing to eat whatever we want. The diet industry also knows we are an instant gratification society. We want it fast. We want it now. So, they package up the same information in a bright and shiny gimmick, tie it beautifully in a big BS bow and sell it to us again and again.
So, let’s say you fall for the gimmick (we all have). You unwrap your BS bow only to find, the same list of lean proteins, whole grain carbs, limited dairy, and healthy fats combined with an exercise plan. Guess what, there is nothing new here. The diet industry will constantly find ways to reinvent itself but no matter what they say---there is no magic pill, magic bullet (well, there are a number of them, but that is for another type of blog), no magic time of day, no magic food colors or special combinations, or even magic foods. Sensible eating with a sensibly exercise plan is just plain…sensible.
Start by getting rid of the work ‘diet’. Even though it’s not a bad word, we have made it synonymous with starving, kiss of death, and I’d rather pull my eyelids off—you get the point. So, for now, let’s refer to it as an eating plan.
We hold these truths be self-evident that all eating plans are not created equal. Those, which eliminate entire food groups or ask you to only consume entire food groups, are those you should stay away from. But there are lots of good eating plans out there and I’m not there to endorse any of them. It’s up to you to decide which plan you can live with. Many people will read a plan and quickly toss it away if they do not agree with it completely. Well, listen up- diets are written for the gen pop (general population for those of you who do not follow), but guess who gets to sit down and individualize the plan--you do. Don’t get discouraged.
Take elements of the eating plan and make them work for you. Enjoy the process of creating a plan that works, for you, by you, with your unique likes and dislikes, your cooking skill set and most important, with your goals in mind.
When you find yourself on autopilot, eating foods without giving it too much thought, not being afraid to eat out, not waking up wondering what fresh hell awaits you at mealtime. When you have taken the eating plan and woven it concepts so deeply into your life, and you’ve taken the same principles and applied it to your exercise plan, stand up and take a bow. CONGRATULATIONS! You have just made a lifestyle change.
Posts
