Here’s what scares folks off from changing their diet.<\/p>\n
I love sweets! I love cookies and cakes and I love food in general, and if I go on a diet, I’ll have to drink non-fat milk and eat artificial ersatz sweetened imitation cookie-flavored rice crackers. I’ll never be able to go into a Starbucks or a Baskin-Robbins or a McDonald’s ever again!<\/i><\/p>\n
Which simply is only true if that’s the way you choose to “lose weight.” And it’s pretty much a guarantee that you won’t keep it off, or, if you do, you’ll be unhappy and bitter and one of those folks who scolds others about what they eat and therefore don’t get invited to parties.<\/p>\n
First off, going back to my original theme, it’s all about awareness, not deprivation. How many calories are you taking in over what you need. The delta is going to be fat. You don’t like fat. Fat isn’t going to go away if you aren’t aware of what you are eating (and what you’re not exercising away). Knowledge is power. Awareness creates its own incentive to eat wisely.<\/p>\n
Secondly, eating wisely is not becoming a monk who only nibbles on three grains of brown rice and washes it down with distilled water. Nor does it mean you have to sell your soul to the Diet Food Manufacturing Industry, or resign yourself to never eating ice cream again.<\/p>\n
Eating wisely is about moderation. About enjoying what you eat, but knowing that you won’t enjoy twice as many brownies twice as much. In fact, I suspect the curve on enjoyment flattens out pretty damned quickly.<\/p>\n
So, I was appalled over the weekend to see the calorie count on a venti toffee latte at Starbucks. Ye Gods. You could feed a small nation on one of those things.<\/p>\n
I was resigned to never tasting it again.<\/p>\n
Bosh. Yesterday, after picking up Katherine from pre-school and going into the comic book store, we did our usual visit to Starbucks. And instead of ordering a venti, I ordered a tall. Which, in normal English, is a small.<\/p>\n
And y’know what? It was still good. I still enjoyed it. I don’t know that I enjoyed it any less than a venti. It was a bit of sweet, and milkfat, and caffeine, and tastiness. I didn’t feel deprived. I felt happy.<\/p>\n
I’ll be damned.<\/p>\n
And last night, Margie mentioned the brownies on the counter in the kitchen from Monday night. And when I went back downstairs … I ate one. And it was delicious. Fabulous. A wonderful, wonderful brownie.<\/p>\n
And I only ate one. Not two, or three, or five, or half of what was left, standing there reading a book and shoveling it in.<\/p>\n
I was aware. And I knew I really only wanted one.<\/p>\n
And after the profligacy of both a toffee latte and a brownie, and a couple of other small treats I’d snacked on — I was still below my target for the day.<\/i><\/p>\n
This thing may actually work.<\/p>\n
And I promise I’ll stop nattering about this Real Soon Now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here’s what scares folks off from changing their diet. I love sweets! 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But another article along the same lines makes a somewhat persuasive case that the real culprit isn't Colonel...","rel":"","context":"In "Health"","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/health"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9787,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/11\/01\/another_reason_as_if_i_ne.html","url_meta":{"origin":5481,"position":1},"title":"Another reason (as if I needed it) to drink red wine","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 1-Nov-06 6:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's not just good, it's good for you! 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Embedded Link This microbe is making you fat The difference between an obese person and a thinner one may not be just diet. Certain microbes that live naturally\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129853,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/16\/why-do-the-poor-get-fat.html","url_meta":{"origin":5481,"position":4},"title":"Why do the poor get fat?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 16-Feb-16 7:00am","format":false,"excerpt":"The image of poor Americans also being obese is one of those that causes either head-scratching or glowering from different quarters, the latter with mutters about \"Well, they certainly don't look like they need food stamps\" or \"fattening on the public teat\" or \"Huh, typical lack of control.\"The issues around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5259,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/04\/16\/the_past_that_w.html","url_meta":{"origin":5481,"position":5},"title":"The past that wasn’t","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Apr-04 7:03am","format":false,"excerpt":"Are we actually eating fatter and less healthy diets today? 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