Some thoughts I’ve been wanting to get down somewhere. File under “secrets of success”. Maybe.

“I don’t do diets”

There are arguments out there, mainly put forth by nutrition teachers and health class instructors that dieting is unnatural and impossible to adhere to. They say that, sure, some diets may “work” and you’ll lose weight, but that they are so out of the norm of what we eat that they are nearly impossible to keep up and so eventually, you put the weight back on.

This would be true except for a couple things: 1) The “norm” of what we eat is hardly “normal” for humans. Today’s industrialized society and differs so greatly and happened too rapidly for evolution to compensate. Therefore we’re all too fat here in America and a “diet” of something more normal (real definition) is needed to trim ourselves up. The word “diet” also has a bad connotation because it usually outlines what one cannot eat, when in fact, it has everything to do with what you can eat. That said, the stigma of being “on a diet” is unfortunately necessary when you consider that in order for us to break our current unhealthy eating habits, we need to make a concerted effort to stick with something. Which leads us to 2) Diets are difficult to adhere to because our society wants us to keep consuming (monetarily and physically), high fat, high sugar, high caloric foods. And to this I say: buck the fuck up and commit.

Commitment

When I hear folks complain (endlessly) about their weight or physical appearance or how they go to the gym, then eat donuts and wonder why they aren’t losing weight, I sometimes venture forward and give them advice on their diet. I give them a list of foods that can help break up their new diet and compensate and easily transition them from industrial diet to something a little more natural and yet possible.

They turn their nose up at it. They complain (again) about how they don’t like this or that food (usually the healthy ones), how they can’t “live” without x, y, z (usually the fatty, sugary ones), and how it’s too hard to do it.

This is where commitment comes in. Our current society has trained you to like fatty sugary foods. Get over it. It’s like an addiction. It will be difficult, you will have cravings. But you will eventually get over it. If you really don’t like that type of food, then find something with similar qualities. But if you just can’t stand whole classes of foods (like green vegetables), grow the fuck up. Consider it medicine. It tastes bad, but it will make you feel better.

Tastes are highly adaptable. Eventually you’ll love peas. I used to hate brown rice, now I love it. I used to hate most beans, now I love them. You can make it work, but it takes good old fashioned commitment.

Fad Diets

Like eating one thing and only one thing types. They are dumb, don’t do them.