Eating should be fun
Richard Simmons was my hero. When I was younger and watched my mom workout to one of his exercise tapes it was like being at a fitness party. That’s when losing weight was fun. Now it’s like going to boot camp. (Coincidentally, Bob Harper from NBC’s The Biggest Loser is on my syndicated radio show this week — but we taped it last month.)
A colleague of mine is on a crusade to lose 40 pounds. She’s not just changing the way she eats but also analyzing every food label.
Yes, that’s not a bad thing to do but when you can’t find a product that is 100 per cent good for you on a grocery store shelf, it’ll be next to impossible to meet the expectations that you’ve set out for yourself on this diet… or rather, “lifestyle change” as she calls it.
So the Queen of Butter Tarts is no longer enjoying the food she puts in her mouth but now looking at it from the idea that she’s punishing herself by not being allowed to eat what she enjoys.
OK, butter tarts aren’t the best choice for a healthy lifestyle, but things like potatoes and bread and food items that, really in a plain form, aren’t bad for you at all. It’s the extras — the butter, sour cream and bacon on the potato – that you need to cut out, not the vegetable itself.
Since everybody has opinions and recommendations for how to shed the pounds it also leads to frustration and discouragement about wanting to change eating patterns. One co-worker insisted that you must eat the fruit rather than blending it together with others in a smoothie. This person was adamant about not drinking fruit and said, “It’s better to actually eat it and chew it.”
Maybe I don’t know much about healthy eating but I thought as long as you’re consuming the proper amount of fruits and vegetables each day, it’s OK. I’m not overweight and generally eat healthy stuff but now it’s criticized about how you eat things as opposed to what you eat.
Is it all mind games that people play when it comes to losing weight? Do people purposely try making it difficult to get rid of the extra pounds? Because for me it seems pretty simple about what changes need to be made for eating healthier.
Gone are the days of Richard Simmons making weight loss fun, I guess.
