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EAT
WHATEVER YOU WANT THESE HOLIDAYS!… BUT…
Here we are once
again in the Holiday Season and, once again, it seems the
media is crazed in telling us how to keep our weight down
during Holiday meals… how to avoid eating too much,
how not to gain too much weight during this season. It
concerns me to hear the silly things some pundits conjure
up. So many TV shows present novel ways NOT to gain
weight during THIS Holiday season, and, SEVERAL times during
the year, they all have a different story to share, and a
different Holiday diet plan. Well, guess what: we’re
STILL gaining weight; America is the heaviest it has ever
been. So, what is the problem? What’s the
answer?
Believe
me…here is the answer!
There are more
than 30 different diet plans being marketed that tell us what
we can and cannot eat, and how they will work to help us lose
pounds. If you’re curious, here’s a list: Abs,
Atkins, Blood Type, Body for Life, Cabbage Soup, Jenny Craig,
Jorge Cruise, Curves, eDiets.com, Fat Flush, Fit for Life,
Glycemic Index, Grapefruit, Bob Greene, Hampton, L.A. Shape,
L.A. Weight Loss, Living Low Carb, Nutrisystem, Dean Ornish,
Dr. Phil, Picture Perfect, Pritikin, Scarsdale, Slim-Fast,
Solution, South Beach, Sugar Busters, Suzanne Somers, Weight
Watchers, The Zone.
Every diet is
different. Each tells us that they are the latest, most
effortless and efficient method of losing many pounds.
They advise us to set goals or build a support team or how to
keep high motivation: post reminders around the house.
Some diets call for eating grapefruit – even how/when to
reward ourselves -- some promote eating meat, while others say
don’t eat meat. There are those that tell us the problem
is carbohydrates; they want us to measure how many carbs we
ingest in order to lose the weight we could not get rid of on
all the other diets! But now the medical profession
maintains the low carb diet is NOT good for us. (See my
Beauty Health Tip on Low Carbs/No Carbs.) And all of
them proclaim they can help us prevent overeating on
Holidays, so we won’t gain weight! Oh my, what ARE we to
do?
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I should
tell you that I have never been on a “diet,” ever, and
at age 70 I weigh 120 pounds, the same as when I was 30
and younger. Now, don’t say it’s because of my
genes. My brother, three years my junior, weighs
over 300 pounds, and other members of my family are
overweight, too.
I have
written nine books on Beauty, Health and Anti Aging—and
one novel—but I have never written a gimmicky diet book,
although I once refused a leading publisher’s request to
do so, and for good reason.
(The book I
did write many years ago, called The Age-less Diet, is a
Pounds-Off, High-Energy, Beauty-Gain soft back that
explains why our bodies need some fat—and also
sweets—and why our personal lifestyle has much to do
with how much food we can eat without gaining
weight. More on this below.) |
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Oleda has been talking about diets and
keeping slim since before this book was published
(Prentice Hall) in 1973 |
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Why
diets don’t work:
*Structured diets
take too much time: one must shop for special foods, measure
the food, cook special meals, and, with our busy lifestyles,
there isn’t even enough time to do the dishes, much less cook
a different set of food for family dieters. It’s not
easy to stay on a structured diet plan very long…even if it
did work!
*Diets are
boring. Anything that bores you will not last
long. It’s monotonous to have to plan special foods for
every meal, and it’s boring to have to think about it all the
time. Boring…boring!
*If a diet is not
simple, it won’t last long either, maybe just a few days, or,
perhaps, a week or two. We all have busy lives and
“eating” itself takes up a lot of time, in addition to the
time it takes to shop for and prepare special foods. So,
if it’s not simple, and many diets are not, we’re just not
going to stick with it very long…and there goes the
diet…again!
*Some diets work
for a little while, like the “eat a lot of red meat” Atkins
Diet. Guess what: It was found that it could cause
serious health problems—something anyone with common sense
knew—and it has. I have a friend, who I begged not to go
on that diet, but he did anyway…lost some weight and, after a
while, developed medical problems, which his doctor attributed
to the diet and told him to get off it.
*Oh…we are
champions of excuses: I gained weight—stopped my diet—because
I quit smoking…a friend died…I’m depressed…I don’t like my
job…I just l-o-v-e to eat…I’ll begin again tomorrow…I’m too
stressed…it’s not my fault. Of course, all such excuses,
procrastinations of the mind, give you false permission to add
even more pounds.
*There is no
denying this basic fact—you will n-e-v-e-r be able to skirt
around it: You will not lose pounds or maintain a proper
weight unless on a daily basis you work off more calories than
you take in. Period! No structured diet has or
ever will replace this truism.
Now Hear
This about Holiday Dining
We act as though
big meals during the Holidays make us fat. This is not
true; it’s not the HOLIDAY meals. It’s all the other
1000+ meals, plus snacks, throughout the year that make us
fat! You could “pig out” and enjoy every great Holiday
meal, every single holiday, and still be slimmer, healthier
and with more energy IF you did the following:
My
Non-stressful, No Measuring, No Special Shopping, Non-boring,
Simple Diet Rules that have kept me at 120 pounds all my
life
 First- I
take responsibility for my own weight. This means that
I, alone, accept
the responsibility -- each day, each meal, and each snack --
for what food goes into my mouth, how much goes into my mouth
and the quality of the food that goes into my mouth. You can
try to play all kinds of games with yourself – blame the
writer of the book because it did not work for you, blame the
restaurant for serving you so much food, or complain that you
did not have the time to completely follow yet another diet
you tried. But, don’t you see that we are the losers when we
blame anything or anyone but ourselves….and our children are
watching us. We must face the fact that there is no magic
wand…there is no diet pill that will do it alone.
Moreover, once you stop such pills and go back to your old
eating habits – there you go again - watching the pounds add
up... again.
Are you
ticked at me by now, or will you go on and read my life long,
simple lifestyle way to lose weight and keep it off?
1. I do not rely on gimmicks
because none of them have proven to be a permanent weight loss
success and can cause an imbalance in your body. I just
eat less!
2. I have always eaten all
foods…the face, hair and body need some of all foods to keep
them looking youthful and healthy. Eliminating all
oil-containing food is not good for the beauty of the skin. I
eat only the “real thing” -- no phony butter, no diet food
“stuff” of any kind. But I do eat less of
everything!
3. I eat sweets and, yes, sugar
too. (without overdoing it). I do not use a sugar substitute
because of its chemicals and it has a bitter taste for me.
This does not mean you can go wild with sweets, but they
should not be completely eliminated from your diet unless for
medical reasons. Sugar is a carbohydrate and carbohydrates
create energy. When deprived of this energy, the body must
call upon protein instead. If protein must be used for this
purpose, it cannot be doing its essential work of building
blood cells for antibodies and for maintaining the fluids of
the body. Protein needs to be kept free to do their important
work…body building. But I still eat less of
everything.
4. It ain’t like it used to
be! Prior to the evolution of our service society,
people did much more physical labor. In the 19th
century, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers regularly
performed chores such as, wood chopping, clothes washing (by
hand), and butter churning. During World War II, many
women worked in factories while our young men fought the
battles. Today, with our world filled with labor saving
devices and computers, our physical activity no longer
warrants the consumption of the kinds of meals served on the
farm, when our major industry was agriculture. However,
sad to say, too many of us still do consume them. I
cannot emphasize it enough: Eat anything you like, but
eat less.
Consider this: a full hour of
strenuous activity, such as jogging or snow skiing, burns
about 600 calories, which could be put right back on by a
corned beef sandwich and a bottle of beer you indulge in
afterward. Hard to believe? Here are the
facts:
| Corned beef (4
oz) |
424
calories |
| 2 pieces rye
bread |
112
calories |
| Mustard |
21
calories |
| Beer (8 oz
regular) |
110
calories |
| Total
Calories |
667 |
But, suppose you
went jogging with a friend, and, on return, you were both
thirsty, so each of you drank the 8 oz of beer, but, instead
of each eating a whole corned beef sandwich, you shared
half of it. Now, you will have consumed only 389
calories, and, I promise you, if you ate it slowly, you WOULD
feel full. You will have eaten the food you wanted, only
less. See what I mean?
5. My personal Nutritional Drink
-- heavy on nutrition and fullness, LIGHT on calories. This
makes 4 glasses and it lasts in the refrigerator for several
days.
Here’s what you
need: a blender, large container of Vanilla Yogurt (32
OZ), 1 or 2 bananas, 1 apple, strawberries, blueberries - a
large handful of each (I keep some in the freezer at all
times), and honey. You can add fresh peaches or pears, if you
wish.
Here’s what to
do: * Put all of the Yogurt in the blender. * Peel bananas
– cut in large pieces and drop in blender. * Apple, peeled or
unpeeled (although, if unpeeled and you use a straw, sometimes
part of the peel gets caught in it). Cut in 4 pieces, remove
the core, cut in several pieces, and drop in blender. * Put a
large handful of strawberries and blueberries in blender. If
frozen, microwave for 20 - 30 seconds. Put in more or less
according to your taste. * Add any other fruit you may have
around if you wish. * Add honey to taste. *Put lid on blender
and blend slowly for a few seconds, then turn to high and
liquefy. Your kids will love this healthy drink too!
6. Eat more chicken, veal and fish
and less red meat.
7. Drink plenty of water – I
rarely drink soda….and I enjoy a glass of wine, too.
8. Mind set: When I begin to feel
hungry, I’m actually pleased, because then I know I
am losing a few calories. I do NOT feel deprived; and,
if I wait another half hour or so before eating, I actually am
not as hungry anymore and do not want or need to eat as much.
Eating a tiny snack or even a couple of crackers will prevent
hunger pangs. Try this little mind game every once in a while;
see if it works for you, too.
9. Eating smaller portions and a
balanced diet is really my no measuring, no special cooking,
and healthy way of dieting that has kept me in shape all my
life. The less you eat the, less you’re able to eat, since
your stomach adjusts and will “demand” less food. I have
a pair of blue jeans that guide me…if they start to get too
tight around the waist, I just eat less until they fit well
again.
10. Proper vitamins, minerals,
trace minerals, and amino acids are helpful in balancing the
body to help keep the weight off and the energy up. If
you’re always feeling sluggish, you won’t burn as many
calories because you will resist performing the necessary
physical activity. Fast walking is great.
The
Bottom Line
Too many of us
are fascinated by and preoccupied with food. Many
families build their lifestyle almost totally around
food. Children are given food as rewards; we are served
large portions in restaurants and at home, so, therefore, we
feel it is acceptable to eat it all, sometimes it's even
insulting not to.
Americans are
eating bigger meals AND, at the same time, we are less
active. So, our stomachs adjust to the large portions
and then “need” it again the next time we sit down to a
meal. If we ate smaller portions, our stomachs would
adjust to that, become smaller and demand less. Thus,
little by little we would shrink our stomachs—and our bodies.
So, just eat less.
That’s what I do, and it works.
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