Thursday, January 28, 2010

Acknowledgement. It’s everything.

Acknowledgment. It’s one of the very first steps in a series of realizations that lead to choosing the foods that will work to make you healthier and find that life long diet. Funny enough, acknowledgment is one of the most overlooked components of almost every “diet” plan. If someone simply does not recognize that their favorite fast food meal is contributing greatly to not only the decline of their diet but also the increase of their waistline then there is definitely a disconnect in there somewhere. This could lead to a whole slew of problems…

Just because a diet plan lays out the foods for you to eat, doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be eaten or that something will not eaten in its place. Additionally, the foods can be prepared in a myriad of ways. Take the famous and most delicious cheeseburger for example. I do not know of one cheeseburger that is made with the same ingredients or same method of preparation unless it is continually purchased at the same chain fast food restaurant throughout America. A cheeseburger made at home would not only taste very different but it would also be made with a variety of other ingredients. A fact that should empower the home cook to keep on cooking and change up their burger recipe so they can never be bored of a burger again! Plus, they control what actually goes into that “beef” patty – perhaps some real beef?



It’s simply a fact that when someone buys fast food for lunch or dinner, they know they are not eating the healthiest meal ever invented. It’s at this point that acknowledging eating this food is being eaten in the first place that defining your diet will start. Either someone will choose to take back their food and their diet or they will surrender it to the non-acknowledging abyss. Pretending that it was just not eaten, or saying “today was a special day and it was one day so it can’t hurt” will just not do. One day turns into multiple days scattered here and there throughout a year and add up to a “big” difference. It just so happens that it’s most likely you that is the “big” part of that difference equation.

Acknowledgment. It’s everything.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Fat is what you think it is.

Fat. Or rather being fat is one of those things that can make many people cringe upon thinking about. It’s a social stigma in America. One that cannot be overcome or taken “lightly,” due to the negative health perception it portrays. In fact, when it came time to name this very blog and describing the author as “the fat nutritionist” many of the comments that were received were mind boggling. Fat? How negative! Fat?!?! Isn’t that kind of mean?

Well, the answer is both yes and no. Fat to me is not the same fat to you. It is all very relative. Now, one could certainly plot some data points to prove that being fat is based upon weighing X kilograms divided by Y meters in height squared in a little equation that determines Body Mass Index (BMI) to be more precise. Even this measurement of body fat (based on weight and height) is not accurate enough to predict one’s health. Yet, it seems as though anyone can tell if someone is “fat” just by looking at them? Hmm… Maybe not.

Perception is everything. If being fat is viewed as a negative then it very well is negative. If you call someone “fat” in a malicious manner then it very well is malicious. In essence – fat could actually be a motivating factor for wanting to change a life – whether yours or someone else’s.

Being fat is what you think it is but it’s up to you to make that change.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Back to the Apple.

Food. There really is nothing better, right? I mean food is needed to survive on this planet after all. Therefore, if it is going to be eaten then it might as well taste good. Or, at least I’d like to assume so? The trouble is most of the time when an individual decides to “diet” the food they are choosing either a) does not taste very good or b) restricts the very nutrients needed to survive and be “healthy.” Wow, look at all these links between food, diet, and health. It’s kind of crazy actually.

The cabbage soup diet is a prime example of the torturous feeding ritual that an individual might put themselves through to shed a few extra pounds. It seems logical that eliminating all of the other food groups necessary to live would be the perfect way to have a sustained weight loss. I hope you’re catching the sarcasm here. It is highly doubtful that anyone could survive on cabbage, carrots, and water for the rest of their life. This brings me to a valid point about food. The food that you choose to make up your diet, should be food that you intend to eat, enjoy, and live off of for as long as you possibly can so that you can fulfilled but inside and out.

Back to the Apple. Food will have a different meaning depending on who you ask. Food can elicit feelings of enjoyment, love, fulfillment, or the other extreme of shame, negativity, and regret. This is the reason that people choose the foods they choose. Some people eat certain foods like the apple because they make them feel “healthier,” whatever that means to them, and some people can eat an apple because they think it is the best tasting piece of fruit that ever grew on this earth. Others enjoy the nutrition provided in the form of fiber amongst other nutritious elements that an apple can provide. And if a worm is accidentally eaten, there is a little extra protein in there too!



So, if a diet can be redefined, health is personal, and food means something different to everyone, then why wouldn’t you design your own diet that you could live with for the rest of your life?

Food. It’s your choice.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Health. It’s personal.

Health. As the old saying goes “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” A quote, so famous, that it exemplifies the fundamental link of food to nutrition and then to health status without anyone ever realizing it. Still, upon closer inspection, it is simply known that there is no way that an apple a day could keep us totally “healthy,” or could it? We will get there… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Taking a step back and examining health, it is easy to understand that being healthy means a variety of different feelings to many different people.

The working mom or dad. Often, they have put in eight hours plus of work at the office and are coming home to their families, possibly for a quick dinner and some family time. To the working mom or dad, health may be having just enough energy to get to the end of the day without a mild tragedy occurring and being able to take that final deep breath before falling off to sleep. Or, possibly making their children drink milk instead of soda when at the dinner table.

A very different picture of health is perceived when asking an athlete their view of health. The track star. Practicing day after day, running race after race, and consuming carbohydrate after carbohydrate to achieve the ultimate form to win the race. It’s the body and mind that needs to be healthy for a track star to feel confident enough to pull ahead in the race. This cannot be achieved without the proper fueling system and understanding the reciprocal relationship between food and performance.

One last example. The health of a woman recovering from chemotherapy. Her view of health will differ drastically from even the people around her. To her doctors – it’s the absence of foreign cancer cells from the body. To her family – it’s the presence of life. But to her, healthy is the feeling of enjoying the taste of ice cream again without the presence of nausea.

Health is something that sprouts from something smaller. A day, an activity, a disease, a piece of fruit, the list can go on. It seems to all come down to how you live your life through the choices that are made to fulfill you, both literally and "figure"atively.

The fact is health it's personal.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Defining Diet.

Diet. It’s a word that I choose not to define in the typical way. There are a variety of reasons for this. The first being that most American’s loathe the word diet as to them it means starvation, food that tastes like cardboard, or jeans that are so tight that the metal closure just might pop off and hit a coworker in the eye at any second. Although, the later part might not be such a bad thing in some regards… Yet, the mere fact that a button can fling off jeans due to their tightness is enough to make you want to go on a “diet.”

When someone gets to the point in their life, or more often than not several points throughout their life, it’s like an immediate panic sets in. Research begins on all the latest diet trends and investigative work on how your neighbor lost thirty pounds so quickly begins to unravel and load the mind with thoughts like “well, if I just only ate 500 calories with no bread then maybe I can do it too?” It is these very thoughts that intimidate the mind and body into a fluctuating battle of weight loss and gain that so many of us have experienced before the age of 25. It is what appears to be the never-ending combat over food, nutrition, and your life.

So, I present a challenge. A challenge which will fight against the grosgrain of society’s newly formed definition of diet. Instead define diet not as the foods you eat, or do not eat to maintain your weight, but rather define diet as the foods you eat to live. To me - defining diet leads to better nutrition and a healthier life that is achievable by consuming the foods that you love to eat and that just so happen to taste great too.

As I challenge you, I will also challenge myself. The challenge will be to help you explore and understand foods in order to create a diet you love and that guides you to find the healthiest version of yourself.

The Fat and Skinny Guide. Stay tuned.