It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change
Jan. 10th, 2004 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pantryslutI have had it. It's time for a silly, petty rant against Atkins, South Beach, low carb, low fat, don't eat this, don't eat that, blah blah blah.
It was probably the Subway ads that tore it. (G., stop giggling.) That and a comment in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dryadgrl's LJ. But I am fed up.
Look, I'm actually for getting fit and shit. There's a reason I wrote a column called "Fat and Healthy" lo these many years ago. I think that, fat or thin, being inactive is bad for you. Not that I couldn't do a lot more in this department myself.
And I am all for eating healthy. In fact, years ago, after my first adult cholesterol test came back high, I made one of those vaunted "lifestyle changes." I cut way back on meat and dairy and learned to rely on whole grains and fresh veggies. And I felt so much instantly better that I have never looked back. After a while, I noticed that I wasn't feeling as energetic as I used to, so I made an effort to incorporate a little more protein into the mix, and since then I haven't fiddled with a thing. This is a permanent lifestyle change, you bet. There's a reason it's hard for me to go home and find decent things to eat at my parents': they just don't do this, it isn't what I grew up with. I grew up eating a lot of processed foods, and I was never a very active child. It shouldn't be surprising, then, that I grew up fat.
By the way, my cholesterol has stayed steady throughout my life. So has my adult weight, give or take a bit. I tend to gain when I'm less active; imagine that! I have also gotten a lot stronger, with a lot more stamina, than when I was in my early 20's.
If there's an eating philosophy I can get behind, it's the micronutrient argument. The more stuff you eat with micronutrients -- vitamins and minerals and such -- the better. This is why white flour is less than ideal *as a basic building block of cuisine*; ditto fat, ditto white sugar. This is the basic definition of "empty calories." In other words, if you have to take a lot of vitamin supplements to assure yourself of getting what you need, something's probably out of whack.
Not that I deny myself anything, either. Nothing is banned from my mouth. (Stop snickering!) It's a matter of balance, not of forbidding or restricting a class of food.
The point of all this is this: I have *already* made my permanent lifestyle change. It's one I am very happy with, thank you. Did I lose weight? No. Am I much healthier than I used to be? You bet.
Which is more important, the health or the weight?
This could probably be more articulate, reasoned, considered, elaborated upon. But fuck it. My LiveJournal is pretty casual already, and I needed to vent.
I'm almost tempted to turn comments off because I am so not interested in hearing anything resembling a rebuttal. This is not a point that is under discussion in my life at the moment. Please refrain from proselytizing, testifyin', and all other sorts of advocacy for your preferred enlightened food path, OK? Thanks.
It was probably the Subway ads that tore it. (G., stop giggling.) That and a comment in
dryadgrl's LJ. But I am fed up.Look, I'm actually for getting fit and shit. There's a reason I wrote a column called "Fat and Healthy" lo these many years ago. I think that, fat or thin, being inactive is bad for you. Not that I couldn't do a lot more in this department myself.
And I am all for eating healthy. In fact, years ago, after my first adult cholesterol test came back high, I made one of those vaunted "lifestyle changes." I cut way back on meat and dairy and learned to rely on whole grains and fresh veggies. And I felt so much instantly better that I have never looked back. After a while, I noticed that I wasn't feeling as energetic as I used to, so I made an effort to incorporate a little more protein into the mix, and since then I haven't fiddled with a thing. This is a permanent lifestyle change, you bet. There's a reason it's hard for me to go home and find decent things to eat at my parents': they just don't do this, it isn't what I grew up with. I grew up eating a lot of processed foods, and I was never a very active child. It shouldn't be surprising, then, that I grew up fat.
By the way, my cholesterol has stayed steady throughout my life. So has my adult weight, give or take a bit. I tend to gain when I'm less active; imagine that! I have also gotten a lot stronger, with a lot more stamina, than when I was in my early 20's.
If there's an eating philosophy I can get behind, it's the micronutrient argument. The more stuff you eat with micronutrients -- vitamins and minerals and such -- the better. This is why white flour is less than ideal *as a basic building block of cuisine*; ditto fat, ditto white sugar. This is the basic definition of "empty calories." In other words, if you have to take a lot of vitamin supplements to assure yourself of getting what you need, something's probably out of whack.
Not that I deny myself anything, either. Nothing is banned from my mouth. (Stop snickering!) It's a matter of balance, not of forbidding or restricting a class of food.
The point of all this is this: I have *already* made my permanent lifestyle change. It's one I am very happy with, thank you. Did I lose weight? No. Am I much healthier than I used to be? You bet.
Which is more important, the health or the weight?
This could probably be more articulate, reasoned, considered, elaborated upon. But fuck it. My LiveJournal is pretty casual already, and I needed to vent.
I'm almost tempted to turn comments off because I am so not interested in hearing anything resembling a rebuttal. This is not a point that is under discussion in my life at the moment. Please refrain from proselytizing, testifyin', and all other sorts of advocacy for your preferred enlightened food path, OK? Thanks.
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no subject
Date: 2004-01-10 11:05 pm (UTC)I don't eat as many veggies as I believe I should, but I agree with this in theory and to some extent in practice.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-10 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-11 01:05 am (UTC)I was darkly amused at the menu at the Ruby Tuesday's restaurant I ate at recently; they've gone through their whole menu with excessively prominent "low carb!" signs everywhere they can put them, and made some side-dish substitutions to enhance things, and done up a whole supplement menu with counts of the ounces of carbohydrate in all the "low carb!" items. Including a blurb about how their deep fried pork skins, with zero carbohydrates, were a "low carb dieter's dream!" or somesuch.
I think I lost my last nanogram of respect for the campaign (as well as the last bit of composure that was preventing me from bursting out snickering) when I came across the pork skins.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-12 10:35 pm (UTC)Yeah. Besides, I wouldn't miss the story about the pork skins for anything.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-11 01:09 am (UTC)And yeah... amen sistah.
Sing it!
no subject
Date: 2004-01-11 06:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-12 10:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-12 10:47 pm (UTC)the internet knows *everything*.
(i think i got mine at the local feminist bookstore, about 10 years ago...)