A financial newsletter (one devoted to giving tips to achieve "debt-proof living" )that I received today had this headline:
Enjoy Cinco de Mayo Menu without the Guilt
And the opening text:
Food for your Cinco de Mayo celebration doesn't have to be unhealthy. Skip the guilt but keep the flavor with these recipes from our favorite registered dietician, Brenda Ponichtera...
Well, frankly I think that's a pretty tragic headline. In the first place because why am I being guilted into giving up food I like by a newsletter whose purpose for existence is to give me financial tips, not diet tips?
Secondly, because it only underscores what is too true in American society today - and indeed in England as well. Women who eat what they are told not to eat (by the government, by their family and friends) are consumed with guilt.
Women who are more than five pounds overweight are racked with anxiety...they don't lose the weight for whatever reason, but inwardly they feel so depressed and unworthy because they don't match that slender image put out by mass media...that's how bulimia starts - stuffing yourself full of food, then vomiting it all up again.
There is no reason in the world to feel guilty because you like to have dollops of sour cream on your tacos or burritos! There's no reason in the world to give up fried icecream or sopapillas, or the American abomination, churros. There's no reason to feel guilty because you're a whole five pounds over your ideal weight. Five pounds is nothing.
Eat the foods you want, just do it in moderation! If you find after you've celebrated a holiday by over-indulging, that you've gained five pounds, don't panic, dont' reproach yourself, just remind yourself that you enjoyed what you were eating, you had a good time, and now for the next month you'll go back to your normal food portions, until you lose that five pounds.
We need food to live. There's nothing to be ashamed of in enjoying our food. It's like sex. It feels good so we'll have it... in the same way food tastes good so we'll eat it!
As I say again and again, the only reason to be at your correct weight for your height, age and frame, is for health reasons only. And sometimes these health problems won't manifest til you're in your 60s and 70s. When people are young, most of them can carry around extra weight with impunity - look at athletes such as CC Sabathia, or any defensive or offensive lineman in football! But as you grow older all that extra weight you've been carrying will take its toll on your joints, such that it'll be harder to move once you get old.
If you carry around just the right amount of weight, so you don't stress the tendons unduly, you should be good right into old age.
It's your body - it's your health. Don't feel guilty to take an extra dollop of sour cream or to have a cinnamon-coated dessert if you feel like it. The next day, ride an extra few miles on your bike, or skip a dessert on that day, or take a tinier portion than usual.
No comments:
Post a Comment