by patbarone
Thanks for all the comments to the “Sick & Tired of ‘Food Decisions?'” post! Emails and tweets abounded. It was great to hear from you!
The quest for permanent weight loss MUST eventually become non-diet weight loss. Our willpower sooner or later deserts us. In fact, willpower was not equipped for long-range quests. In other words, diets have to morph into intelligent, sustainable lifestyles in order for the change to last. Diet mentality, on the other hand, has us yo-yo-ing our weight and repeatedly coming back for more dieting.
Feeding the body when it is not hungry builds more fat.
Many of the themes I heard from reader responses were from diet mentality and clearly centered on controlling food or controlling behavior with food, rather than focused on real needs. Let’s have a look:
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by patbarone
For anyone living under a rock, Geneen Roth’s new book “Women Food and God” is a New York Times bestseller recently featured on Oprah. I first studied Geneen’s ideas on intuitive eating and breaking out of diet hell many years ago.
Here’s an idea from the new book that had great impact on me:
love life without the story,
you without your past
Wow – all that past … just gone.
All those stories … obliterated.
All that baggage … dropped at the airport and left on the conveyor belt of life.
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by patbarone
In the past few years, McDonald’s has taken a hit to their reputation – from movies like “Food, Inc.”, “Fast Food Nation” and “Super-size Me.”
Now, they are out to improve that “unhealthy” reputation.
On March 3, 2010, they announced that Weight Watchers would promote and endorse several McDonald’s meals as healthy options for weight loss. If Weight Watchers ever had a serious reputation, it was gone that day.
Now, another layer of PR has appeared with McDonald’s seeking to convince consumers of their financial importance to their communities and to the farmers of their state. Recently, an insert into a Wisconsin newspaper made many interesting claims. I particularly like the “returned nearly 45 cents of every dollar earned to the local economy.” – Translated, that means they paid their workers less than half of what they earned and more than half was profit.
They listed the following as purchased from Wisconsin farms:
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by patbarone
Talk about a “Food Decision” wall!! I hit it hard this week. Take a bit of fatigue and add several last-minute twists to a schedule that was a tad too tight in the first place, and all of a sudden food decisions become hard. I found myself saying, “I don’t want to DECIDE what to eat. It’s too much work. I just want someone to make dinner miraculously appear for my family and me.”
My clients describe this place of indecision and frustration a lot! Today, women work so hard in their careers and have so many additional responsibilities PLUS they are often expected to also fulfill the traditional “wife” duties of social planning, intra-family communication, scheduling, housework and meal planning/preparation. Overscheduling is a way of life. It can be a huge burden to carry.
The Food Decision Wall is that point when there’s nothing in the house to feed the kids except raw carrots and dog food and you’re seriously considering which would be more nutritious. It’s when you scream, “I NEED A WIFE!” It’s when you KNOW the best possible solution is to grab the phone for … FAST FOOD DELIVERY!
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by patbarone
If you watched the Oprah segment about the Geneen Roth book, Women Food and God, you may have seen some changes in the popular talk show host.
I certainly noticed change. Since I am deeply involved with the real change necessary to lose weight permanently, I’ve often prayed Oprah would get it.
The most important part of the show for me was when Oprah admitted she had shamed herself when she ran the January 2009 magazine cover of her “skinny” and “fat” selves.
I remember how much that magazine cover bothered me, especially the headline “How did I let this happen again?” Those words told me she had been living in an unconscious state during her weight gain.
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by patbarone
My twitter buddy Trish was having a tough time this week. She felt she did all the right things and yet she gained 2 lbs on the (*%#@^^!!) scale!
Trish’s blog
Here’s my answer to her:
I’ve had to work through many frustrating situations in my weight loss journey. Since I’ve kept my weight loss for over 10 years now, I’ve learned a lot. You might not like what I’m going to say, but you asked “what would I do?”
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by patbarone
Most of us don’t want to think of ourselves 20, 30, 40 or 50 years from now. We tend to imagine ourselves just like we are today, or project a movie of ourselves shot through a soft-focus rosy filter with beautiful lighting.
But our job, our primary job in life, is to make sure we get to 73 one day. And the path we take will determine what that 73 looks like. Take a look at Ernestine Shepherd at 73!
Video here!
Now, you might think that my blogging about Ernestine has to do with her body. Well…
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by patbarone
I love baseball. I love the symbolism, the metaphor, and the geometry of it.
Phil Hughes is a Yankee pitcher.
He started his big league career with a couple stints as starting pitcher in 2007 but was injured in just his second game. He rehabbed but wound up in the minor leagues. Phil DID NOT LIKE the minor leagues! He made no bones about it.
Last year, he returned to the major league but didn’t fit into the Yankees’ rotation of starting pitchers. He wound up in the bullpen, a place starting pitchers don’t like. Phil, however, said he’d do anything not to go back to the minor leagues (hint: he had motivation).
This year, he competed for the 5th and last spot in the Yankees’ starting rotation of pitchers and won it. Yankee starting pitchers are VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE!
Good for Phil, right?
Last night was his second start. He was hurling heat! His curve ball was curvy (admittedly a girly descriptive for a pitch), his cutter was slicing across the plate at unhittable angles.
He issued only 1 walk in 5 innings. Phil was working on a no-hitter, a rare feat in baseball! (Even rarer, a perfect game is no walks and no hits.)
It was mesmerizing. After the 6th inning, still a no hitter!
After 7, Phil still in charge!
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by patbarone
If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a very funny sketch from the April 10, 2010 Saturday Night Live featuring Tina Fey and her “brownie husband.”
Tina Fey and Brownie Husband from SNL
Food, especially those that heighten the senses like caffeine, sugar and chocolate, are often substitutes for connection, intimacy, and uncomfortable sexual feelings. Chocolate and sex produce similar emotional charges in the brain. “Brownie husband” is always available when we’re not in a partnership, or our key relationships are overstressed or poorly scheduled. Today’s over-busy world poses considerable challenge for the intimacy within relationships.
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by patbarone
What the world calls “weight loss” is a temporary condition based on a diet, not on real life. As I discovered, we pay for temporary weight loss with deprivation, excessive exercise, and, most importantly, we pay with the body’s precious metabolism. Then, we’re forced to give back the “weight loss” when we can’t support the payments anymore.
I call this “renting weight loss.” It’s prevalent in our society, and heartbreaking.
As I lost over 70 lbs. (and sustained that loss for 10 years), I learned a few things. Speaking at my 10th year celebration forced me to think about all my lessons from an overview perspective. It looked like this:
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