How much fun do you have when you eat? If it sounds like an “odd” question then the answer is obvious – very little. Most dieters eat what they think they “should” or what some diet plan tells them to eat because it’s the obvious solution to reaching their goal weight. But one thing all dieters have in common is the “dieter’s mentality” – restrict, skip, and avoid.
These negative words give dieting a negative connotation. And what is pleasurable about negativity? Absolutely nothing. So what’s a desperate dieter to do? I say “get over it” – the diet that is. Get over dieting and embrace the idea that you can lose weight, nourish yourself, and be healthier for a long time if you just let go. Are ‘ya with me?
Paul “PJ” James, 32, of Melbourne Australia is a former model and a fitness instructor. Needless to say he’s in peak physical condition. Well, he was in peak physical condition. That’s because James went on a binge-eating experiment to better understand his overweight clients.
Paul James of Australia via Sky News
James went from 175 pounds to 280 pounds. At least that’s what the article on Yahoo says. I had to convert stones to pounds, but the before/after pictures don’t seem to match that drastic of a change.
To gain that weight James ate kebabs, french fries, bacon, and chocolate milk, presumably not all at the same time. He also gave up exercise.
Most of us know that trans fats are bad for our health. In fact, a recent survey showed that a convincing 73 percent of us do. But only 21 percent of Americans can name three food sources of trans fat without the aid of multiple choice.
The thing is, even if you don’t know that the following foods have trans fats, you should certainly know that they are bad for you:
- French fries
- Potato chips
- Doughnuts
- Pastries
- Hard margarine
- Vegetable shortening
- Cookies
- Candy
Trans fats have a double whammy effect on your health. They increase your bad cholesterol (LDL), and they even lower the good kind (HDL).
Not too surprising to me or for most people, but a study was done which supported a known fact, linking junk food or a “Western” diet and heart attacks. More specifically, junk food was found to be responsible for a third of heart attacks.
Researchers examined diets of 52 countries, questioning more than 16,000 patients, in which 5,700 of them had recently suffered their first heart attack. The participants were divided into one of three groups based on their diet/reported food intake. One group was labeled ‘Oriental’ because of its high intake of tofu, soy, and other sauces, the second group was ‘Western’ because of its high intake of fried food, salty snacks, and meat, and the third group was labeled ‘Prudent’ because of its high intake of fruits and vegetables.
The statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are staggering: they report that about 32 percent of children are overweight, and 16 percent are obese – 11 percent were extremely obese.
The situation has gotten so dire that even the junk food companies are trying to get in on the health kick. PepsiCo says on its website that “we can play an important role in helping kids lead healthier lives by offering healthy product choices in schools.”
But are companies like Pepsi trying to do what’s right, or are they just shuffling the same deck of cards – the one that’s stacked against us? As this piece at Yahoo.com rightly points out, companies like Pepsi have one and only one obligation – to increase stockholder’s value. Which means, sell more product. That said, you could still increase the bottom line while making your products healthier.
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