overweight people and the entire "diet culture" that we have
here in America. It seems that overweight people never reach
their goals of becoming thin, and that many thin people
eventually become overweight. The diet industry and the medical
care providers profit greatly from this problem. What about the
rest of us?
I personally don't believe that the diet industry is trying to
do Americans a disservice. There are many people who lose
weight permanently through dieting, but they have to continue
doing what made them thin for the rest of their lives. Most of
us can't imagine being on a permanent diet or extreme exercise
program (although I do feel that consistent exercise is needed
to maximize your long term health). That's why the diet
industry is so huge - it's one big merry-go-round. People
finish one diet, gain back all the weight they lost (and then
some), and jump onto the next diet fad.
We are all searching for the diet that will give us permanent
weight loss. There's only one problem with that - it doesn't
exist! There are only permanent diets! It only makes sense that
if you lost weight on a low fat, low carbohydrate or low calorie
diet, that you are going to have to continue similar eating
patterns on the "maintenance" phase of each of these diets.
That means permanent deprivation. I don't know about you, but
the phrase "permanent deprivation" is not a big motivator for
me. And, looking around at our ever-fattening population, it
seems that a lot of people feel the same way I do.
So where does that leave all of us that want to lose weight,
but can't? I thought maybe the best place to start on my quest
for permanent weight loss was with observing people who are
naturally thin. You know who I'm talking about - the people you
love to hate!
We all know people who don't pay attention to what they eat,
but never to seem to gain any weight. Welcome to my world! One
fat Dad living with 4 naturally thin people. How could this
have happened? Well, I made some observations that I'd like to
share with you.
One evening while I obsessed over the meaning of life at the
dinner table, which is the sort of thing that overweight people
obsess about while they're waiting to start their next diet, I
looked around at my dining companions. Across from me was my
wife, who weighs the same now as the day I met her 22 years
ago. To my right was my son (a bottomless pit when it comes to
food), the owner of a true six pack for abs. Beside him was my
oldest daughter, who'd never been on a diet (nor, needed to be
on one) and was heading off for college. Across from these two
was my youngest daughter who'd lost ten pounds earlier in life,
and had never had a weight issue since.
The question I asked myself was, "What made me different from
all four of my dining companions?" It seemed very strange that
one fat person lived with these four individuals. Why, why, why
was I so different? I decided to watch them eat.
My wife put the amount she wanted to eat on her dinner plate
and didn't really have seconds. My daughters had seconds of
what they liked, my son ate as much of everything as was
humanly possible, and I did the same thing as my son except he
seemed to be enjoying his food. I ate well past the point of
hunger, well past the point of nourishing my body, well past
the point of enjoying what I ate.
Studying the difference between the members of my family and
myself, would ultimately lead me to discovering the "secret" to
permanent weight loss.
I can't put my entire book in this article, but I can share
what I think is the most important thing you can do to eat more
naturally:
Slow Down! Enjoy your food and the entire dining experience.
Our fast food mentality has lead us to simply shove food into
our mouths without experiencing the pleasure of eating. Food is
supposed to taste good and a meal is something to be enjoyed.
Constant dieting has screwed us up so bad mentally and
physically, that we do many things that make no sense. We eat
bland, tasteless food that we don't want, but it's "on our diet
plan." We spend countless hours in the gym because we know we
have to exercise to get and stay thin (most of the natural
eaters I know don't exercise). And, we turn mealtime into a
meaningless experience - we don't truly enjoy the food we're
eating. We either feel guilty because it tastes good and we
think we shouldn't be eating it, or it's so tasteless that
we're fantasizing about the "non-diet" foods we like.
Is this really any way to live? And, is it really making us
thinner in the long run? I think not.
About The Author: Paul Clark of
http://www.finallyfitandthin.com is the author of the book,
"Naturally Thin." This book is based on his failures at dieting
and his subsequent observations of people who were "naturally"
thin. It is also based on his experiences while helping his
daughter to lose weight naturally.
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