Man! It is worse than being a kid again. We get bombarded every day with articles
about eating “the right stuff.” Believe
it or not, even seniors are weight conscious.
The health maintenance program at my workplace requires that our residents
be weighed every month (unless a physician deems it important to check more
often) and you wouldn’t believe how much the ladies fuss it.
Dr. Jeffrey Rosensweig, Ph.
D. tells us in his book “Age Smart,” that 50 million Americans go on a diet
every year and 95% of them gain it right back.
I just had a letter from one of my friends lamenting about her latest
diet failure. I had wanted her to write
to me about her latest attempt and she told me candidly about how she had been
losing and regaining the same 50 (or more) pounds over and over and over again.
Each diet plan lures us in
by promising immediate results. Unfortunately they don’t put enough stress on
the lifestyle changes that go with it. We never quite get the picture that this is a
“forever” thing. Actually the simple
mathematical equation is that you have to eat fewer calories than you burn,
which is not exactly easy.
In light of the studies that
show that women need to exercise for 60 minutes a day this is beginning to
sound a lot like work (I am sure that a similar study is being conducted on men
and the results will be the same…after
all, they don’t look that great either). All of the ups and downs of rapid
weight loss and gain put quite a strain on the body, so of course the experts tell
us to stop dieting. Sure, easy for them
to say, as the pounds automatically register as we grow older. The goal, of course, is to forget about being
super skinny and focus on being trim.
The key is to lose weight slowly and naturally by eating just a little
bit less than you burn. Portion sizes
are probably the main waterloo.
The author of “Age Smart”
recommends eating everything in moderation.
Go ahead and eat something sinful, if you must, but just don’t go
overboard. He talks about the good and
bad things about salt, sugar, fat, and even caffeine. It is okay to sneak in a candy bar or fried
chicken or even an ice cream sundae once is awhile, as long as you don’t eat
them every day. Concentrate on foods in
their natural form (without a lot of heavy sauces and hidden calories) and
watch the S foods (sugar, salt and starches).
It is more important now than ever to shop wisely and read labels (the
hardest part about reading labels is not getting run over by rabid shoppers
when you stop to study the cans and boxes).
We all know the rules and we know that this eating thing is a matter of
life and death. We are smart people
after all. We can do this!
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