Everybody is on their own journey and I respect that. I haven't really come up with a respectful way to suggest that maybe all of this restriction isn't really necessary in conversations, so I tend to just smile and nod. But, this blog is my space and I've put myself out here to challenge the diet and restriction culture we live in - so I am going to use today's blog to ask - Why do so many people believe you have to give up something to be fitter, healthier and, if that is one of your goals, loose weight?
In my experience - all you really have to give up is dieting and restriction (and, as a consequence of that, binging). You have to stop labelling foods as good and bad and attaching your self worth to what you eat - and really, that's not giving up anything at all - it's gaining a whole lot of freedom!
It's not very sexy though, is it? This moderation concept. I sometimes wonder if we don't feel like we deserve health unless we have deprived ourselves to get there - do we feel like we have to earn it?
I've started my own moderation experiment this year - I am keeping a food diary and sending it to a personal trainer friend once a week. I'm just writing down what I eat, no counting of anything. I just felt like I needed this little bit of accountability to get me to actually think about what I am eating. Mindfulness is something that takes practice and when you have spent most of your life not even really tasting your food having an external reminder of what you are doing is helpful. Still, in the two weeks I have been keeping my food diary I have still eaten pizza, chocolate, ice-cream, cake and lots of bread and oats! I've also had a few glasses of wine and beer. The difference is that I am eating all of these things consciously - I am tasting them fully and stopping when I have had enough. Sometimes I clear my plate, sometimes I don't. I'm looking at my food intake as a whole over the week and trying to balance it out rather than letting one "bad" choice lead me down the spiral of binging - and I have lost weight without feeling deprived.
I think this is something that "normal eaters" do automatically, but for now keeping the food diary is the tool I am using to help me get there.
A pretty remarkable thing has happened - I've found I'm becoming less and less afraid of food. Invitations out to dinner aren't tinged with the fear that I'm going to "ruin" my diet. I was given a massive box of Lindt balls last weekend and I still have some left. In the past I would have either - eaten them all in one sitting, thrown them away immediately or eaten half of them in one sitting and then thrown the rest away! It's madness!
Advocates of the Paleo diet or other low carb high fat diets say that the food pyramid is wrong and is what has lead to the "obesity crisis". I just don't believe that is true - how many people really follow the food pyramid? How much of the results attributable to these diets is actually because people start paying attention to what they are eating and start choosing less processed options and eating more veggies? I tend to believe that's the real "miracle" of these diets. You can achieve the same by choosing to eat more mindfully - without all the restriction that comes with it.
I really don't think it's necessary to micromanage your food intake and severely restrict food groups or food in general to be healthy. I'm setting out to prove that this year!
The biggest argument for moderation for me is that is the most powerful tool I've found for stoping binging. When you are not constantly feeling like you are being good or bad, on track or off track, food just becomes food - something we all need and something to enjoy but not something to be obsessed with.
I encourage everyone to try it!
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