the apple diet

Earlier today, as I was sitting waiting for a class to start, a number of the students in my class started discussing the "Apple Diet," which one of my more portly classmates had just committed to. "This week," he explained, "all I'm gonna eat is apples and water. If I do, my buddy's gonna give me 20 bucks!" The students and the teacher questioned how he could stand it, whether he could eat applesauce or drink apple juice, etc., ignoring what I thought was the central issue:

DIETS LIKE THIS ARE RIDICULOUS

This particular one might be a little more over-the-top than some others, but it got me thinking - how many people go on hopelessly unsustainable diets thinking they're really going to make a long term difference, when they're really doomed to fail? So many require their followers to unrealistically (and needlessly) restrict their diets:

• Atkins Diet (low-carb)
• Cabbage Soup Diet
• Grapefruit Diet
  
• Master Cleanse
• Nutrisystem (eating only THEIR food)
• Paleolithic Diet

... and dozens (hundreds?) more. Anybody who has tried these, or approached their diet from sustainability viewpoint, knows these plans don't work - they're band-aids at best, hopefully facilitating weight-loss but avoiding addressing the underlying causes for your weight problem.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but it seems like a successful approach to long-term weight loss and management must take at least these two factors into account:

1. Your Priorities (What do you want? What will you give up? What won't you?)
2. Your Food Intake/Expenditure (What/how much are you eating? Are you burning it all off?)

It might seem like a pain, but only a holistic approach to our weight can really help us lose our love handles.

You can put down your apple now :)

when food becomes HUGE

No, I don't mean mega portions. Or tons of calories, loads of fat, or a giant mound of carbs. I'm talking about when we turn a piece of food into a virtual monument - when a cookie, or a slice of pizza, or anything goes from a want to a must have. Sometimes, those "must have" foods don't just loom large in our minds - they loom huge.

That can make it way more difficult up on that morsel, even if we know it's bad for us. What's worse, if too many treats turn into must haves, our weight can hang in the balance - we risk gaining weight instead of losing or maintaining it.

Ask yourself this: "How many times have I regretted NOT eating something?" Chances are, it hasn't happened too often. Maybe even never, in fact. People struggling with their size often feel bad about eating all kinds of things, but usually feel good about passing on a treat. And, take it from me, that pleasant sensation that comes from passing on an Oreo feels better than that Oreo would taste, and it lasts longer, too.

So how do we keep foods in perspective? For sure, it's easier said than done. But it helps to keep in mind that the satisfaction that we get from food never lasts as long as the happy feeling you get from being good to yourself. Knowing that truth makes it easier to pass up goodies for a mere momentary "food high."

The bottom line? If you want to avoid being huge yourself, you've got to keep your view on your favorite edibles in check.