Can You Say Confusion?

As I study and try and make sense of the information I'm reading about nutrition and wellness, what bothers me pretty much on a daily basis, is the ever growing and changing flood of information about diets. Like others of course I'd like to find that magic pill or easy fix to lose weight and keep it off. I didn't think I was one of "those" people who bought all the hype and diet books until I surveyed my bookshelf recently. What most discourages me lately and has me exclaiming my mantra "REALLY" is diet changes. How is it last year a plan was great, worked and had everyone on board, yet at the stroke of midnight in  a new year...wait, try this new plan, it's the best and you will lose weight. It can literally make your head spin and eyes bug-out like a cartoon character.

So, my plan, course of action, road map, or god forbid call it a diet is going to be fairly simple: eat what I like, have more fresh, whole foods, less overly processed foods and move around more. Actually make that move around A LOT more. I recently read that "inactivity may play a larger part than overeating in the causes of obesity". 

About eating more whole, fresh foods, I'm sure many of you have heard that if a product label includes too many ingredients your grandmother couldn't identify, then don't eat it. Another way to look at it I heard recently by Dr. Andrew Weil was: so for instance you are buying frozen waffles, if the ingredient list has too many items that you wouldn't put in it if you were making them yourself at home, put them back and walk away.

Another thought from Dr. Weil is that food should be pleasure and you shouldn't deny yourself or social events because of food. I don't advocate bad foods either. You shouldn't blacklist anything BUT, that being said, I once heard someone say if they were going to eat something they were going to have the best one of it. Even down to her apples. So that too has become partly my mantra, eating the best of something. I LOVE, LOVE chocolate but I rarely have chocolate that isn't fabulous and I eat mostly all dark chocolate for a couple of reasons: I like dark chocolate vs. milk and it's better for you. A win win to me.

I've also become an observer regarding food...ok at times I've been called the food police or reformed "fluffier" person. My recent observation was of the tray of mini muffins I put out for a meeting. Note: I always have both fresh, healthier items and not so healthy items at meetings since I'm often reminded not everyone eats or wants to eat like me. Anyway, those mini muffins hadn't been on the tray, which was napkin-lined for more than a minute or 2 when the grease underneath them started to form. By later in the day when I went to put them away, not only was the napkin soaked in grease but the platter had moisture on it too. So my observation, if I really want muffins I should make my own or look for those made with less fats and oils. It at times just seems to make sense although we've all (myself included) done mindless eating and just shuffled a mini muffin or 2 into our mouths. But I now have to ask, did it even taste good? If you try something and it's not the best or doesn't taste good...get rid of it and just walk away...better yet run, makes you work off more calories!