Morning Coffee

26/02/09



I just heard on the news that a group of researchers have done an extensive study, and determined that it doesn't matter which of the many 'fad' diets you go on, they all work. Providing, they added, that the one you choose actually reduces the number of calories you consume. Are they serious? Did they actually have to do a study to determine that?

This is supposed to be great news for people who are overweight. Now, instead of counting calories, you can just choose the diet you like, and begin losing weight. It sounds so simple, why didn't someone think of it before?

As I see it, what they're failing to address is the human factor. Even if you choose the best diet out there, you're going to run afoul of the human factor. No matter how good the diet you choose, no matter how easy it is to follow, it can't possibly offer the foods you've come to consider favourites – such as family recipes that you grew up with. And despite your good intentions and firm resolve, the day is going to come when you just have to have a plate of Gramma's stew.

My father told me a long time ago that he figured you probably had to cut the amount of food you ate in half every decade or so. He had a lot of decades behind him at the time, but I was still fairly young. I was also one of those annoying people who could pretty much eat whatever they want without gaining an unwanted ounce, and I did. I didn't even own a scale at the time. I chose to ignore my father's advice. A few decades passed, and I woke up one morning to find I was carrying around an extra fifty pounds. I was tall, so I'd managed to disguise the extra weight with loose fitting clothes. I'd successfully fooled even myself.

My knees and hips knew the bitter truth. It was actually the loud complaints of one arthritic knee that forced me to pay attention. I decided it was time to address the issue.

I started simple. Things like cheesecake and chocolates had to go. So did 'seconds'. I reduced the fat – an easy task for a vegetarian. I changed cereals, switching to high fibre. I even worked in daily exercise. And I started watching the scale, expecting to see the weight dropping off like shedding layers of heavy clothes.

It didn't happen. After a month, I had lost a pound or two. At this rate, my goal seemed beyond my reach. Even worse, my hips had added their complaints to the clamour coming from my knee, and they were being really nasty about it. Unless I wanted to give up my mobility, losing the weight was no longer an option. It was time to review the whole diet plan, and this time, I knew I had to be brutally honest.

I started with what I considered my biggest problem. I was a grazer. I ate constantly, and when I went for groceries, bought enough of my chosen fodder to last until the next trip. I would go on binges. For months I'd snack on sunflower seeds. Then it would be granola. My latest was walnuts. Mostly out of curiosity, I dug out a calculator and thumbed through a calorie counter book. Imagine my surprise to discover I was munching my way through a couple thousand calories of these 'healthy' foods every day!

No problem, I thought. I'll just find something I can snack on that has fewer calories. Should be easy, right? Of course it wasn't. In fact, it was impossible. The two defining parameters – something I actually liked combined with a low calorie count – were incompatible. I was faced with the naked truth: The only solution was to break the habit.

This wasn't going to be easy. I had spent fifty some odd years perfecting it. On the other hand, I had been a smoker, and been exposed to second hand smoke, for the first thirty some odd years of my life, and managed to quit. I knew I could do it.

I know it seems odd, but one advantage to breaking a habit is that you have to find something else to do instead. If you're trying to lose weight at the same time, this can be a real bonus. That need to feed can be focussed into something else – preferably an activity of some sort. It doesn't have to be strenuous exercise. Just do something. Anything. Clean off your desk. Sort out the junk drawer. Organize a closet. Go for a short walk. The craving isn't going to last forever, so pick something you can finish in a reasonable time. It's amazing how many chores you can cross off your list doing this. It's equally amazing how fast the habit gets under control.

Once I had reached this point, it occurred to me that I should have an honest look at the rest of the stuff I eat. This is simple to do today, with all the information on the packages. Fresh fruits and vegetables are about the only thing you have to look up in a calorie counter when examining the average diet. All you really need is a kitchen scale, a measuring cup, a tablespoon, and a calculator. You can look up individual foods, such as potatoes, on the internet. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to do this for every meal. If you use a recipe, figure out the per serving calorie count, and jot it down in the margin. If you're like me, and just fling a bunch of stuff together, it's a little harder. I used a notebook, and made it simple. The things I made on a regular basis got a name, a serving size, and a calorie count in the book. In less than a week, I was forced to face the truth. I was eating a lot more than I was admitting to. About twice, actually.

Armed with all of this information, I tried again, and this time, I'm pleased to say, had some success. I've lost enough that even my hips are behaving, and my knee gave up complaining quite a while ago.

So what, you ask, has all this to do with 'fad' diets and the human factor? The answer to that is simple. Most of those diets probably do work – after all, they did do a study. The problem is, you have to stick to them, and in order to do that, you have to readjust your mindset. Most people in our country have had decades of conditioning. We've been raised to believe we can have it all. Can't afford it? Use your credit card. If you've ever maxed out your credit limit, you know what I'm getting at. So if our culture has conditioned us to believe that, why would our approach to food be any different? Some of those diets actually claim that you can eat the foods you love, and still lose weight. Perhaps that's true, using their pre-packaged portions. But what happens when you're faced with a piece of your Mom's double chocolate cake? Do you really think you can eat it, and still lose weight? Or even maintain your current weight, if you've managed to reach your target?

If that sounds frustrating, it really isn't. By all means, use whatever method works for you to lose the weight. But while you're doing it, pay attention. Eventually, you're going to go back to eating 'normal' food. By that time, you should know enough about serving size and calories to know how much of which foods you can eat. And even if it's really good and you really, really like it, instead of overeating today, you can always have it again tomorrow, or even next week.

My choice was to adjust the portion size of stuff I already ate, and it worked. I'm soon going to be tucking another decade behind me, so I expect I'll have to do it again. I've also faced the fact that foods like cheesecake are a thing of the past – working off the calories just isn't worth it. The health benefits of maintaining my ideal weight are.