Like clockwork, every holiday, every year we get inundated with these “healthy eating tips,” from nosey, buttinsky do-gooders who want to ruin our fun. There are 365 days in a year and less than 10 real opportunities to enjoy holiday foods/parties, yet these no-fun allowed types can’t leave us alone.
These pieces all start out with some variation of this line, “Don’t let the upcoming holiday weekend derail your diet, blah, blah, blah…” and the writer provides us with a variety of ways to ruin the enjoyment we get from, in the case of the Fourth of July, going to a holiday barbecue.
The most odious of these “advice” pieces profess to help you “survive” the holiday cook-out, as if you are on patrol in Afghanistan. The nonsense is priceless. We’re given pearls of wisdom like, “use smaller plates,” “pace yourself and eat slowly,” “skip crackers, chips and bread,” and “be careful what you drink.” Then there is the always helpful reminder to eat the healthy foods available.
Really? At a barbecue? To these writers of this pap I say, “Kiss my a$$.”
Those of you who don’t have an issue with food will go to your parties and enjoy yourselves. For those of you who are on a perpetual diet and who have been made to feel badly about yourself, do not pick a holiday or party occasion to start your diet. Don’t view the Fourth of July barbecue as the time and place to try to make changes to your eating habits.
If you feel compelled to diet and embark on a routine of weight loss via food avoidance, start the day after the party, and use the next party as the reward for making changes. Don’t fall for the load of BS that a moment on the lips results in a lifetime on the hips.
Diets don’t work. Avoiding the foods you enjoy will not help you. Listening to the proponents of food avoidance will make you feel worse. There are ways to improve your eating habits, but following the advice found in these “healthy eating lists” is not the way to do it.
Sal, thanks again for scraping the crude from what is important about nutrition and training. Your common sense approach is a breath of fresh air. I have been training and dieting for a good many years and it never fails to amaze me how much misinformation is out there. We need more guys like you. Keep up the good work.
Larry
If you keep saying nice things, people are going to think you’re a plant. Seriously though, thanks for the kind words!
Sal, As usual good advise, delivered with the appropriate amount of cynisicism for the marketplace. While there are many people who can benefit from a few of the more credible programs out there, for me it boils down to ones body image(how one sees it, likes it, and is or isn’t motivated to do something about it). Hope you enjoyed your holiday and had plenty of boardwalk junk food, Larry