Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. ~ Michael Pollan
If you don't recognize an ingredient, your body won't either. ~Healthy Homemakers
As a chronic dieter, much of my life I have had an unhealthy relationship with food. While working hard in recent years to repair the damage, I've learned that much of what we have been taught about the modern dieting guidelines is wrong and down-right confusing if not dangerous. It doesn't help that Powerful entities such the US Government and the AMA write these rules and that the rules are always changing.
So I researched the subject of suggested food guidelines which have become Food Rules--set in concrete for many of us--to write this blog post. I confess the purpose was to shed light on the fact that there is no clear cut program that actually works for everyone and the "food rules" written for us by others often borders on insanity. I didn't have any trouble proving this premise. I also confess this post is tinged with a bit of sarcasm....OK a lot of it.
The number one food advice people are looking for regards weight loss. There are so many conflicting weight reduction programs, all of which some folks claim to work great: low calorie, low carb, low fat, high fat, the plankton diet (Plankton is what whales eat... Oh wait!), the Rice Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, Weight Watchers, Adkins, The Cabbage Diet, Jenny Craig, The Campbells Soup diet, Nutrisystem, Blood Type diet, Mediterranean diet, Pritikin diet, Slim Fast and many others that came and went.
Some diets border on insanity--check out some of these:
- General Motors Diet-- "Day one, eat only fruit, except bananas, day two eat only vegetables, day 3 eat only fruits and vegetables, day 4 eat only bananas and milk. day 5 eat two 10 oz portions of meat and 6 whole tomatoes. Day 6 two portions of meat and unlimited vegetables day 7 brown rice and unlimited fruits and vegetables."
- The Prison Loaf Diet-- A meal replacement served to inmates who are not trusted to use cutlery.
- Tongue Patch diet-- Stitching a Marlex patch to the tongue to make eating painful. (Or you could try putting a rubber band on your wrist and snapping it every time you think about eating.)
- Raw Foodism-- Consume only raw foods, including meat.
- Locavore Diet --Eating only locally produced food.)
- Subway Diet. (We all know about Jared--the question that comes to my mind is did he keep the weight off? Maybe he's eating The Prison Loaf Diet.)
- Other weird diets you might want to Google. The Cigarette Diet, The Drinking Man's Diet, The Graham diet (connects obesity with too much sex) and The Sleeping Beauty Diet (You can only eat when you're awake, right?)
Out of curiosity I Googled "Food Rules." and came up with the following:
From Eating Well:
- Eat mostly plants especially leaves
- Eat animals that themselves have eaten well.
- Eat your colors. (I don't think they mean to eat your crayons, but hey, it might work.)
- Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.
- The whiter the bread the sooner you'll be dead. (My husband ate white bread all his life, but he died from cigarettes.)
- Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. (The bakery is usually on the outside and the coffee is in the middle. Hmmmm)
- Don't overlook the oily little fishes. (I am sure you won't find those on the periphery.)
- Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. (Well make up your mind!)
- Eat food.
- Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.
- Avoid food products that have more than 5 ingredients.
- Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third‐grader cannot pronounce.
- Avoid food products that make health claims.
- Avoid food products with the words“lite” or the terms “low fat” or “nonfat” in their names.
- Avoid foods you see advertised on television.
- Eat only foods that will eventually rot. (Hopefully not before you eat them.)
- Buy your snacks at the farmers market.
- Eat only foods that have been cooked by humans.
- It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.
- It’s not food if it’s called by the same name in every language (Think Big Mac, Cheetos or Pringles).
- Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.
- Buy smaller plates and glasses. (Drinking glasses? Or glasses to make the food look bigger?)
- Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does. (does this mean coffee too?)
- Cook.
- Break the rules once in a while.
- If it feels like a diet, you are doing it wrong.
- Eat a food that converts into sugar every time you eat. (huh?)
- Eat most of your kilojoules in the morning. (double huh?)
- Load your plate with vegetables. (oh yeah, that works...)
- Don't just count calories. (Oh yeah, you need a calculator and a lot of obsessive worry)
- Enjoy your food.
- Drink wine with your meals. (I like this rule!)
- Don't drink anything at all with your meals.
- Don't eat at night. (Unless you're sleep walking.)
- Eat at the same time every day.
- Eat like a Prince in the morning and a pauper at night
- Chew your food 200 times.
- Eat radishes while baking cookies for your hard working husband so you won't be tempted to eat the dough. (I am proud to say that I made this rule up all by myself!)
- Eat only what Jesus would have eaten. (He fasted for 40 days. I am not sure that is recommended for everyone.)
This subject can go on and on. You might want to check out Bizarre Food Laws in the United States where you can learn things like: It's against the law to take a bite out of your friend's burger in Oklahoma. (But I bet you can in Texas!) https://www.ranker.com/list/weird-american-food-laws/melissa-sartore
Summery: God didn't use a cookie cutter when He created us. Every person is different with different nutritional needs and reacts differently to our environment. I would suggest that you pray for guidance, do your research and listen to your intuition. Whatever food plan you decide on, you only have to do it for a short time to see how it is going and you can readjust at any time. Don't be hard on yourself if the current plan doesn't seem to be working or if you eat the cookie that floats by your nose. I am convinced that constant worry, food obsessions and the sense of self-loathing that comes from diet fails leads to weight gain. If you find something that works for you, try not to write a book about it and create a cult following because EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT. Laugh at yourself and never ever give up. I stopped official dieting years ago. I also stopped believing the AMA and Government recommendations about food, giving up manufactured oils and margarine and artificial sweeteners; I started eating eggs and butter and using half and half in coffee. Surprising to others, I stopped gaining weight and my cholesterol levels have been normal. A year ago I severely reduced wheat intake and seriously considered going gluten free because of digestive issues. I don't keep sweets or sugar in the house. The idea of returning to dieting and deprivation still makes me cringe after all this time, but I am willing to make more changes.
So here are my current Food Rules:
Continue on with what I have been doing.
Try the new plan for 6 weeks.
Never count, weigh or measure anything. And rarely weigh my myself.
Avoid all grains and sugar.
Eat Low-Glycemic vegetables.
Eat organic when possible.
Otherwise eat whatever and whenever I want to.
18 days into it, it is going pretty well. I will reassess in 3 more weeks.
My best to you and your food journey. Write your own rules.
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| $10 Worth of Fruit Oil 12 x 16 |
