I think people are disappointed when you say "eat right and exercise" because it's working...and they don't want to do it. They're probably hoping you'll have some miracle solution that doesn't involve counting calories or breaking a sweat.
It's not our fault they're looking for an easy way out :P
Can't blame them. I'd take the easy way out if there was one. Wouldn't we all? But alas, there's no such thing as being able to eat your cake and NOT eat it, too.
It's simple "eat less bad foods, eat more good foods, exercise" but it's HARD too - what do I do if my friends go to get pizza, what if I don't have time to stop by the grocery store to buy something for breakfast in the morning, how do I turn down pie at my mom's house, how can I make time for exercise, and the thousands of other questions.
Basically, most of us have said "we are going to check out of the American food culture. We're going to cook more, we're going to pack more lunches, make good food choices, and we're going to be KNOWLEDGEABLE about portion sizes, nutritional info, how wheat bread is different than whole wheat bread and just how exactly peanut butter companies can say they have 0% transfat when the label clearly says it includes partially hydrogenated oil."
It is hard to voluntarily get off the "food as convenience" ride that is our food culture.
It's much EASIER to think "what if I just eat 1000 calories a day for 2 months, lose weight and then stop dieting and eat whatever I want like a normal person again."
It's much harder to think "what permament changes can I make so I can live as a healthy and slender woman for my life"
Basically, most of us have said "we are going to check out of the American food culture..."
Totally true. And it really is hard to do. It takes a lot of thinking, research, planning, reading...wow. I don't consider myself or my family "out" of that culture yet, even, and just what I've done so far has been immensely hard. It's like trying to get out of a black hole.
Sometimes people at my work see something that I have brought for lunch. They say, "Oh, how delicious etc that looks!". When I tell them it is good and healthful their eyes sort of glaze over...I don't really know exactly what triggered me to "check out of the American food culture", so I guess I can't expect others to be as enthusiastic as I am.
Although my new lifestyle can be described (in a nutshell) as eating healthy and being more active, simply saying "diet and exercise" doesn't adequately describe what I'm doing. How do I tell a person in one sentence or less that I had to do a lot of research to learn what it means to eat healthy, change my environment to foster healthy choices, find ways to deal with stress and anxiety that don't involve brownies, stop eating mindlessly, regularly come up with new food ideas so that I don't get bored, find encouragement through online resources like 3FC, track my calories and nutrients on Fitday, plan ahead for every meal out, learn to stop beating myself up when I get off-track, develop persistence in the face of inevitable plateaus, break old vending machine habits, and restructure my thinking so that I approach food as a friend and not a frienemy.
How do I say all of that?
I don't. I usually just go with "diet and exercise," and I feel like I'm lying to everyone.
I had to do a lot of research to learn what it means to eat healthy, change my environment to foster healthy choices, find ways to deal with stress and anxiety that don't involve brownies, stop eating mindlessly, regularly come up with new food ideas so that I don't get bored, find encouragement through online resources like 3FC, track my calories and nutrients on Fitday, plan ahead for every meal out, learn to stop beating myself up when I get off-track, develop persistence in the face of inevitable plateaus, break old vending machine habits, and restructure my thinking so that I approach food as a friend and not a frienemy.
Technically, that WAS just one sentence
Maybe print it on business cards and hand one over when the question gets asked?
Although my new lifestyle can be described (in a nutshell) as eating healthy and being more active, simply saying "diet and exercise" doesn't adequately describe what I'm doing. How do I tell a person in one sentence or less that I had to do a lot of research to learn what it means to eat healthy, change my environment to foster healthy choices, find ways to deal with stress and anxiety that don't involve brownies, stop eating mindlessly, regularly come up with new food ideas so that I don't get bored, find encouragement through online resources like 3FC, track my calories and nutrients on Fitday, plan ahead for every meal out, learn to stop beating myself up when I get off-track, develop persistence in the face of inevitable plateaus, break old vending machine habits, and restructure my thinking so that I approach food as a friend and not a frienemy.
How do I say all of that?
I don't. I usually just go with "diet and exercise," and I feel like I'm lying to everyone.
That's exactly how I feel. I get stumped because I just don't know where to begin. I think part of that is tied into what Glory said about tuning out of the American food culture. When someone says to you, "You mean you don't eat fast food, like, ever???" and assumes you to be the unhappiest person in the world like you're really missing out on life for not eating fast food.. where on earth do you go from there?
Ok I have this weird story don't know how many people will see its hilarity, but it is way hilarious for the Cypriot mind. Ok 11 years ago in little Cyprus the first McDonald restaurant opened (how old is McDonalds is in America by the way?)
Anyway kids were going there like crazy (new food in town, let's try it) and nutritionists in Cyprus were quite apprehensive, talking to us kids about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and how fast food was a junk (and no offense to McDonald they kept emphasizing it when all the other fast foods joimned KFC, PIZZA HUT, you name it).
In my school we had this PE instructor berating against fast-food culture where he goes
PE: And as for that MADCONAN!!!
Kids: It's McDonalds sir.
PE: Yeah, him. Don't go to that farmer's place
He knew the farmer from the song but not the name. I still laugh every time I think of his passion against dear old 'Mad Conan!"
Last edited by preetyladyserenity; 06-18-2008 at 05:49 PM.
