What is the deal with dieting in our country? Everyone I know talks about dieting or has been on a diet or is going to start one tomorrow! Wait a minute or is that just me???
I moved to Chi-town in January when it was very cold you can all relate to that, I'm sure, and started my new job sitting in a cubicle in front of a computer all day. No, its not really that bad anymore, I now love my new job now but when I first started I had major issues with my new sedentary lifestyle. I was very active in my jobs before I came here and so it was hard for me to sit all day long and I felt like every minute I had to sit in front of my new best friend, the computer, my waist was growing inch by inch by unbearable inch!! So I decided to become obsessive about my weight, although I only really gained about 2 pounds, and am actually in great shape due to the fact that I workout religiously. I tried the Atkins diet for a couple of weeks and decided that I did not like that at all and then I tried for about a minute some other diet on the Internet that I ran into....I also looked into weight watchers....I can't believe all of the diet plans that I came across and how many magazines have diet plans in them. So what was my obsession about? Women and weight??? What is it all about? To please ourselves or to please others? After being a bit obsessed for awhile I can totally relate to the diet craze....I have been on the other side of the cookie...so to speak!! After researching and reading many books on health and dieting I have come to the realization that it is better to be healthy than to be pencil thin and eating meat all day long. Of course we all know that but do we all know what being HEALTHY really means??? No I don't think so and that is why there are so many overweight people in our country. We cannot indulge and think that there will be no consequences. Our relationship with food needs to change. It is not to give us comfort but to sustain our physical bodies. It is not meant for us to eat whatever we feel at any given moment. Over indulgence and instant gratification is one of the problems. Obesity is a serious problem in our country and it is no wonder there is a "dieting frenzy" going on right now. The lifestyle in our country has become more sedentary and rushed. People don't sit down to have meals anymore but would rather grab a burger and fries at McDonald's before running off to a board meeting where it will then sit in the stomach. I can't begin to tell you how bad for your body that is. Even if you are thin and eat that stuff you will probably have a heart attack by the age of 40. Should the problem just be ignored? Should we just say, "well just eat what you want and let's not talk about it or feel guilty about it"....NO I SCREAM!! That is the problem!!!! THINK about it and realize what you put into your body. I don't mean to feel guilt, which can impede your growth but at least to make better choices and better habits in place of bad habits that we may have started when we were children. Ok, well as you can probably tell I certainly have lots of opinions about health.....hmmm...could it be because my degree and background are in the health field...yes yes and yes it is.....I love to talk about nutrition and health....it is my passion....there it is that is where my passion lies....I cannot stress how important PREVENTATIVE HEALTH is and how important it is to think about these things when we are young so that we can prevent the body from breaking down when it is older. We spend more money in this country on health care treatment for the elderly than anything else......if only they had paid more attention to preventative health measure and the amount of crap they shovelled into their mouths each day when they were young....but don't be fooled by my all of my passionate ramblings, because I do love chocolate chips cookies and brownies...!! My passion also lies there!!! :-) However, now I try to eat the ones made with only organic products and not as often.