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Sunday, August 1, 2010

Diets

Something that has concerned me recently with some of the girls I teach is the number of them that say they are dieting. Now, listen. I know our country is headed down a road to obesity, but the girls I'm talking about are healthy, growing girls and some of them are teeny, tiny, not needing to lose weight. So why isn't a beautiful healthy 15 year old girl enjoying her life and the food around her? Why is she preoccupied with weight when she's still a child?

I have a few theories. Don't get me started on the media and what it does to our girls. They can barely go anywhere or do anything without seeing some unrealistic, airbrushed version of an unauthentic woman everywhere they look. No wonder our perception of thin and beauty is just a little bit skewed. Then you add to that the fact that most girls' dads' are too checked out to affirm them anyway and we've got one big messed up generation.

Outside of the emotional aspect of this, and it's a big one, I don't think anyone is teaching our kids how or what to eat. I am just now learning how to eat real food and real food only. How has this simple concept become so difficult and so far fetched for so many people? In another recent dieting conversation with a former student, I was talking to her about how she didn't need to diet. She just needs to eat real food. I recited the advice from Jillian Michaels: If it doesn't have a mother or doesn't come from the ground, don't eat it. I think this really made her stop and think. But IT WORKS. When I started eating real food, I got back to my healthy weight, naturally. I don't work out a ton. I try to get a good amount of activity and my job is very active, but seriously in about a month, the excess weight fell off because I wasn't putting a ton of excess trash in my body. I'm still working out some of the kinks, but it's really getting easier the longer I do it and my tastes are changing to appreciate less sugar and more savory things.

I wish I could help other people get this. It hurts to see people struggle with meal replacements and dieting strategies because I have been there and it's so frustrating! But it's simple, there is food God intended for us to eat and crap He didn't create for us to eat. If we eat the crap, we will look like we've eaten crap. End of story. But I guess a lot of this, like most things, is about want to, and wanting to eat good things for my general health got me started on this train. Then I fell off for a while. Then, wanting the best for my health and wanting to feel good again got me back on again. Then I fell off again. Then, wanting my skin to clear got me back on. Now my skin is doing ok and I think I'm on for good. It took me really wanting to give up the crap for my best interests to stick with it. And once I did, it was worth it.

Hopefully, the more people start to talk about real food and blog about real food, the more society will realize that it's just better to eat real food. I really hope my kids can get that so they don't have to struggle for years with "diet" drinks and foods trying to be satisfied with what's not really satisfying.

1 comment:

  1. You are such an advocate for these kids in so many ways. Maybe you can start a once-a-month club, or have a reading list for them if they want to know more. And lucky for you, Spanish teacher- Mediterranean food is/can be super healthy, so you can totally incorporate that. I know I learn a lot from your journey!

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