I, personally, have been lucky enough to have never had a weight problem. But I truly believe it is because I have good genes more than anything else. Oh, and I eat to live. I definitely do not live to eat. These two things have helped me. Then I heard Dr. Oz tell another simple trick that I automatically do and have done before I even knew it might help keep my weight down. That is to fast for eight hours per twenty four hours. He said he fast from eight at night to eight the next morning. It dawned on me that generally speaking, I fast from eight at night until ten in the morning. This is just my normal schedule. But I am retired now so that makes a difference. I cannot remember what I did back when I was working but since food is such a low priority, I probably did that then also.
However, everyone knows that the bottom line on weight loss is to eat less and exercise more. This is easier said than done though. But I will say that eating properly and exercising more is much more popular than it used to be. That is the good news. The bad news is that obesity is a huge problem in this country today. We love our “junk” food and our “fast food” places. We love to “eat out.” Generally speaking we can prepare a more healthy meal at home than we are going to order eating out.
When I was growing up, we were taught to “clean” our plates. We knew to keep our servings small. Another thing we were taught was that you eat what is served. You do not have a choice. We did not have “junk” food available. We learned very early that if you do not eat the prepared food that was available, you went to bed hungry. I have had parents tell me that their child would not eat anything but junk food. I feel strongly that if healthy food is all that is available, your child will eat it rather than go hungry. It might take awhile but if you stick to this your child will not and I repeat “NOT” starve. I can tell you a funny story here. When my first child was a baby and eating baby food, he would not eat anything but sweet potatoes, peaches, or carrots. The next thing I knew his skin had a yellowish/orange tinge. I was horrified. I took him to the doctor who checked him over and asked me, “What does he eat?” I started to tell him when it dawned on me!!! You mean his skin is this color because of his diet? He laughed and said that yes, he has an overabundance of “carotene” in his system. I couldn’t believe it. So, I cut back on the “orange” stuff and solved the problem. My son learned, as a baby, that if he refused his food, he would go hungry. All my children learned early on that you either eat what I fix or that is it. There was no junk food in our house. This type of solution is what I call a “win-win.” What I mean is that it saved money and was healthier. I will cover this win-win thing in another blog.
My father had a wonderful saying that I want to share. He only told us this after we were grown as early on he didn’t want to dispute my mother’s rule that you eat everything on your plate. His advice was, “It is better to waste food outside your body than inside.” I try to remember this, especially when I am at an “all you can eat” place. LOL
Before leaving this weight loss issue, I want to mention again (I think I have this in another blog) that your body will fight you tooth and nails when you try to lose weight. There are quite a few articles on this very complex process. Your body responds to what it perceives to be a “starvation” problem. This involves the production of hormones and other substances that cause changes in your satiety levels as well as other levels such as a decrease in metabolism. If you were to actually lose weight and keep it off, it has been found that those hormones and other substances could still be found in your body up to a year later. Yikes! This could explain why I weigh the exact same thing as I weighed in High School. The problem is that I was solid muscle then and solid “flab/fat” now!
I hope that some of this blog has helped someone out there. If so, I would love to hear from you.
