I have not been shy in writing about my struggles with my weight . Although I have never been unhealthily overweight, I struggle with the yo yo dieting and self esteem. Now, as I have hit the 50 I am battling with hormones which has resulted in fat around my middle that I have never had before and let me tell you it is a most unwelcome visitor. So when I sat down this weekend and read the paper, I was intrigued to read an article on weight and obesity. It was totally fascinating and made we realise that we are so quick to judge people based on appearances that we tend to overlook so many other factors that are involved.
Let’s back up a bit shall we. When I grew up in Australia, I was taught to always try different foods. My mother did not make five different meals to align with five different taste buds, she made dinner and we ate it. Food back then, (not that I am that old) was so much more simplified in terms of ingredients, processing and selection.The selection of breads, toppings, meats, salad dressings was much simpler.I remember travelling overseas to the US at 18yrs old with a girlfriend and the mere fact of ordering a sandwich was incredibly exhausting. We were given multiple types of bread to chose from, multiple fillings and then it started all over again with a choice of beverage. According to this article that I read in the National Post, there are 40,000 different products available at a standard supermarket!!! That is actually mind blowing don’t you think?? This begs the question , how on earth do we know what we should be buying in the supermarket?
So here we are today with an obesity epidemic which is regarded by so many as a personal failure. We believe that if only these people would just exude more will power then they could lose weight. Large people are shown in TV shows and movies always as the funny character that trips ups and the goof ball. They are seen as lazy and lonely. We have been so used to seeing this as the “norm” that we sit there and laugh at them. I like Rebel Wilson but she is always portrayed as the big fat, funny girl, but she has so much potential to be portrayed as so many other characters.
We need to teach people how to eat well. We have been bombarded by the media to eat low fat and everywhere we turn seems to be a low fat alternative. However, low fat products are high in refined sugar and carbs and high in hydrogenated fat.All this low fat food is actually making us fat. Now, we are bombarded with multiple diets that are working for celebrities and people, we are constantly hearing words like keto, being in a state of ketosis and paleo, so no wonder we are confused as to what we should be eating and what we should be doing . So what are we to believe?
The statistics don’t lie. Approximately 2/3 of Canadians are overweight or have obesity, this rate has tripled since the 1970s! Obesity is linked to other serious health issues such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. It seems it is impossible to escape food in society today. Everything we do seems to be centered on food, we go out for breakfast, we meet for coffee, we socialise at dinner.We don’t even have to leave our house anymore to get food from our favourite restaurant, we just have to Uber eats. Food is everywhere. We are told to move more and eat less yet, the constant societal pressure to be thin makes it incredibly hard to do .
Kudos for plus size models who have started to break thorugh in the modelling industry including in Sports Illustrated magazine .Are we teaching the wrong message to our children who then in turn grow up to be overweight adults? We have to learn how to prevent obesity by educating at an earlier age.
There is a new movement growing called intuitive eating and I came across it recently . It seems that more and more people are tired of “dieting” and yo yoing and lack the will power that is so needed to keep up these fad diets.Intuitive eating is about getting back in touch with your body. How you feel when you eat, asking yourself how you are eating, what you are eating and do you feel good when you are eating it. We seem to just eat now without really listening to our bodies and our cues.
So here are 5 tips to implement to make our bodies one step closer to being healthier.
- Choose complex carbs not refined carbs. Complex carbs such as peas, lentils and whole grains make us feel fuller and stay satiated longer. They also contain fiber which our bodies need for regularity.
- Try to avoid refined sugars on a regular basis. Sugar actually stimulates the same parts of the brain, scientists have discovered as cocaine or heroin! As hard as it is to get off sugar, the surprising things is once you are off sugar, you actually do not crave it. Try baking vegan desserts made with low refined sugar ingredients . Eat berries or even a square of dark chocolate for something sweet.
- Move! Exercise in conjunction with a healthy diet will aid in weight loss. But exercise has so many wonderful benefits especially as we age. It is a great stress reliever, it definitely improves our mood, and it enables us to sleep better just to name a few benefits.
- Be social! Talking to people, laughing, sharing stories makes us feel that we are not alone and that in turn makes us feel pretty darn good.
I would love to hear from you how you have overcome challenges in your weight /healthy journey, drop me a line.
