FINAL THOUGHTS ON FOOD

When it comes to fats (and eating in general) my core philosophy is, Eat like a Roman, Exercise like a Greek. I have never once bothered one brain cell – dead or alive – with the prospects of some systematic diet. It amazes me that diets persist in popular culture with the resilience of cockroaches. Diets have urged suckers to starve themselves, eat fish only, eat bread only, eat meat only, drink shakes only, and eat candy bars only. Egad! Subscribing to new diets is like chasing ghost farts. Not to mention their usefulness lasts for about one year.

Now, let's run!

To lose weight, and to be fit, one must disregard all of those stupid diets, apply common sense to your nutrition, and just plain exercise. I’m in a lather just writing about it.

Diet chasers fail to realize that to maintain consistent results, effective diets are practiced over a lifetime. If you are reading this while on a diet, ask yourself if you want to punish yourself like this for the rest of your life. Do you want to eat nothing but carbohydrates or protein until you’re 80? I doubt it. Just like you wouldn’t want to have to train for a marathon for the rest of your life, which is a damn fine analogy I might add.

Marathoning is an extreme form of exercising. It requires extraordinary practice and conditioning, beyond what the body is accustomed to, to realize that goal. Likewise, a fad diet is designed to produce results that will require extreme dieting; meaning nutritional habits your body is not accustomed to. If you adopt a fad diet and persevere, your chances of losing weight are good, I would imagine. But how do you maintain your desired weight? Do you continue to fast and starve and shock your body for the rest of your life? Certainly, that is your choice, but it sounds like a miserable existence to me. It’s excessive, unnecessary, and potentially harmful.

The best way, I believe, to lose weight and stay trim and healthy is to eat responsibly and exercise regularly. Eating responsibly means consuming what you enjoy without excess. Obviously, anything excessive is likely to harm you. So don’t eat pizzas and drink beer 3 times a day.

Now, let's eat!

Exercising regularly means selecting some form of recreation in which you can participate at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. That’s all. And you don’t need to be repetitive. Mix it up. Play tennis, golf, walk, run, swim, work in the yard, chase women, go shopping, or write sexist stereotypes. But you have to do something. (Oh, and drink lots of water). Not to mention, if you enjoy it, 90 minutes a week is a luxury, not torture.

As for diets, here’s the most basic: Burn as many calories as you consume. If you want to lose weight, burn more calories that you consume. That’s it. Good bye!

Bugger off!