Nurture Principles

I can’t even fathom how many time I have heard this: “I just need to lose these last 10 pounds and life will be totally perfect!” Why do we all believe that losing weight will make our lives better? Sit and think for a second, how many people do you know that are
enjoying their weight loss plan…I mean TRULY enjoying it.

…Think about it?? I’m not sure that I know of anyone who enjoys dieting. Who wants to go out to eat and only be able to smell and look at the deliciously juicy hamburger, and perfectly browned french fries? That just doesn’t sound like an enjoyable meal time to me, constantly being jealous of what your friend is eating!

In our society it feels like we are constantly being bombarded with the “perfect diet” or the “perfect weight loss plan”. They always make us believe that we will be so much better off if we just follow their diet. I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I have a HUGE problem with all of these so called perfect diets — actually thats an understatement, I have numerous problems with them! If I were to list all of the problems I have with these perfect diets it would probably be as long as all of the diet books put together! I am going to talk about a few of these problems here, but only a few because I don’t want to be a bore.

1) The Maker thinks he/she is perfect: Who are the self proclaimed geniuses that believe they have finally found the perfect diet that will make you look like Jennifer Aniston? Where did they get this knowledge of perfection from? Did a divine being just drop down into their dreams and give them the perfect recipe for success…if this has happened I don’t think anyone has mentioned it yet.

2) DIETS NEVER WORK!: I recently read the book “Rethinking Thin” by Gina Kolata. I though it was a brilliant book and suggest everyone read it. It confirmed that I (and everyone else) should be VERY skeptical of these so called perfect diets. Throughout the book there are many examples of college professors and other scientific professionals doing intense studies on people going on diets, and the conclusions are always the same: people initially lose weight and keep it off for a few months and when they study is over, no matter how much they learn, all of the weight just creeps back in.

Think of it like this: people have been going on diets for centuries (literally!!) and no one has found the miracle diet yet. If there were such thing as a perfect diet I think it would have been discovered long ago, but someone who was much more interesting than Robert Atkins or the like.

Think about this before considering a “perfect diet”.

- American’s and people in other developed countries are much healthier than people in developing countries

- we no long suffer from serious infectious disease and disability rates are declining

- Your body has an internal calorie counter, and knows exactly what you need. Why not listen to it? It knows what it needs!

- You know how science has shown that there are brain pathways that control your heart beat and blood pressure? Well science has shown that people have limited power over their weight – there are brain pathways that determine how much we need to eat.

So my final question is this… Why are you worrying about a number on the scale?

Why not focus more on enjoying your life and family! Focus more on keeping a well balanced plate and getting in the exercise you feel you should do! Just get up and move and most of all put “mefirst”!