When it comes to healthy lifestyle choices, unlike many gurus out there, I almost never speak in absolutes. Absolutely forbidding yourself something, especially something that gives you pleasure on some level, does nothing but set you up for failure when your willpower fails you and you eat the forbidden food, drink the intoxicating beverage, or engage in illicit behavior.
If you want to succeed in rightsizing your body and keeping it that way, completely giving up something you enjoy eating or drinking is almost always a pathway to disappointment on many levels.
Except for smoking, I much prefer my patients to manage their vices appropriately and enjoy moderation in all things. How much is moderate for anything depends a lot on the facts and circumstances surrounding which vice you want to indulge.
The only vice I absolutely forbid my patients is smoking. Never inhale carcinogenic particulate matter on purpose for any reason whatsoever — period, full stop, end of sentence. You should avoid accidentally inhaling smoke or “second hand” smoking as well. Any other way of getting nicotine, unprescribed narcotics, illicit mind altering drugs, or other such substances into your body are pretty much out in my book as well.
But, when it comes to eating and drinking normal food and beverages, moderation in all things is my fairly constant advice. Unlike most nutrition “experts” out there flinging their thoughts around the web, I am fairly laissez faire about what you eat and much more interested in how much you are eating it, when, where, and how.
The real key to attaining and maintain the best weight for you is to eat a balanced diet of moderate amounts of almost all things fruit, vegetable, and, yes, even animal.
The concept of moderation is difficult for some to grasp. Most people think about food in terms of some things being good for you and other things being bad for you. The truth is, however, that “good” food will only benefit you if you make it pleasurable to eat it and then eat moderate amounts of it. The flip side is avoiding “bad” food only works if you can make yourself satisfied with the smallest amount possible that your body can tolerate.
The biggest “bugaboo” of rightsizing our bodies is figuring out how much food we normally really need. The answer to this question varies from person to person, depending on factors such as age, health, sex, and activity level.
The best solution to the how much of what to eat when and when to stop is learning how to eat mindfully and how to understand how your body works when it comes to your hunger and fullness cues.
All of us can learn these things. And, once we learn them, all of us can use them.
All restrictive dieting does is lead to feelings of failure followed by binge eating. The better alternative is to eat more nutritious, health-promoting foods such as vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, lean meats, nuts and seeds. We also need to eat less CRAPF (the P is silent; the acronym stands for commercially refined and processed food). So, mindfully limit food that is overly refined and processed to be high in sugar, trans and saturated fat, and salt and void of nutrition.
[reminder]What’s the food you crave the most that you think is bad for you?[/reminder]