Bye-Bye Belly Update (and healthy food swaps)

Day seven of my Bye-Bye Belly plan is good news!  Down 3.5 lbs to 151.5. Now, of course I didn't actually lose 3.5 pounds in a week. That would mean a calorie deficit of 12,250 calories! Um, no, I've been sitting on the couch watching HGTV and feeding my baby every day. So I'm chalking it up to water weight, which means that soon my weight loss will revert back to it's usual habits, which generally net me about 2 ounces lost each month.

Insert good-natured eye-roll here

But, that doesn't mean I am not still making healthier swaps. My day has become a lot more colorful as I've been eating less grains and more veggies and fruit. Here's today's healthier food switcharoo: 

Bye-bye cereal for breakfast. It was fun, but I have a better bowl now.

Helloooo oatmeal! Those are cranberries, by the way. Not Craisins, not sugar-soaked dried cranberries, they're actual natural cranberries. You can get them in the frozen food section and when added with walnuts, oats, and cinnamon they are a power-packed antioxidant rich breakfast that's perfect before a walk in the beautiful fall weather. Read here about the health benefits of cranberries.


Just FYI, the cranberry sauce in the can does not have health benefits, no matter what my husband tells you.


Okay, back to baby feeding and couch-sitting. What are you doing to get out there and get healthy today?

Old Tastebuds, New Tricks

I came across this article yesterday and it was the perfect explanation for something that I blather on about to people all the time in a much more long-winded way: how to retrain your taste buds to actually crave healthier foods. It's a simple concept, but not always so simple to put into practice until you are really ready for change. But, with the holidays on the horizon (trust me, Halloween candy will be on the shelves in the blink of an eye) this is the perfect time to prepare your mind for the sugar that lies ahead.

The article focuses on one detail: we crave what we eat a lot of.  So, to crave healthy food you have to EAT healthy food!  Simple, but not always easy!  Well, not at first. Habits can be hard to establish, but luckily the habit of healthy eating has such quick rewards that sticking to it isn't as hard as we anticipate it will be. 

The real clincher in this process goes back to one of my tools of goal-achievement: Intention.  Simply put: doing stuff on purpose. Eating with the intent of training your tastebuds to crave different food takes focus, determination, and intention.  Here are some ways you can achieve it:

1. Assess and alter your environment. Are you expecting yourself to not eat chocolate anymore, but you have bags of candy in the pantry for other people? Do you have habits that frequently put you face to face with what you're trying to avoid?  Get rid of it!  Change your routine! Change your pantry. Real change requires real change.

2. Look and plan ahead. For me, it's weekends. All week I trot right through happily on my plan, and then Saturday morning it's all wonked out. My routine is erratic, I'm invited to a party, or I'm bored and my mind wanders. So, I anticipate that and plan for it. I make sure I have a schedule, even if it's not filled with work. I volunteer to bring something to the party to share with everyone else.  And, I keep my hands busy! 

3. Dig in your heels. Sometimes, the best thing you can do for your own wellness is to get stubborn and adopt a "my way or the highway," mentality. No, that doesn't mean everyone else has to bend to your will, but 9 times out of 10 am able to stick to my plan in the face of chaos. It takes determination and sheer will, but again: real change takes REAL CHANGE.  

4. Get a support system. I have clients and friends who text me in those hard times. It's not unusual for my phone to beep all weekend with messages like, "I'm at the wedding! They're bringing out the cake!  Distract me!"  Or, "at a bbq joint, not making eye contact with the dessert menu..."  And, I send them to friends, as well!  We all need our support systems and they really really help. 

The article I linked to also has some great tips. You can get rid of your penchant for whatever is holding you back or just plain annoying you in your nutrition. Try some of these this weekend and remember: get out there and get healthy!

The Crooked Path to Wellness

In an ideal world, we would all proceed happily down a path to wellness unencumbered by temptation, fatigue, budget restraints, travel food, and feeders. We'd arrive at our new and improved destination lighter, stronger, and healthier with a smile and in record time!  But, we all know that isn't exactly the case. In the course of any given week we face meals in restaurants, social events with tempting food, and the late-night munchies.  Losing weight is hard, yo.

That's why some people choose to have a "cheat day" built into their nutrition plan. I hate this idea. In fact, when a cheat day is included, I might as well go back to calling it a diet because that's what it is.  I'm known for preaching that a cheat day only cheats you, and I stand by that.  Here's why: if you're eating well, getting rest, exercising vigorously, and living a positive and healthy life, you shouldn't need (and likely won't want) to cheat. 

But that's not to say that every day is a nutritional fairy tale.  Yep, I'm going to ask you to change your perspective again. :)

Cheat, just like the word diet, is a negative word that implies that we are in such a desperate state that we have no alternative but to hide in secret and sabotage our efforts. When people cheat, it is because they don't have the confidence that they can succeed otherwise.  When we cheat, we are saying, "I can't do this on my own."  Why would we say such mean things to ourselves when we're in the process of doing something so amazing?

Remember, we're not on a diet anymore, we're changing our nutrition. And yes, on that nutrition path are some diversions. There are times when we wander off the path and explore a diversion, some of which are well worth it (your absolute favorite dessert, for example) and some of which are not (eating something sugary just because it's there).  Here's the difference between and cheat and a diversion:

A cheat is a negative message that tells us we can't handle our weight and wellness on our own.

A diversion is a positive message sent in the confidence that we have the skill set to keep the portion manageable and return to our regularly scheduled programming.

The difference to your brain is enormous.

I'll agree, sometimes there is nothing better than that rebellious feeling you have when you throw caution to the wind and say, to hell with it, make mine a double-scoop!  It feels great!  But trust me, it feels even better to know that the choice to do so can be a positive one.

You can manage your weight and wellness with confidence.  You don't need to cheat on yourself. You deserve better than that.

Positive self-talk is more powerful than we know. Just saying one positive message to yourself activates your brain to be happier and more optimistic. Try it today. Stop cheating, start winning, and get out there and get healthy!

Watch Yo' Mouth! Why I hate the word "diet."

Diet is a four-letter word.

In order to spell, "diet" you have to start with, "die".

The diet starts Monday!

What else do we say to show our dismay with being on a diet?  It might be one of the most loathed words in our language, and for good reason. It conjures up images of deprivation, sacrifice, punishment, and happy people all around us gleefully eating things we're not allowed to eat because we're on a &*^%$ing DIET. >:/

I used to get called out for using the word diet.  "You're not fat," people would accuse. I'd try to explain that my "diet" was just my nutritional plan, not necessarily a scheme to lose weight.  We all have a diet - it's the menu of food we have planned for the day. But that word carries so much negativity with it that eventually I just stopped using it.  Now, I refer to my "nutrition."

I like it much better! Not only does "nutrition" have a happier sound, it equates to balance in my mind.  "Diet" means the scales are being tipped out of my favor.  "Nutrition" puts the power to choose back into my hands, where I like it. 

Think about this:

What happens as soon as we go on a diet?  We want whatever isn't on the diet!  But what happens when we simply change our nutrition?  Instead of being shackled by the rules of our diet, we're making choices.  What a huge difference!

What happens as soon as we got off of a diet?  We gain the weight back.  What happens when we go off of nutrition?  We die. Honestly, do we ever go off of nutrition?  No! We do nutrition all day, every day. It's just what we choose to be part of it that makes us feel like we need that bad four-letter word.

Try this today - instead of vowing to go on another diet, promise yourself to just change your nutrition.  Walk around in that for a while and see which one you like better.  And if you need help changing your nutrition, let me know.  I'm all over that stuff.

Change your words, change your mind, change your life.  And get out there and get healthy!

Champion of Change: Data

Data. Info. Also known as reality. The champion of change for today is good old fashioned knowing stuff.

Specifically knowing stuff about you: what's going in and what's coming out. And just so we're clear, I'm talking about diet and exercise.  This is a family blog! Actually it's not necessarily but anyway that's beside the point.

The point is, you can have all the consistency in your healthy behaviors that you want but if you're not paying attention to the cold hard facts of your wellness, it's like going for a run with your shoelaces untied - you're going to get tripped up.  You need to pay a certain amount of attention to the numbers, and the amount of effort you're willing to put in here will determine the rate of your success.  Of course, you can also go overboard like I do and be so laden down with data that you go insane.  But that's just me.

Luckily, there are a lot of resources out there for collecting, analyzing, and using your wellness data.  I'm going to focus on the most important and simplest ones today: what you eat and what you burn.

First, the food.  It's always the food, isn't it?  The most important thing you can do for your wellness is to eat clean. But healthy food has calories, too, so it also helps to measure your portions and log it so you can look for trends, stay accountable, and plan for obstacles like travel and parties.  I do this with a digital kitchen scale and the online food journal for my GoWearFit.  I also used Fitday.com for years, and there are dozens more.  Find one that works for you, enter your portions accurately, and use it!  I could talk for days on the value of a good food journal and maybe someday I will.  You've been warned.

Second, the body. You already know the formula for calculating your daily caloric burn, and your food journal will tell you whether you are staying within your chosen range.  But you can also get data about your body that can help you choose an exercise program, proper equipment, and prevent injury. Last week I underwent a movement screen at Boot Camps to Go, which taught me a lot about my body's range of motion, flexibility, potential for injury, and opened my eyes to some preventative maintenance I can do through stretching and strength training to make my workouts a lot more enjoyable.  Laurel Blackburn offers movement screens at her warehouse, and you can schedule one for yourself.  Now that I have some fun data about the bag of bones I've got to work with, I'm working on my weak points, building a better body, and looking forward to following up with her to see what kind of progress I made.  Check it out - it's really cool.

I can't end a post on data without foaming at the mouth over my GoWearFit.  This thing is like the data holy grail.  I can see my calorie burn, log my food, and even see my sleep quality. It's nuts. Six months after buying it, I'm still in love and use it every day.  In fact, it helped me lose five pounds over the holidays just because I had ready access to undeniable data.  If you're serious about weight loss or maintenance, get one.

Reality bites, man. Sometimes the data we collect isn't what we want to see. But I promise you 100% over and over, when you start using it and functioning in the reality of your wellness, you won't hate data for long. It will become your wing man. 

Yeah...let data become your wing man!  Now get going! :)

The Fanny Pack

This woman's face hidden
 to protect her dignity.

Are you wearing your fanny pack?  If you ate something you didn't need today, then I am willing to bet you are! 

I was reminded of my fanny pack yesterday when talking about - what else? - holiday weight loss with a friend.  I explained a visual tool I use when I find myself eating something my body has no use for: putting that food into a fanny pack that is strapped across my waist. 

For example, fudge. When my stomach growls and I give it fudge, it's less than grateful. I mean, what is a hungry body going to do with fudge?  So it politely thanks me for the fudge, tucks it into the fanny pack, and then 10 minutes later tries again:

"I'm hungry. The fudge was great but I need something I can work with. Perhaps some whole grains and a little protein?" 

And let's say I give it a Christmas cookie.  My stomach may take that cookie, put it into the fanny pack, zip it up, and say, "thanks, but not really what I needed.  I need something I can use for fuel. Let's try again."  And the cycle continues. You keep feeding, it keeps storing, and you know what happens.  The belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly happens. And in January you look into the mirror and say, "but I only had a few bites!"

Look - when you eat something that is nutritionally bankrupt, your body has no need for it. So it tucks it into your virtual fanny pack and asks for something else.  If you keep giving it stuff it can't use, that fanny pack is going to get more and more full.

Have you ever tried to sit down wearing a fully-loaded fanny pack? I have, both literally and figuratively. It ain't cute either way. I've got too much that I want to do in a day to carry around that extra stuff. 

Take off the fanny pack! Stop putting things into it!  When you get to a table laden with holiday goodies, imagine yourself unzipping your fanny pack, putting all of the stuff inside, and carrying it around with you all day.

It's a pretty darn accurate analogy if I do say so myself. :) So get on with it!

Good day!

Back to School Brain Food

It's back to school time!  Pretty soon my Facebook page will be filled with picture of my friends' kids, smiling on the front porch, backpack and lunch sack in hand.  At least, I hope they'll have a lunch sack!  Before you send your kids off to school to feed their little genius brains, stock them up with some food that will actually help them learn.

You know I love the concept of functional food.  When I was in school I would actually research what kinds of food would be best to eat before a test, following a hunch that there had to be a connection between the energy my brain had to work off of and the ability of it to function at high capacity.  It was also a good compensation for not studying.  I was a terrible student and needed all the test-taking help I could get!  My cringe-worthy PSA-style video on the same subject is probably now at the bottom of a dusty pile of VHS archives in my high school.  I still remember the manager of the local grocery store kicking me and a friend out for attempting to videotape her holding a piece of fish.  Fish is brain food, btw.

So I really enjoy putting together my son's lunch for school and include foods that are high in antioxidants like berries and spinach.  Yes, he eats the spinach. I also include mac and cheese or homemade pizza.  It makes me feel good that I'm doing something to create an environment condusive for learning, and since my child is a genius it is obviously working. HA! :)

But while I always knew that antioxidant-rich foods like dark-colored greens and fruits were healthy, I didn't really understand why that was.  This video really sums it up and drives home why a lunchable and pudding cup are more sabotage than treat for your little Einstein.

Good day!

Attn: New Mothers! Breastfeeding is no longer necessary!

New baby at home? Congratulations!

Be sure you stock up on plenty of soda! Thanks to my hilarious friend Christy for this little dose of fear-mongering. I always wondered why I never seemed to fit in at school.  Now I know the truth.  Thanks for nothing, mom!

Have a healthy (non-cola) day!

Backpacking in your Own Backyard

A friend of mine has an adorable little baby girl, who is so precious and sweet and cuddly and adorable, and so effective at thwarting any hopes for a workout once she wakes up at the crack of dawn.  As you can imagine, her mom is getting pretty frustrated at not having a reliable time when she can get her butt outside and work up a sweat and shed that pregnancy weight.  I've been there, and today I remembered what I did when my son was a little over a year and I needed to increase the intensity of our daily hour-long walks:

I strapped the little booger to me and used him as resistance training.

No, not in a sling or a front carrier, in a Kelty Wanderer hiking backpack.  We had intially bought it for a Blue Ridge hiking trip, but also used it to haul our kiddo across New York City, Chicago, and anywhere else that was not stroller-friendly.  And besides, who wants to sit in a stroller and look at people's knees and butts all day?  Not me, and surely not someone at the mind-is-a-sponge stage of life.  At the rate kids learn at that age, I am motivated to give him something more interesting to look at than the bottom of some lady's purse.

But even when we weren't traveling, I shoved his little legs into that seat, lathered him up in sunscreen, and we took off on an adventure in our own neighborhood each morning.  The heavier he got, the better it was for me, because the added weight of a 30-lb baby+backpack was a great workout for not only my heart but my calves and glutes as well.  It wasn't exactly 900-calorie-an-hour cardio, but it was better than pushing a stroller and more satisfying for him as well.

Now my kiddo is too big to fit in his backpack, and wants to wear one of his own.  But if you're ready to kick it up and have a kid who would appreciate living the high life, give it a shot!

Good day!

What's In Your Cardio Wallet?

Never, ever, ever, ever pass up the opportunity to do extra cardio.  Trust me.  They don't come often, but when they do, pounce on them like a tabloid on Heidi Whateverhernameis (or vice verse).  You will never regret it, and will almost always regret not doing it.

I get up really insanely early to work out, and sometimes by Friday I am just pooped.  So when what alarm goes off at *ahem* 3:40 am, it is really easy for me to agree with that little voice in my head that promises I will just do extra cardio before Pilates at lunch and I can sleep another 30 minutes.  And I have good intentions.  But then someone wanders into my office, or I get sidetracked on a project, or I just plain don't make it in time, and I don't get the cardio in.  Then I am left with no cardio.  That sucks.

That's why I like to treat cardio like a bank account and make deposits whenever I can.  There is probably no scientific basis for this behavior whatsoever, but I figure calories burned are calories burned, right?  So if I have the opportunity to "bank" some calories for a rainy day, I take it.  Because inevitably, when I slack on cardio Wednesday because I figure I have a long bike ride ahead of me on Saturday, it will rain on Saturday.  But I will still have calories to burn, so I will be facing my elliptical.  And I really don't like doing my elliptical on a Saturday when I could be cycling. 

No offense to ellipticals, but they're more of a 4:00-am-watching-a-P90X-infomercial kinda thing.

So on a day like today, when I accidentally slept late and only got 45 minutes of cardio (and no weights, ACK!) I am glad that on Friday I had a random hour in the middle of my day with nothing to do and snatched that puppy up and banked it with some sprint intervals!  And today at lunch, I'll replace my little withdrawl with some elliptical time. Sure, I already worked out and don't *need* to do it again, but you never know what will happen tomorrow.  I might be waylayed by a surprise meeting, or my kid could be sick, or I could win the lottery and spend the day signing important papers and stuff.  I need to be prepared for anything.

Be reasonable - I mean, there is only so much physical activity one body can handle in a day and you should never exercise if you are truly exhausted - and make sure you are fueling those workouts appropriately.  But, be proactive.  Look for opportunities to "bank" some quality cardio for a rainy day (or in my case, when the alarm doesn't go off) and then when it does rain, you can curl up with a book and enjoy it! 

Good day!

A Little Bit 'o Faith

Have you seen my Zen?  I lost it. I had it, like, two weeks ago.  I was floating through my days, happy as a clam, feeling strong and well-fueled and smug about how nicely my little life was going, and then....it was gone.

Well, some of it remained.  Just enough to remind me that the rest wasn't there.  LOL  And then, I got an email from a friend who was going through the same thing.  She's been on a quest to get in shape for a while,but hasn't yet hit that spot where enough things are going well that she's motivated to keep it up.  You know what I mean: that mental zone where you actually look forward to plyometrics because you can see the physical results of doing them, and you feel so much better from fueling yourself with good food, and you're getting proper rest and everything is just great. 

Instead, she was in "why-haven't-I-lost-weight-I've-been-doing-this-for-three-days," mode.  We've all been there. Our instant-gratification lifestyle has programmed us to believe that weightloss can and should be as quick and easy as downing a protein shake.  So it's hard to be patient while we wait for our hard work to reveal itself in results, and it is hard to have faith that the zen will happen.  But it will.  It takes patience and faith, but if you are putting in the hard work, it will happen.

I promise.

Okay I'll be honest - I don't know if I will ever look forward to plyometrics. But I do know that whenever I am consistent with clean eating and regular, disciplined, challenging workouts...in this euphoric natural-high state of happiness just finds me.  And it is sooooo worth the wait.

Have a little faith. It's happening right now.

My 3.5 Pack Abs

Lately I've been doing a little fitness challenge each month, mostly just for myself but also anyone else who wants to play along.

• In February I worked on incorporating more moderation in my diet and workouts (and immediately went back to my rigid structure as soon as I could because I was so miserable).


• In March I challenged myself to beat my 85% success rate at earning stickers each day for good nutritional choices (smiley face sticker) and solid workouts (star sticker) for the month, and ended up with a 5% increase! Yay me! High five!

The purpose of the challenges is simple: find a creative and fresh way to keep personal wellness at the top of my mind and tackle a specific hurdle that I am dealing with. Since my attention span is pretty short, I keep the challenges short, and it is really rewarding to hear my friends talking about their own progress in the challenges, whatever spin they choose to put on it to suit their personal goals.

So last month I launched Operation Muffin Top, because when I pulled my summer clothes out of hiding...well...they didn't fit as well as they did last year. So I took a good look at my portion sizes, had a little come-to-Jesus meeting with myself, and tackled the problem head-on: a solid month of really cranking out the cardio and keeping those portions in check. After all, even healthy calories are calories!

After a couple of weeks my hard work began to show. And, to my complete shock and awe, so did my abs. Now let me get one thing straight - we all know people who won the genetic lottery and have slim, flat, muscular abs despite the fact that they regularly eat peanut butter straight out of the jar while frosting a cake, which they then eat. In this instance am referring specifically to my brother's former girlfriend. And then there are women who work their tails off by eating clean and sweating out their body weight every day to bring out their core muscles, and their discipline shows. I am neither. I have never, ever, ever, despite years of Pilates, hours of Abs of Steel, Richard Simmons-esque cardio marathons, and monk-like nutrition, had great abs. I just don't. It sucks and its not fair but it's true.

Or at least, it was true. One day last month, I saw something strange. It looked like...could it be? No! But there it was - the very first beginnings of my very first six-pack. More of a three-and-a-half pack. Hell, I'll take it!

I was stumped, and more than a little humbled. You see, while I had been cranking out the cardio and being religious about my nutrition and portions, I had also been doing something else: resting. On purpose, not doctor-mandated rest like I'm more accustomed to. I've been taking Thursdays off of exercise, going to bed earlier, and even sleeping later some mornings. Yeah, it's meant that I don't have as much time to watch TV or interact with other humans, but it's how I roll right now. And apparently, I'm rolling in the right direction.

So for May, I have a new challenge - do not make eye contact with any of the good work I did in April. Now that I've noticed this nice little development, I'm having to restrain myself from my usual modus operandi of poking at it with a stick until it bites me.

It's funny how life reveals these little lessons when you least expect them, but then "forgets" to include the instruction manual. I'm not quite sure what to do with this small victory over myself, and I don't want to screw it up.

Something tells me the best way to do that is to sleep on it.

Fat and Happy

"fat and happy"
Fig.: content, as if from being well-fed.

"Since all the employees were fat and happy, there was little incentive to improve productivity."

Fat and happy: its a phrase used to describe a satisfied, contented person with no desire to change their ways. When I hear someone say it, I picture a man reclining in an easy chair, smiling and rubbing his stomach after a big meal of meat and potatoes, happy as a clam. But, in reality, its commonly accepted knowledge that the opposite is true, that being thin is the only route to happiness, so millions go on a personal quest to find happiness through a smaller waistline.


And they come up short.

The tagline of this article, "'Skinny dream' burst by weight loss realities," got my attention because it zeroed in on something that we all fall victim to - the "if only" train of thought. If only I was thinner, then I'd get that job. If only I lost some weight, then I'd have the confidence to try this or that. And for good reason - studies show that people who are overweight are more commonly discriminated against in job interviews or assumed to be of lower intelligence or competency. With the huge emphasis on body image placed by today's world, it is easy to see why weight loss seems like the only thing standing between us and instant success.

At first I was annoyed by the first woman featured in the article. She had undergone bariatric surgery to help her lose over 150 lbs, and expected her life's circumstances to change along with her body. But to her dismay, she still had the same problems at 140 lbs as she did at over 300, and she was pretty bitter about it at first. And I thought, well, duh. Losing weight doesn't make your life better, it makes your body better. Having a healthier body will enhance parts of your life, but it won't magically make your husband take out the trash or your mother-in-law stop being a bitch. (Note: I should point out here that my mother-in-law is a wonderful person and my husband regularly takes out the trash. I am just trying to make a point, calm down.)

There was a long period of time when I worked my tail off at the gym and methodically counted every calorie with absolutely nothing to show for it. I didn't lose a pound. It was incredibly frustrating, and I spent a lot of time being bitter and resentful about it. But I never stopped working out; not only do I truly love to exercise, I knew that the way I was living was smart, and that even if my healthy habits didn't show in my waistline, my heart, lungs, bones, and joints felt the difference.

An attractive body is a side benefit of being active and eating well; it shouldn't be the prize. I can say that as someone who is petite and muscular, but not a knock-out with ripped abs and muscles like people expect after the workouts I put in. My body doesn't reflect the work I put into it, and at 25% my body fat is nowhere near what it should be for my level of activity. While there are some days when I throw an all-out pity-party temper tantrum about that fact, usually when I'm trying to button something that fit fine last year and dammit why the hell do I run every freaking day if not to fit into these jeans, I've somehow come to accept that even if I never lost another ounce of body fat I would never stop exercising or eating clean because I believe in the bigger picture of healthy living.

By the time I reached the end of the article, I felt slightly less annoyed. The women featured had the same realization I had - losing weight is a wonderful thing for your health, but it doesn't change who you are. You still have to deal with stupid crap, you just do it in smaller clothes.

Yes, I am much, much happier now than when I was overweight, and some of that has to do with the fact that I am not fat. Call me shallow, whatever. My point here is to ask you to keep your eye on the real prize - a healthy body that will carry you through life - not someone else's temporary promise that skinny = happy.

I mean, just look at Lindsay Lohan. That girl's a mess.

People, come on. It is NOT that hard.

You know, sometimes I get so mad when I see what some people eat these days that I just want to cry, especially when they do so while making excuse after excuse for why it just isn't realistic to eat healthier. It seems like these days everyone is on the childhood obesity bandwagon, but not nearly as many people are doing what it will take to change the health of our country and reverse the dangerous trend we are in: eat healthier.

Just freaking do it, people. It is NOT that hard. Stop buying crap and stop feeding it to your kids! Stop talking about it, stop blaming food manufacturers or marketing companies or the school system and just EAT HEALTHIER FOOD.

DO IT!!!

Each week, new studies come out with the shocking (not) news that Americans are fat and are immediately followed with editorials and blogs about how yeah, we're fat and all, but its just not realistic to think that we wouldn't be what with all the salt and sugar that is packed into our foods. It's not our fault, it's the food's fault for making us fat.

Hmmm. I'm an American and I'm not fat. Weird. I eat food all day long. I buy my food at the grocery store with all the fat people. It's so strange that I manage to maintain a healthy body while its unrealistic for other people with access to the same resources to do it.

This morning I heard a report about the rising levels of salt and sugar in processed foods, which featured a mother expressing how her kids "wouldn't" eat Shredded Wheat, so she compromises with frosted Shredded Wheat. Shredded Wheat covered in sugar. Is healthy. For her kids.

How about we compromise in a different way, mom? How about 1/2 shredded wheat and 1/2 frosted this week. Then next week add fewer frosted pieces. Then add some strawberries the next week for sweetness. Then omit the frosted pieces altogether. Give your kids some credit, mom. They deserve better than lazy "compromises" when it comes to the bodies they will live in for the rest of their lives. They may throw a fit today about how you're the meanest mom in the world and they're never going to eat again; my kid does that too, right before I remind him that I am #1 Mom in Charge and I love him too much to let him eat that crap for breakfast. He gets over it. We move on.

I don't think I am just being dramatic - a report released this week shows that American kids are too fat to serve in the military. More and more children are entering the first grade pounds overweight, indicated by a Journal of the American Medical Association's report that 16.9% of American children are obese. Not overweight. OBESE.

I shop at the same grocery store as the fat people. I just buy different food. I don't feel angry about it, I don't feel cheated, I don't feel restricted, and I don't feel like I am being punished.

Quite the opposite, actually. I feel happy. I feel like I'm ahead of the pack. I feel free. I feel like every day is a reward, because my body and I are working as a team.

I did feel angry, cheated, restricted, and punished when I was overweight, though.

Weird.