By Nicholas Pediaditakis, MD
I have mentioned the subject before but is needs repeating — If one of your resolutions in the new year is to go into a diet, please don’t.
Studies and observations at large have shown that implementing such a decision is worse than useless. Not only do you punish yourself for a few days or weeks, starving and being preoccupied, but you guarantee that a few days, a few weeks, or a few months later after you’ve practiced the program, run out of steam, you end up gaining additional weight.
The solution for shaping your body size — besides bypass surgery, which is good only if things are out of hand in terms of morbid obesity, as studies have shown that the bypass surgery is not only good for enduring weight loss but protective from diabetes or ravenous appetite — lies in our personal habits, manners, behavior, and lifestyle. Usually, most of us being overweight have lousy lifestyle habits. We neglect ourselves in the ways of parsing out our available time. We do not have interesting and exciting activities. We have dreary routines, sitting around watching TV for hours while usually nursing a beer or two or munching cookies or pop corn.
In addition with these habits, along with becoming overweight we develop high blood pressure, possibly type 2 diabetes, and raise the danger of heart attack and stroke — or even the development of a dreaded cancer. We also feel irritable, bored, grouchy, pessimistic, and ready for a fight with those around us. In addition we have to start taking medicines with their dreary side effects.
Instead of the hopeless attempts for going-on-a-diet, there exists another enduring and successful solution. The trick lies in deciding to re-organizing our lifestyle: having routines, constraints, and wise distributing of our time to our enjoyment and interesting way of life. A routine time for exercise; a hobby like playing an instrument, gardening or running; having a group of our peers discussing current affairs or a reading club; or participating in church activities.
Along with that, a routine time for eating with, if possible, the whole family — but pay attention to the following:
- If you want to shape your body a little better, when you decide to eat, double your time to do so. (Strange, but most people eat rapidly gulping things down as fast as they can, bending over like a hungry bird of prey over his captured pigeon.)
- Further, never eat standing up.
- Eat what you have put on the table for your own portion, rather than mountains of food piled up on the table ready to be swallowed until you feel ready to pop.
- If possible, a meal should contain raw or boiled greens along with whatever other food, maybe a little piece of meat — especially white meat.
- Drink a glass of water before you start eating (It is a trick to calm down your eagerness to swallow food rapidly.)
These simple habits, along with exercise — any exercise will do — will go a long way if you make it an established routine for the days to come.
Along with the success of reducing your body mass, I can guarantee you will have more of a sense of control of your life, and more excitement of being alive and well.
Good luck and happy new year!
Copyright © 2018 by Nicholas Pediaditakis, MD
For more information on Dr. Pediaditakis, visit his Facebook page. Dr. Nicholas’ blog may be read at chroniclersofthesoul.com.
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