Month: July 2006

From the responsible opposing views department (and Life Hacker) comes suggestions for living healthier without having to give up that lovely tasty fat: Sally on her issues with the low-fat/low-cal idea.

I love her idea trading in your big plates for 7" dinner plates and I too will raise the cheer for spicing up your food.

I disagree with her, though, that diets don't work. Approaches like the Hacker's Diet can really help. She's also got that cute blind spot that those who love active hobbies have; for a lot of us sports don't sound fun and we have to get creative to put down the book or the keyboard and get moving. Walking more was the best way for me to get out of the house & doing things. Find something you actually like that keeps you in motion and start doing it more often.

Here's a good round-up on switching to a healthier, lower-fat lifestyle from the guides of About.com

Do you routinely snack on things you know are bad for you? What could you have instead?

Look through your cupboards, fridge, and purse or backpack. Pull out the things you'd like to upgrade to a better option.

Make a shopping list based on those better options. Try substituting smaller amounts of more intense flavors for bigger quantities of simpler foods. A wafer thin slice of aged sharp cheddar can be nibbled for more pleasure than a hunk of some orange-dyed bland brick. A 1" square of really good gourmet chocolate can be savored and will linger on the tongue delightfully without lingering on the hips like a Mars Bar, and the darker you go the healthier it gets. Instead of a sugary fruit-flavored drink, how about an actual piece of the fruit and a glass of water?

Now look around for any other shopping items to add to your list. How about some fresh fruit and vegetables? What's in season where you live? Could you cook something good and local tonight? See how you're doing on basic supplies that make it easier to cook at home and pack a lunch.

Check around for any other errands you could do on the way to and from the store – library books to return and grab a movie for this evening while you're there, mm? – then bag the bad snacks to give away and head out to bring the good stuff home.

Today you might have to be putting on fancy clothes in colors you never wear so you can be in a wedding party.

You might be moving heavy boxes into of a truck and cleaning the refrigerator so you can get your deposit back.

You might be working a horrible retail job you hate so you can pay rent in some skanky shared student housing while you finish your thesis.

Or maybe not.

In which case, may I recommend you enjoy that freedom and go play pinball or see a movie or both?

Here's the deal: take in fewer calories than you burn.
Two methods therefore, best in combination: eat less and exercise more.

There is no wiggling out of that principle.

You can eat lower caloric foods in the same quantity or eat high calorie foods in smaller quantities. You can do more intense activity when you do exercise or you can do lower intensity activity for longer and/or more often.

There is no trick about this. No magic formula.

Except – aha! – the same ideas that work for Discardia over time also can apply here. You don't have to change everything all at once, you just have to start changing things in the right direction more often than the wrong.

Running less of a caloric overflow than you do now is still better than no reduction at all. If you can't get yourself down to a caloric deficit right away, at least move in that direction.

Making sure you walk 6000 steps a day instead of 4000 is better than nothing. Aim for 10000, but don't give up if you don't get there right away.

(All this can be adapted for those who need to gain instead of lose weight, of course. Switching to a healthy high calorie substitute for something you currently eat regularly, for example. Or starting to work in higher fat accompaniments to your meals such as nuts, avocados, and cheeses could help tilt the scale the way you want to be heading.)