I've got a bone to pick or maybe in this case a wing with the author of an article in February's issue of Fitness magazine. In "The No- Hunger way to Cut Calories" the author suggests different ways to cut 100, 200 or 500 calories a day from your diet without sacrificing taste or resorting to dieting. I totally agree that for most people, what we call "dieting" simply doesn't work. Most diets are far too restrictive and rather than teaching people how to eat, diets just eliminate certain food groups which is not a long term solution to weight loss.
The bone, or wing, I have to pick with the author has to do with some of the suggestions she makes for cutting calories. Here are my three favorites: "Ask for the 12-ounce child size soda instead of the 21-ounce medium at the drive through"; "Indulge in a slice of angel food cake drizzled with chocolate syrup rather than three cookies"; and, my absolute favorite, "When munching on chicken wings, don't toss the bones midway through. Seeing the evidence of your feast may help you eat less, studies show". Other suggestions include switching the type of pizza and ice cream that you eat.
In all honesty, I really don't know where to begin. Now, I will try to keep in mind that we all live in the real world where work and kids and stress and life in general have a way of disrupting the best of intentions. However, even with this in mind, how a Fitness magazine could offer such suggestions is beyond me. Soda, chicken wings, cake, pizza and ice cream? Is this some kind of joke??? No-one, and I mean no-one, who is trying to be healthy and fit should be consuming any one of these items, let alone all of them.
And, lets not forget that it takes a lot more to be healthy and fit than just cutting 100 or 200 calories from your diet. You need to have a balanced and nutritious diet made up mainly of whole, unprocessed foods. You have to exercise, often and for the rest of your life. You have to get enough sleep, limit stress, and still find time to work and spend time with family and friends. Basically you need to live a healthy lifestyle; and a healthy lifestyle does not include chicken wings, fast food, soda, french fries and/or angel food cake drizzled in chocolate syrup. Sorry...
