Don't Weight for the Holidays

It used to be we ate “like it was Thanksgiving or Christmas” only twice a year, on Thanksgiving and Christmas. But the modern convenience of cheap, local, all-you-can-eat, buffet restaurants means you can now enjoy holiday stuffing 365 days a year. And the impending obesity epidemic suggests a great many Americans do.

Around this time of year it’s common to start considering New Year’s resolutions. “Just as soon as the holidays are over I’ll start my new diet.” Problem is, holiday-style eating never ends. So there’s no better time to start new habits than right now!

Ay! Now there’s the rub.   

If you’re over fifty you’ll recall a time when holidays represented a rare occasion to overindulge. Family gatherings witnessed a table groaning under the weight of the guests’ specially prepared dishes. The hosts prepared at least 50% more food than necessary so as to accommodate a snack after the initial gorging.

Holidays were special occasions. The richness and volume of the food were both thankful and celebratory; celebration of the religious observation or historical significance of the day; and thankfulness for the opportunity to set aside responsibilities related to the mundane struggles of life.

One of those struggles was earning enough to put the family’s daily bread on the table. The AARP generation as youngsters didn’t need to be taught that four ounces of meat is about the size of a deck of cards. It was all they could afford.

In generations past physical girth was a sign of prosperity, indicating wealth sufficient to be a glutton and avoid physical exertion. Maybe it still means that; since America is not just the richest country in the world but also the fattest. Of course, obesity places a strain on wealth by siphoning resources into health care.

As a problem that negatively impacted primarily the upper class and nouveau riche, obesity had little influence on the overall economy of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, obesity in the new twenty-first century impacts 1 in every 3 Americans, and the early signs of eventual heart disease are being found in children as young as nine years old. As a population-wide health problem, the impact of obesity could be economically devastating.

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Girth was considered a positive thing by forebears who knew no better. You know better, and there’s probably nothing in the preceding text that really surprised you. The problem is in acting on what you know; in other words, overcoming habits you know are bad for you.

The average person tries at least a dozen diets, at the end of which there is a net gain, not loss of weight. Surprisingly, the problem is not with the diets. They all work. If followed faithfully they will cause anyone to lose weight. The problem is keeping it off.

What diets lack is a means of helping you overcome the habits you know are bad for you. Those habits are embedded in your subconscious mind, inexorably causing cravings. The newest diets are designed to gradually alleviate physiological cravings, but those are minor compared to the influence of the mind. Therefore, the only way to permanently change your habits is to change your mind.

Recommendations to chew food thoroughly and set down your fork between bites are ways to initially make you mindful of your eating. Strategies to divide, share or doggie-bag your meals reduce portion sizes. Adopting an eating buddy and taking a cooking class introduce social elements to reinforce new habits. All good ideas; but it’s like putting band-aids on a broken leg.

If you, or someone you know, are resistant to change, you need to explore the basis of that resistance. The only way to stop yo-yo dieting may be to find someone capable of immobilizing the hand at the end of the string; or better yet, cutting the string altogether. Counseling or therapy can lead to self-knowledge that empowers you to take control and adopt desirable changes in your life.

People of a century or so ago had the questionable benefit of portion control based on the economic realities of the time. The modern age places that responsibility directly on each individual. And that may mean considering alternatives to flashy-but-ineffective diets. So don’t wait until after the holidays; it’s better to act now so the weight is over.