Eighteen or twenty years ago, I was into high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate diets, courtesy of the original Atkins Diet Revolution and, to an even greater extent, Stillman's Quick Weight Loss Diet (which I must admit I still prefer to Atkins but that's merely personal taste). At the time, every aisle was loaded with labels proclaiming Low Fat or Reduced Fat. I didn't care about fat and sought much different information. Unfortunately, low fat was "in" and I felt alone and abandoned.
With a certain sense of resentment, I tracked down the carbohydrate costs of a wide variety of food, keeping a sharp eye on ingredients, calorie levels, and nutritional values. Certain items were strangely emblazoned with banners announcing low fat: pasta sauce, potato chips, candy bars, and ice cream. I was puzzled: how could certain foods, full of fat to their very core, be low fat? How could all the fat be removed and there be anything left?
I became fascinated with certain labels. Have you ever, for example, read the labels on those flavored coffee creamers? Zero fat. Zero carbohydrates. Zero protein. Zero calories. How can anything we put in our mouths have zero calories? A negligible amount, maybe, but absolute zero? What is in that stuff? Or is it virtual food, existing only in our mind's eye as a kind of edible hologram?
Mercifully, the low fat craze died its natural death. Atkins and similar regimens took over and the low fat labels were reprinted (corporate recycling at its finest) to read Low Carb. Suddenly, everywhere you looked, there were foods recast as low carb - again with the pasta sauce, the potato chips, the candy bars, and the ice cream.
I was curious. Had the manufacturers taken out all those carbs and put the fat back in? Where did those carbs go? Are there vast dumpsites in the desert where unwanted carbs are buried - next to worn tires, plastic bags, and nuclear waste?
Once more, I wonder: what is left in those boxes, cans, and jars? Why am I paying $1.19 per ounce for something that really isn't anything?
Then I started to figure it out (sometimes I'm a little slow). The food hadn't really changed at all, just the packaging. Food labels are like those ubiquitous Internet sales letters. They trumpet headlines that catch our interest because they are in synch with our desires and goals. Is that accidental? Of course not. Highly paid copywriters choose their headlines with great care, buying into the national "obsession o' the day", floating on the coattails of the latest fad.
Many of us are so desperate to control our weight that we buy into the promises like the unaware followers we are: bleating sheep heading for a precipice with no thought of questioning our leaders or striking out in a different direction.
The unspoken secret is that the label doesn't matter. If we want to lose weight, we don't eat pasta sauce, potato chips, candy bars, or ice cream. Period. No matter what the package says. Deep in our psyche, we know what we can eat (very little) and what we can't (a whole bunch). Allowing ourselves to be misled is only a fashionably acceptable way to fool ourselves, and we know it. We buy into the hype because we want, so badly, to believe. We want to think that we are doing the right thing, that we're really trying, that our motivation is pure.
Our weaknesses are being exploited by the packagers and the super store con men. Our ambivalence, and the overwhelming need to avoid the very real discomfort of effective dieting, invests the misguidance of food labels with an illusion of truth.
Like our dimwitted ovine cousins, we, too, are eventually fleeced.
Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker's Edge, she recently completed a psychologically-based weight control book: Diet with an Attitude:A Weight Loss Workbook. She can be reached at http://www.dietwithanattitude.com
one time home cleaning Highland Park ..My name is Greg Ryan. I am a best selling... Read More
There have been many diets and weight loss plans that... Read More
Exercising too hardThis is probably the most common mistake. As... Read More
When women talk about their biggest obstacles to successful weight... Read More
You need to reset your weight-o-stat. No matter how much... Read More
Got milk? New research suggests you should if you want... Read More
Even if you're not overweight, you still could have a... Read More
When I decided to lose weight I of course decided... Read More
Are you weighted down with delusion, depression and on the... Read More
Mistake 1: Not changing your calorie plan as you lose... Read More
Have you heard about it lately? Everywhere you look, women... Read More
1. Become aware of what you are eating.Before I started... Read More
Abdominal liposuction refers to liposuction, or lipoplasty, that is performed... Read More
Are you frustrated with your weight problem and don't know... Read More
It is well known that about two-thirds of the U.S.... Read More
Teenagers with body mass indices between 25 and 30 require... Read More
Losing weight can make a significant and life altering change... Read More
If I were asked, "what is the most difficult thing... Read More
Today obesity, diabetes, and heart disease run through us at... Read More
There are several factors in winning at weight loss. Sometimes... Read More
Most men and women put on weight differently. But on... Read More
Which is easier to do ? turn a car's steering... Read More
This little known secret has been used by bodybuilders for... Read More
Eighteen or twenty years ago, I was into high protein,... Read More
One alternative method to traditional and tumescent liposuction is mesotherapy.... Read More
licensed cleaning services Park Ridge ..Are you or your family members amongst the 65%?To help... Read More
To prepare ourselves for the Summer Sun we want to... Read More
There's no way you can separate the Jack LaLanne diet... Read More
"Life would be perfect if only I was thin." That... Read More
If you want any weight loss program to work you... Read More
Reducing childhood obesity in the U.S. needs to be a... Read More
I want to talk about the "all or nothing" outlook... Read More
The average American eats about twice as much protein than... Read More
Yes, my healthy diet has at times suffered at the... Read More
These days, most everyone has heard of low carb diets... Read More
I really like Dr. Phil, so I wanted to like... Read More
There's recently been a LOT in the weight loss news... Read More
You will be surprised to find out how many people... Read More
The best exercises for quick weight loss in my opinion... Read More
Motivation is a factor often overlooked when it comes to... Read More
New Medical Research shows high-intensity exercise can increase the body's... Read More
I have been seriously working on losing weight for about... Read More
It is estimated that about 32 million Americans are following... Read More
The following are weight loss tips that you can start... Read More
Life is great, isn't it? Stop and just look around... Read More
Thinking about weight loss surgery? You're not alone. Over two-thirds... Read More
If you're thinking of going on a diet to lose... Read More
How much will power does it take in order to... Read More
Low carb beer and lite beer are two different animals.... Read More
In theory, if you're starving, exercising less helps conserve energy.... Read More
Weight Loss |