Sunday, April 09, 2006

Diets and updates

First of all, I heard from my neighbour. The police have found the car...abandoned that was used in the burglary. The gang had tried to rob another house further up the bank that day. The lady was at home, got the number, and telephoned the police with a description. Unfortunately the theives did not leave the digital camera's chip in the car.... My fingers arefirmly crossed that they are caught and soon. This is the first time in a very long time that there has been something like this in the neighborhood.

My sister sent me a book on eating, and body image for teenagers -- I'm like So Fat helping your teen make healthy choices about Eating and Exercise in a Weight Obsessed World. This was in response to a plea about my middle child who had started to sneak food. It makes for interesting reading. The author, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer became interested in the subject when she worked as a nutritionist and had weekly weigh ins of over weight women. She said ultimately what she was weighing was women's self- esteem. She advocated healthy eating and exercising sensibly. I look back on pictures of me in high school, college and in my early twenties. I used to consider myself fat, but guess what, I wasn't. I may not have conformed to the super thin model but I was healthy for my body type and height.
Now, of course, I need to shed a few pounds. But we won't go into that. I would be quite happy to back at the weight I was in my early twenties when I kept thinking I need to lose 10 pounds or so.
Dieting has a lot of negatives
1. It can lead to feelings of deprivation and repression that lead to binge eating
2.Over time diets tend to lead towards weight gain ratehr than weight loss
3 Dieting can lead to depression

Far better is healthy eating. making changes to eating more veg and fruit and whole grains while decreasing fats and processed sugars
Eating when hungry and stopping when comfortably full.Physical activity in moderation. I was surprised to learn that some people become over obsessed with exercise and end up getting eating/behavorial disorders that way.

The book may have been sent so I could understand my middle child better, but I ended up understanding a few more things about myself and my own behaviors.

My wip is going slowly...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes. Working in a school with lots of teenage girls, I see some strange and obsessive behaviours about food and weight. And I know I was exactly the same back then, too. I thought I was too fat--I was actually underweight. It's very damaging how these beliefs are drilled into young people and they continue into adulthood.

Anonymous said...

My mother always claimed she was too fat while I was growing up. Looking back at the pictures, she wasn't! But because she was convinced of it, she made me think she was. I know I don't exercise the way I should, but I try to eat healthy. Running around after two toddlers is exercise enough!

Anne McAllister said...

It sounds like a really good book, Michelle. The part about weighing the women's self-esteem was particularly eye-catching -- and, I think, probably often true. I wonder how we, as women, go about changing our own attitudes to weight so that we feel comfortable with ourselves no matter what we weigh -- whether we are thin or heavy or absolutely where medical professionals say we should be for our height and build. Why is self-esteem so tied to how much we weigh?