I was talking with my Mom recently who had just gotten together with some of her college friends. Somehow these ladies began comparing notes and laughing about all the various diets they had tried over the years. My Mom has a great laugh and I would have enjoyed being there to have heard that conversation. Some of the more outlandish ones I can remember were: the grapefruit diet, the rice diet and wrapping herself in Saranwrap. Of these, I think on the surface, the grapefruit diet had the most merit. I, too, still ascribe healthful, miraculous attributes to that fruit. If I recall correctly, The Abs Diet suggested you burn more calories digesting a grapefruit than you take in eating it, which makes no sense if you think about it. Still, I like the taste and could eat a grapefruit about every day of my life.
Can you see I am building toward a crescendo here? I think the logic of the rice diet went something like this: people from China eat a lot of rice and they are generally thin so... I am sure at the time it was wrapped up in more scientific mumbo jumbo, but I feel certain my explanation is what sold it to the American public. It is ironic now that white rice is viewed as a devil food and eating too much of it with a meal is like having a death wish.
Not the last, but certainly the most humorous was wrapping herself in Saranwrap. This was not exactly a diet, more a scheme to sweat away your pounds. Again, there is logic up to a point here. Certainly, we are all aware of water weight and what wrestlers and others do from time to time to reach a certain weight goal. And unfortunately for my Dad, it was not as sexy as it sounds. I have a vague memory of my Mom going somewhere to get an outfit that looked like a cross between a space suit and a garbage bag. That one was short lived when she realized that unless you want to die of dehydration, the weight would be back the next day.
It is easy to laugh now, but at the time, each of those "projects" was approached with the utmost hope and seriousness, that this would be the thing, the miracle cure that would help you lose and keep off those unwanted pounds. While we like to think of ourselves as more educated and sophisticated on these issues today, the truth is there remains a lot of sophistry at work among us and we are still just as desperate for a less painful way to lose the weight.
Can you see I am building toward a crescendo here? I think the logic of the rice diet went something like this: people from China eat a lot of rice and they are generally thin so... I am sure at the time it was wrapped up in more scientific mumbo jumbo, but I feel certain my explanation is what sold it to the American public. It is ironic now that white rice is viewed as a devil food and eating too much of it with a meal is like having a death wish.
Not the last, but certainly the most humorous was wrapping herself in Saranwrap. This was not exactly a diet, more a scheme to sweat away your pounds. Again, there is logic up to a point here. Certainly, we are all aware of water weight and what wrestlers and others do from time to time to reach a certain weight goal. And unfortunately for my Dad, it was not as sexy as it sounds. I have a vague memory of my Mom going somewhere to get an outfit that looked like a cross between a space suit and a garbage bag. That one was short lived when she realized that unless you want to die of dehydration, the weight would be back the next day.
It is easy to laugh now, but at the time, each of those "projects" was approached with the utmost hope and seriousness, that this would be the thing, the miracle cure that would help you lose and keep off those unwanted pounds. While we like to think of ourselves as more educated and sophisticated on these issues today, the truth is there remains a lot of sophistry at work among us and we are still just as desperate for a less painful way to lose the weight.
Consumption:
Cheerios and Bran Chex cereal with skim milk
Half a grapefruit
4 slices of pepper jack cheese with crackers
Orange
Baked salmon
Salad with avocado
Artichoke dipped in butter and lemon
One piece of banana bread
Glass of white wine
Exercise:
1 hour of yoga
My Fitness Pal calculated I was inside of my daily goal after factoring in the
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