Does Fall Make You Fall From Low-Carb Living?
As of Saturday, we are now officially in one of the most interesting times of the year when the weather changes abruptly and the cool breeze of autumn blows in to change the color of the leaves as they fall to the ground. I for one enjoy the Fall because it signals a change of pace from the constant go-go-go of summer.
The kids are back in school, football is everywhere, state fairs happen, and so much more. What's not to like about this amazing season of the year?
Hmmm, how about the inevitability that people begin to stop thinking about what eating healthy is all about in anticipation of the upcoming holidays, including Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas? You know you are already thinking (and dreaming!) about all the candy, turkey & dressing, pumpkin pie, and so much more that awaits you in the next three months. Nobody can be expected to stay on a diet this time of year, can they?
In a word, YES you can and should. If you have committed yourself to start livin' la vida low-carb and were serious about it, then you can't start backtracking on that just because it's "that time of the year." I have never understood this line of thinking among people that it's okay for them to stop paying attention to what they eat just because it's a holiday.
Why not make holidays the time when you test to see how well you have overcome your temptations to eat the plethora of high-carb options that await you? You might just amaze yourself to see how far you have come to overcome your carb and sugar addictions. I know I'm still amazed.
In fact, just today a co-worker was telling me how much she admires what I have done to lose weight and keep it off for as long as I have. I thanked her for making the comment and said that I don't know how and why I am able to resist the urge to eat something I shouldn't, I just don't anymore. I have learned new habits and they have taken a strong hold in me.
One of my regular readers wrote the following e-mail about this topic of the changing seasons and what impact it can have on your diet:
"There is something about the Fall season that stirs up memories and desires of eating good food. Something triggers it, I don't know what. Is it the body signaling the brain that it needs a layer of warmth for the winter?
I'm approaching the time – October – when I lost 44 lbs. (262 to 218) last year – when a simple egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich on a roll was the start of a grand period of recividism that lasted until March 21, when I regained my senses and control and reembarked on my current low-carb course. I cannot deny that the experience of glubbing down that sandwich was a Proustian, peak experience, or maybe it was more akin to what an addict feels when he gets his fix.
So now I imagine that the hallway here in the office building smells of warm apple pie, and when I go to the butcher to get my grilled hamburger with mayo on a bed of lettuce and tomato, I cannot avoid coveting the pile of ham and cheese baguettes stacked high on the top shelf of his meatcase.
Yet I know that this time I am not going to fall, I'm just going to keep on going. This is for life. I'm at the crossroads plateau of 230 on my way to 170 and I'm just going to keep on going."
Now there's the spirit of livin' la vida low-carb that we should all strive for as we enter the Fall and upcoming holiday season. You know it's coming, so prepare yourself even now for it. Don't fall prey to the pressure of eating what you can't have just because everyone else is. You've done so well the other nine months of the year, don't blow it all in three months!
Does Fall make you fall from low-carb living? Over my dead body!
The kids are back in school, football is everywhere, state fairs happen, and so much more. What's not to like about this amazing season of the year?
Hmmm, how about the inevitability that people begin to stop thinking about what eating healthy is all about in anticipation of the upcoming holidays, including Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas? You know you are already thinking (and dreaming!) about all the candy, turkey & dressing, pumpkin pie, and so much more that awaits you in the next three months. Nobody can be expected to stay on a diet this time of year, can they?
In a word, YES you can and should. If you have committed yourself to start livin' la vida low-carb and were serious about it, then you can't start backtracking on that just because it's "that time of the year." I have never understood this line of thinking among people that it's okay for them to stop paying attention to what they eat just because it's a holiday.
Why not make holidays the time when you test to see how well you have overcome your temptations to eat the plethora of high-carb options that await you? You might just amaze yourself to see how far you have come to overcome your carb and sugar addictions. I know I'm still amazed.
In fact, just today a co-worker was telling me how much she admires what I have done to lose weight and keep it off for as long as I have. I thanked her for making the comment and said that I don't know how and why I am able to resist the urge to eat something I shouldn't, I just don't anymore. I have learned new habits and they have taken a strong hold in me.
One of my regular readers wrote the following e-mail about this topic of the changing seasons and what impact it can have on your diet:
"There is something about the Fall season that stirs up memories and desires of eating good food. Something triggers it, I don't know what. Is it the body signaling the brain that it needs a layer of warmth for the winter?
I'm approaching the time – October – when I lost 44 lbs. (262 to 218) last year – when a simple egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich on a roll was the start of a grand period of recividism that lasted until March 21, when I regained my senses and control and reembarked on my current low-carb course. I cannot deny that the experience of glubbing down that sandwich was a Proustian, peak experience, or maybe it was more akin to what an addict feels when he gets his fix.
So now I imagine that the hallway here in the office building smells of warm apple pie, and when I go to the butcher to get my grilled hamburger with mayo on a bed of lettuce and tomato, I cannot avoid coveting the pile of ham and cheese baguettes stacked high on the top shelf of his meatcase.
Yet I know that this time I am not going to fall, I'm just going to keep on going. This is for life. I'm at the crossroads plateau of 230 on my way to 170 and I'm just going to keep on going."
Now there's the spirit of livin' la vida low-carb that we should all strive for as we enter the Fall and upcoming holiday season. You know it's coming, so prepare yourself even now for it. Don't fall prey to the pressure of eating what you can't have just because everyone else is. You've done so well the other nine months of the year, don't blow it all in three months!
Does Fall make you fall from low-carb living? Over my dead body!
Labels: holidays, low-carb, temptation
posted by Jimmy Moore at
9/25/2006 05:38:00 PM
4 Comments:
I love the fall for soups!! I use tomato puree or broth as the base, throw in meat and vegies and wah-lah, awesome, low cal, low carb dish that fills you up.
I'll be at work on Thanksgiving and I am planning on having mostly low-carb stuff around me. The plan is already in the works! Turkey, cauliflower potatoes, salad, chocolate cheesecake.
Oh...I am also working on Halloween night and don't have kids, so no worries there! If I were home I would pass out SUGAR FREE candy to the kiddies.
AS you said, the Fall usually ushers in times in which family get together again. My perspective is what condition do you want to be in at the next Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Did I want to be someone my relatives inwardly worried about or someone they outwardly were amazed at the weightloss or the change. How many of them couldn't use the hope of low carb and getting eating under control. Turn the negative around, and use it for something to keep you strict rather than stressed.
The only negative thing I see with Fall is the shorter days. It is harder and harder to fit my run in before work, and eventually I will be driven inside to my treadmill or to bundling up like an eskimo. I do however in the meantime get to experience firsthand the changing of colors, which makes it *almost* worth it.
Fall definitely does not need to be the end of any dieting efforts.
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