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A review by ryandandrews
Secrets From the Food Lab by Traci Mann
4.0
I tend to agree with all of the author's main points. It's always nice to read things that confirm your existing beliefs! :)
Here are some of my favorite clips from the book:
Dieting doesn't work. Dieting isn't safe. Dieting has negative side-effects. If we were talking about a medication, doctors wouldn't recommend it.
Doing healthy things is healthy, whether or not they make you model-thin.
In the Ancel Keys "starvation" study, the men were allowed 1,600 kcal/day. This is a higher kcal intake than most typical modern diets.
Unless you want to battle evolution, biology, and psychology and be hungry every single day of your life, I wouldn't suggest trying to live below your set weight range. Getting so thin that you are below this range is a very difficult and self-defeating goal.
When people know they're being watched, they become self-conscious, act unnaturally, and won't eat very much. (This describes food logs)
By limiting the number of decisions we have to make with food, we may be helping to protect ourselves from impulsive decisions.
Even with all of the statistical flaws in obesity studies, the actual difference in life expectancy that they find between people who are obese and people who are normal weight is one year.
If you exercise, eat nutritiously, avoid weight cycling, and get good quality medical care, you don't need to worry about obesity shortening your life.
If you want to do less of something, create small obstacles. Example: switching Tylenol to blister packs (instead of bottles) was linked to a 21% reduction in suicides and accidental poisonings.
After dinner, clean your kitchen, put everything away, brush/floss your teeth. If you are really hungry enough to eat again, you'll have to figure out if it's really worth it to re-clean the kitchen, re-brush/floss your teeth, etc. We are naturally all lazy, so we can include these small obstacles and take advantage of our laziness.
When you buy all of your veggies for the week, immediately wash and chop them. Otherwise, you'll likely not eat most of them. Good video here: http://www.tamareadler.com/2011/10/10/how-to-stride-ahead-part-2/
Eat a salad or vegetable soup before dinner.
We do what people around us are doing.
For most people the word "healthy" is strongly associated with tasting bad or remaining hungry.
Change perceptions. Instead of thinking of vegetables as "healthy", think of them as filling, nutritious, energizing, etc. Come up with reasons that are compelling to you.
Example of a true habit? Getting in the car and putting on a seat belt. We don't debate the pros and cons of seat belts each time we get in the car. We just do it. In a cab on the other hand, we don't. It's not a habit.
Even if you've believed in the power of comfort food you whole life, it's time to let it go. Comfort food is nothing more than a food you happen to want when you feel bad. Comfort food is a myth. In fact, by eating something that may make you feel guilty later, you are actually doing the opposite of comforting yourself.
People who are intuitive eaters eat a more balanced diet than people who go on specific diets.
Satisfying a long list of food restrictions doesn't leave you with much to savor.
Here's a perfectly sensible goal: reach your leanest livable weight, that comfortable weight at the low end of your set range. You'll have no trouble reaching it if you exercise regularly and use some basic sound nutritional strategies.
I urge you to get to your leanest livable weight and then, whatever it is, decide that it's okay. Because your weight is not the point. You were not put on this earth to mold yourself into a perfect physical specimen. "Your body is not your masterpiece - your life is".
Here are some of my favorite clips from the book:
Dieting doesn't work. Dieting isn't safe. Dieting has negative side-effects. If we were talking about a medication, doctors wouldn't recommend it.
Doing healthy things is healthy, whether or not they make you model-thin.
In the Ancel Keys "starvation" study, the men were allowed 1,600 kcal/day. This is a higher kcal intake than most typical modern diets.
Unless you want to battle evolution, biology, and psychology and be hungry every single day of your life, I wouldn't suggest trying to live below your set weight range. Getting so thin that you are below this range is a very difficult and self-defeating goal.
When people know they're being watched, they become self-conscious, act unnaturally, and won't eat very much. (This describes food logs)
By limiting the number of decisions we have to make with food, we may be helping to protect ourselves from impulsive decisions.
Even with all of the statistical flaws in obesity studies, the actual difference in life expectancy that they find between people who are obese and people who are normal weight is one year.
If you exercise, eat nutritiously, avoid weight cycling, and get good quality medical care, you don't need to worry about obesity shortening your life.
If you want to do less of something, create small obstacles. Example: switching Tylenol to blister packs (instead of bottles) was linked to a 21% reduction in suicides and accidental poisonings.
After dinner, clean your kitchen, put everything away, brush/floss your teeth. If you are really hungry enough to eat again, you'll have to figure out if it's really worth it to re-clean the kitchen, re-brush/floss your teeth, etc. We are naturally all lazy, so we can include these small obstacles and take advantage of our laziness.
When you buy all of your veggies for the week, immediately wash and chop them. Otherwise, you'll likely not eat most of them. Good video here: http://www.tamareadler.com/2011/10/10/how-to-stride-ahead-part-2/
Eat a salad or vegetable soup before dinner.
We do what people around us are doing.
For most people the word "healthy" is strongly associated with tasting bad or remaining hungry.
Change perceptions. Instead of thinking of vegetables as "healthy", think of them as filling, nutritious, energizing, etc. Come up with reasons that are compelling to you.
Example of a true habit? Getting in the car and putting on a seat belt. We don't debate the pros and cons of seat belts each time we get in the car. We just do it. In a cab on the other hand, we don't. It's not a habit.
Even if you've believed in the power of comfort food you whole life, it's time to let it go. Comfort food is nothing more than a food you happen to want when you feel bad. Comfort food is a myth. In fact, by eating something that may make you feel guilty later, you are actually doing the opposite of comforting yourself.
People who are intuitive eaters eat a more balanced diet than people who go on specific diets.
Satisfying a long list of food restrictions doesn't leave you with much to savor.
Here's a perfectly sensible goal: reach your leanest livable weight, that comfortable weight at the low end of your set range. You'll have no trouble reaching it if you exercise regularly and use some basic sound nutritional strategies.
I urge you to get to your leanest livable weight and then, whatever it is, decide that it's okay. Because your weight is not the point. You were not put on this earth to mold yourself into a perfect physical specimen. "Your body is not your masterpiece - your life is".