I’m doing this whole Blog thing because I heard it will help me lose weight. I want to lose weight. Ideally I want to lose the weight much the same way I gained it – unconsciously. Since that won’t happen, I want to lose the weight in as healthy a way as possible.
But what is healthy? I can think of a bunch of things that aren’t healthy weight loss plans – Anorexia, bulimia, eating only yellow foods, etc. But these are all extreme examples. (for some more extreme examples check out this Daily Mail Article)
American’s are health obsessed and some of the least healthy people on the planet. Is too much information as bad as too little when it comes to health knowledge? There are as many health myths out there in cyberspace as there are sites with good solid advice about health and it is nearly impossible to distinguish the difference. Even if all we are talking here is weight loss and not health in general (health in general being one of the main reasons I’m on this expedition to begin with).
I sit down at my computer to find out the best things I can do to help myself lose this weight. I wonder if: Eating late at night makes you fat? Low-fat foods help you lose weight? Pasta makes you fat? Drink 8 8oz glasses of water a day is really the way to go? I look at the RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) and wonder what on earth constitutes a serving?!
I am no health expert. My degree is in Psychology, not nutrition. So how am I supposed to figure all this out? For instance…When I started my new job on campus I found an article that laid the whole 8 glasses of water thing on the table. (I don’t still have the article or I would cite it…I’m looking for it again so I can tell you all where I got this) According to what I read the 64 fluid ounces of water came from the Surgeon General’s recommendations in 1969. The whole thing came from 1 study that ascertained that the average human body loses 64 ounces of liquid in digestion and respiration, and therefore that would be the amount of liquid that the body would need to replace to keep the body running smoothly. The Surgeon General then went on to state that this liquid was found in the food that we eat and that therefore much less was needed to be taken-in in the form of water and other beverages. So from what I read the 8-8oz glasses of water thing is a myth. But then my overly active brain goes into analysis mode…Did all this come from 1 study? Have these findings been replicated? Who were the study’s participants? Are they representative of me or even the average American today? (Let us not forget that the study that gave us the average age of puberty onset and the normal body temperature of people came from a study at an orphanage, where most of the children were underweight and had low grade infections.) Were these people active? What was the water content in the 1960s of the average diet in comparison to today? And on and on…
If I go over every aspect of my diet with as much mental energy as the water question I will be so mentally exhausted I will probably lose weight because I have no energy left to eat. And these questions don’t even begin to scratch the surface. To me healthy also includes social and environmental questions like: Is organic the healthier way to go not just for nutrients but for the world? Can I afford to be a locavore? Is it even possible to get enough meat to satisfy my protein needs without eating corn-fed animals? Is it possible to cut high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats out of my diet?
My brain hurts. Yours probably does too.
No comments:
Post a Comment