May 6th is International No Diet Day, a day that “encourages people to adopt healthy, fulfilling lifestyles, regardless of size and weight” (per the National Eating Disorder Information Centre based out of Canada). Although it is a Canadian day, I think that everyone, everywhere, can celebrate this day and say “goodbye” to dieting! Life is more than a diet, it’s more than counting calories and avoiding “certain foods”. Like I’ve mentioned many times before, everything in moderation–how’s that for a “diet”?

Here are some statistics I found regarding dieting:

(courtesy of the Eating Disorder Foundation):

• Granted, this was a People Magazine survey (so somewhat biased results based on who reads the magazine) but 4 out of 5 of the women surveyed said they feel insecure about their bodies compared to fashion models. (who wouldn’t? But many of those photos are “doctored” and unrealistic!)
• In 1990, the average age of a girl starting a diet was 8 years old! Eight, that’s right. Can you imagine that our little 2nd and 3rd graders are already starting to think of dieting and actually doing it? They should be thinking about what Webkinz they want or what Wii game they want to play, not how they look!
• Another statistic that shocked me is that 81% of 10 year old girls are afraid of being fat.
• Men are not immune to dieting–about 1 in 4 men are dieting on an average day.

So, today, when you look in the mirror, be happy with what you see. What you see as imperfections are strengths in other people’s eyes. Ladies, you ARE beautiful; men, you ARE handsome! Make a resolution that, starting today, you’re not going to go on any fad diet and you’re going to stop picking on your body.

If you have children, avoid talking about how much you hate your body in front of them. Avoid talking about bad foods and good foods and how you “can’t eat that food”. Even at a young age, kids hear it and internalize it. It’s like swear words. If kids hear that it’s bad to say, then it becomes a punishment if they say it. Don’t be like that with food.

Don’t have “forbidden foods” and make kids feel bad if they want one (for example, if you say “cookies make me fat and I need to exercise if I have one” then your child might feel bad if they have one and feel like it’s going to make them “fat” because you think it will). Healthy eating behaviors and self-image are key! Even if your child is overweight, tell them that they are beautiful. Make exercise and healthy eating fun so that they won’t feel like they are being punished for their weight. Don’t avoid food groups or certain foods altogether, because you CAN eating fatty foods if you eat the proper portions!

Welcome to another happy day of National Nutrition Month®! As you may remember, the theme for this month is “Nutrition: It’s a Matter of Fact“. One key point to the month is that you should follow sound advice and science when eating healthy. A great place to find good advice is MyPyramid.gov and the revised “Food Guide Pyramid”.

The MyPyramid Meal Plan is designed for healthy individuals over the age of 2 years. If you have a health condition, it is best to talk to your doctor and dietitian to find out what diet is best for you before embarking on this meal plan.

What can the MyPyramid.Gov website do for you?

1. Tell you how many calories (roughly) that you need each day.
2. Give you a meal plan that tells you how many fruits, vegetables, grains, meats/beans, and milk you need each day and provide you with information on serving sizes and examples for each food group.
3. Link you to a tracking system that you can use to type in every food item you eat in a day. Pretty cool if you ask me!
4. Give you some information on physical activity.

There is also information on the website for kids and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

So, let’s check it out!

Here are instructions for using the MyPyramid.gov website

1. Go to the MyPyramid.Gov
2. Click on the link to the right of the page for MyPyramid Plan.
3. Enter your age, sex, weight, height, and activity level (to get an estimate of how many calories you need a day). Once you do this, it will tell you, on estimate, how many calories you need each day, and how many servings of grains, fruit, vegetables, meat/beans, and milk you need each day. If you are overweight, it will kindly tell you so and it will then give you a meal plan for how to eat to lose weight.
4. For an example, click on the “tips” link to the right of the grains. You will see some examples of how to incorporate these food items into your daily meal plan. It will also give you links on the right of this page on what counts as a serving of whole grains. You can click on the tips for each of the food groups.
5. At the bottom of this page, it links you to some example of ways to incorporate physical activity into your life.
6. On the right of the page, you see links to “view, learn, and print more”. You can print out a checklist of this information (i.e., “print a PDF version of your results”).
7. On the right of the page, under the “view, learn, and print more” section, click on the My Pyramid Tracker. This will take you to a free website to enter in what you eat and see how it measures up to the guidelines. (You must register to the site, but it IS free). How awesome is that? You can also do that with your physical activity!

Well, I hope that you enjoy the MyPyramid.Gov website. It’s a useful tool for helping with weight management and control.

And while you’re at it, say something nice to yourself!!!

Living and working in a high-paced area, I notice that a lot of what we say is negative. We are quick to judge others and even quicker to judge ourselves. How often have we looked in the mirror and exclaimed “I have fat thighs/hips, stomach”, “I hate my hair”, “If only I could change…?” I do it, my husband does it, and even girls I know who have model-perfect bodies do it. But it’s not right! By judging ourselves and those around us, we are trying to conform to a standard that we have set, a standard that says “this is what is good, and I have to match up to what is good.”

But who defines this standard? If you think about it, it’s crazy. What constitutes “the perfect body” for me might not be what you think is the perfect body? So who is right? No one!!

Not only should you talk to yourself lovingly, talk to others with the same level of respect. Even if you think that someone else is out-of-shape, try to find something about them that is positive: do they look nice in that shirt today, does that necklace bring out the color of their eyes? Commend others on what they are doing right, and do the same for yourself. Start the day off with a positive attitude and give yourself a hug everyday. You might think I’m crazy, but try it! It’s the easiest thing you can do for yourself!

_{[Photo by kalandrakas]}

Ever want to find that weight loss book that empathizes with you about what you’re going through while motivating you to change? “The Weight Loss Diaries” by Courtney Rubin is one of those books.

Courtney, who used to write for Shape magazine (and had a monthly weight loss column in the magazine), admits to how she has struggled with her weight, binge eating (which becomes an important part of this book), and working out.

It’s not a weight loss book that conveys that “you can do it and there will never be any struggles.” On the contrary, this book describes those struggles, from eating out with friends, having difficulties with eating when you start out with a bad day, and struggling to lose weight when everyone already “makes fun of” your excess baggage.

Although I am a “normal weight” person, I still have days where I struggle to eat healthy, exercise, and feel good about myself. Therefore, I related to several points in this book–from food cravings to being self-conscious about other’s seeing my meals to finding the motivation to work out. Courtney talks about all of these points and much more! I also related to her story because she lives (lived?) in the DC area and trained for a marathon–her feelings about marathon training, and her excitement over the “long runs” and being able to succeed, were very similar to how I would feel during those months of training.

One of the key points that Courtney discussed, which can be easy to forget, is that weight loss isn’t ever just about weight. Emotions play a key role in our weight, in how we eat, and how much we eat. Like alcoholism and cigarette addictions, we CAN have addictions to certain foods, to portions of foods, and to using food to numb an emotional pain. And Courtney discusses this in her book.

The last chapter of the book says it all–basically, that (paraphrased) it’s about what’s on the inside that matters. Weight loss isn’t about how others view you. It’s about how you see yourself and whether you match up to your own standard of weight loss and self-image. Remember that others can’t see what you are going through inside and that no one should judge you for how your weight loss is going.

Weight loss is also about priorities, about what you deem important. If you (like me) are always trying to please everyone, then it might be hard for you to fit exercise into your schedule because you don’t want to disappoint anyone else or stick up for yourself and say “I can’t go out tonight/I can’t drink tonight. I’m working out in the morning”. And, it’s about asking for help and not feeling alone. We’re human beings–it’s rare that we do anything alone, so why would we try to make a big change like lose weight without having support? So, if you are trying to lose weight, don’t feel like you need to go at it alone–find support in your friends, in your family, in your coworkers, in anyone who will help you achieve your goals and support the person you are inside.

This book is not for someone who is looking for a way to lose weight (i.e., it won’t give you recipes, meal plans, or exercise goals), but for someone who is trying to lose weight or understand the struggles of someone undergoing weight loss and overcoming a binge eating disorder. In my opinion, it’s a book to help friends and family of someone struggling with weight to understand how complex of an issue it really is!

I am one of those people who are hesitant to embark on a new adventure alone. I have been in situations where, if I don’t know anyone else but the person throwing the party, I will have a difficult time going to the party. I get anxious. I expect that some of you are like me in that sense. I like to envision myself at the event (and hopefully having a good time) before I actually go to the event. If I can’t “see myself in the situation”, I won’t go.

This hesitance covers all aspects of my life: career, social (as mentioned above), and even in my personal fitness. Since my husband stopped running due to a back injury, I have had a couple of opportunities in the area to run local races (5K, 8K, 10K races). However, although I have been “very close” to signing up and have told others “oh, I’m going to run that race too!”, I have become too anxious about the event to actually sign up (”will I be the slowest runner there?”, “how will I get there?”, “will I know anyone else there? If so, will they laugh at me?” etc). After all, my running buddies are not in the immediate area, and running a race would be me–just me–embarking on a new adventure. I’ve always had my husband or friends to be there to help me through these things.

This holiday, the local road runners club threw a New Year’s 5K race that was practically free ($5 for non-members) and there was NO pre-registration until race day so I didn’t have to stress about signing up or losing registration dollars if I didn’t show up–not that I’ve done THAT before!). So, although we had friends over to celebrate the New Year, I decided to get up early and run the race!

Although I had those anxiety-ridden feelings the night prior and the morning of the race, I forced myself to go to the race and actually run. What did I have to lose? My previous fears of being the last person to finish and my fears of not knowing where to go and what to do dissipated when I realized that

a) I just followed everyone else when signing up for the race and running, and
b) I actually finished in the top 42% of female runners (of ~100) and female runners in my age range.

So, what WAS I so afraid of all this time?????

So, I am sure that many of you are probably like me: hesitant to try something new. I’m here to tell you that although it’s natural to be afraid and anxious about some new adventure, it’s important to break through those walls if you want to accomplish goals in life.

Maybe you’re afraid to go to the gym because people will “make fun of you”; the way I see it, if others are making fun of you, then they just aren’t working hard enough at the gym! Maybe you don’t take that aerobics class because you’re afraid you’ll “make a fool of yourself”–do you think the instructor did a perfect routine the first time they took a class? Probably not–just remember, everyone has to start somewhere!

This empowerment I feel today by doing something that I was so afraid to do may not mean that I’ll be able to just forget my anxieties and sign up for/run every race, but I hope that it will help me embark on new adventures that I may have been resistant to even attempting because of that “fear factor”. Good luck on accomplishing your goals and getting over that hump!

_{Photo Courtesy of Violator3}