Healthy Mind &Body

TRIM IS GOOD

I rarely read popular women’s magazines;

they are expensive, jammed pack with advertisements and photo shopped glamour pusses.  Dubious gossip mongering headlines, intended to grab the reader’s attention lead into vacuous and unsubstantiated articles about equally vacuous celebrities, who for the most part have no claim to fame.

The most infuriating aspect of women’s magazines for me, however, is the persistent and relentless theme of instant ‘weight loss’. Mythical claims such as ‘Fabulous bodies in five days,’ ‘lose 30 kg in 30 days’.  What rot! I get that women are always on the hunt for ways to improve their health and well-being; we all want to look and feel our best. But do readers really buy into the utter nonsensical claims of the latest weight loss fads, miracle diets and super foods that purport to instantly revamp the metabolism and reshape our physical form into the body beautiful?

You may well ask how I know so much about the content of such print media if I rarely read them. Only when the intensity of my boredom is so great and only when I have exhausted all other options to fill in otherwise idle time, am I tempted to resort to a mag. And that only happens when I am working an unbelievably quiet shift at work or waiting an interminable amount of time in a doctor’s surgery.

Back to the weight loss aspect!

It is not just print media that harps on about weight loss. Our living rooms are bombarded persistently and relentlessly from blaring television screens with news of the latest and most advanced weight loss technology. Morning shows, morning shows before morning shows and then mid-morning shows after morning shows consistently churn out infomercials from excited and enthusiastic devotees of up to the minute methods to attain perfectly sculptured physiques.

It is obvious, with the obesity problem gripping Australia and most first world countries, all the jargon we see and hear pertaining to easy and instant weight loss is not working. It’s all a lot of cods wallop.

THERE IS ONLY ONE TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY BODY WEIGHT AND IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

A HEALTHY BALANCED DIET AND REGULAR...THAT IS REGULAR...... EXERCISE

There is only one sure fire way of attaining a healthy body weight and it is not rocket 

What do I know about it I hear you asking. Well here is the guff. I have maintained a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise for most of my adult life. I read, listen and critically analyse new information about scientific research regarding food and its benefits. As such, I have always been slim and physically fit. My 60^th birthday is looming and although I have thickened slightly around the waist, as women of my age do, I have a healthy body weight and work at staying physically fit. I don’t have the svelte body of a twenty year old, naturally. We can’t avoid the aging process but we can strive for optimal health and well-being and we can, with a bit of effort, be the best we can be for our age.

So here I my tips:

A healthy balanced diet is made up of mostly fresh produce. Your shopping trolley should be abundant with fresh vegetables and seasonal fruits.

Balance out your diet with nuts, unpolished rice, quinoa and whole complex breads.

Include fresh fish, lean meat, chicken and eggs for your protein intake and canned fish (salmon, tuna, sardines) makes your salads interesting and tasty.

·         Breakfast is essential to get the metabolism going. Once you have eaten of a morning you metabolism will start working efficiently to burn calories. Most breakfast cereals are processed, refined and high in sugar and salt.  They are not usually a complex food therefore do not satisfy your hunger for very long. Have you noticed how many brands of sugary cereals line the shelves at your supermarket. Natural muesli is the go. It may have some added sugar but at least the grains resemble the real thing.

·         A starving stomach has no conscience. If you don’t eat you get so ravenous you will be tempted to eat whatever is on hand and that means you won’t lose weight or keep your weight down. It is important to eat at least three meals a day with a healthy morning and afternoon snack. (fruit is the go there) If you stock your fridge and pantry with natural, unprocessed foods you always have healthy alternatives to choose from.  Packing a healthy lunch for work is not only cheaper but usually far more delicious than the junk food bombarding you at every street corner.

·         Low fat, low salt, low sugar  should be your mantra. It is difficult to monitor the amounts of sugar and salt added to food but if you stay away from fried, fatty, packaged and processed goods you will reduce that intake considerably. Cold pressed olive oil for cooking, no marg at all. Butter is pure cholesterol and should be avoided also but it is high in vitamin E and in very small doses shouldn’t do too much damage. No lashings on white bread with vegemite though!

·         A Realistic goal is important if you are serious about weight loss. We each have our own individual body shape and most of us are not endowed with the exquisite genetic makeup of the Mirada Kerr’s of this world. Getting real and learning to accept what we can and cannot achieve will serve to reinforce a positive attitude. Unrealistic expectations only set us up for failure which is so damaging to our sense of self worth.

·         ‘Food glorious food’; we are not superhuman and there are always going to be temptations but food can be delicious, healthy and satisfying without resorting to regular junk binges.  Media pressure, glossy, touched up magazine shoots and the brainwashing we are confronted with every day about good food, bad food, super foods and super diets is out of control. Self-obsession is rife, and in my view ugly. Sticking to a diet requires discipline and commitment for sure but to be totally self-absorbed with how you look is shallow. Don’t take yourself so seriously and indulge, once in a while, with the not so healthy foods. Just remember to enjoy it and to burn it off with some heavy duty calorie burning exercise the next day.

·         Exercise keeps us young, vibrant and engaged with life. It keeps the blues away and motivates us to strive for happiness. The success of almost all fad diets and fan dangle new weight loss miracles are documented hand in hand with mention of a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise regime. Often it is written in the fine print, obscured by incredulous photos of massive bodies morphed into mini bodies.  Brisk walking, cycling, running, tennis, soccer, footy, step classes, lap swimming, dancing of any sort will all burn energy. Pilates, yoga, body balance and meditation do wonders for the mind and body. They enhance core strength, flexibility, coordination and relaxation.