I avoid weighing scales. Period. Atrocious behavior for a health care professional, I know, but the last time I weighed myself a while ago I was so shocked I employed some radical action. That included not weighing myself until after my hardcore exercise programme, until my jeans stopped being so tight and of course after the ‘final diet’. The diet that is supposed to be the diet of all diets. The one which will finally work. The elusive food regimen which would shed the kilograms once and for all. Ha, wishful thinking!
I, like many women, have been dieting on and off for as long as I can remember. My yoyo-dieting started at the age of eleven when I suddenly realized that my thighs were bigger than most girls in my class. Of course then, puberty had not been explained fully especially the part that girls reach it at different times. Then of course there is the love-to-hate body part that comes in and out of my life. It’s usually the only thing you see when you look in the mirror. This particular season is the season of that little fold above the bra-line. It’s like an animal! Where on earth did it come from? And I also like to think I love food more than the average woman. How can you turn down the very essence of happiness? Food represents togetherness. Doesn’t it? Where was it that I read that people who eat ice-cream are more contented with life generally? But my boarding school matron’s threats also resonate in my head, “Once on the lips, forever on the hips!”All these issues and some followed a myriad of different diets up to present day.
Women of this century, worldwide, struggle to be their ideal weight. The tiny fraction of the female population that is seen on TV portray an unrealistic Barbie-like figure whose height and proportions has been proven impossible. It doesn’t help that air-brushing, camera special effects and the best fashion-experts make these celebrities even more perfect compared to that frump we see staring back at us in the mirror. Unfortunately weight not only has a social implication but a very serious correlation to our health.
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| My enemy |
Being over-weight has been proven to increase risks of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, breathing problems, osteo-arthriris, gall bladder disease, and some cancers. Long list? The sad part is that those are just some of the risks. Being over-weight or obese means being too heavy for your height. This is what is known as the Body Mass Index or BMI. It is normal between 20 and 25. Anything over 30 is obese.
So, what then is the final diet? What works for everyone? Is there an ultimate regimen that has been scientifically proven to help all women lose weight, cravings and all? There are so many schools of thought, so many popular diets that have come and gone. The Atkins Diet – high protein, low carbohydrate; Dr Phil’s Diet – strict calory-counting course of therapy; Slimfast – a diet-pill which helps you to lose weight in a very short time; the Cabbage Soup Diet – where you…erm…eat cabbage soup and so on and so forth. It seems there are new women’s diets and weight loss programmes coming up every other day.
Melanie (27) says she sticks to eating 2 meals a day and makes sure that one of those meals is breakfast. She ensures that breakfast is hearty including a fruit juice, some ‘brown’ cereal and low-fat yoghurt. Melanie’s breakfast is good because food intake over the day should be tapered ideally in proportion to the energy used over the course of the day. Always choose brown over white. Whether it is bread, sugar or flour. Melanie can have an egg and bacon guilt-free too. Just try and boil and grill instead of frying.
Doreen (21) employs a vegetarian diet every time she wants to get rid of that unwanted flab. Cutting out certain foods completely is dangerous because you can develop a vitamin or mineral deficiency. Going vegetarian does not necessarily mean you will cut out some nutrients though. Your choice in foods just has to be wide and you have to get creative in the kitchen to maintain variety. It is difficult to propose this because meat has always held importance in the African meal. Soy-meat introduces new ways of eating vegetarian.
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| Unfortunately soy-meat will never look like this |
Design is a 48 year old woman who complains that her big-bone build was inherited from her father’s side of the family. She believes that the BMI is a western index that does not put into consideration the ‘African body’. It is true that across the world there are different ethnic groups who have different body types. You cannot compare a pigmy woman of Congo to the Herero of Namibia. But indeed the BMI is consistent with each group’s morbidity and mortality ratio’s. It is the international yardstick to gauge over and under-weight. Know your ideal weight and aim for it daily.
There has been a lot of hot-water drinking after meals. Salwa (30) can testify to this. “I found it unfair that my best friend was so skinny and could eat anything she liked all the time! It was not until I started drinking hot water with a bit of lemon that I noticed real changes in my body weight. I had to do hundreds of sit-ups as well, though.” The hot-water diet has no scientific base but seems to work for many. Green tea or green tea extracts, however, were reported by the Nebraska Medical Centre to reduced body fat in mice, possibly by inhibiting the absorption of fats and starches. The fluids we take in alongside food are very important. Avoid soda’s and alcohol. These are weight-gains main culprits. Salwa also raised the important issue of exercise. Diets work well with an exercise adjuvant.
“I can’t diet because of my work!” Twenty-eight year old, Mandy, insists there is a conspiracy preventing her from dieting successfully. She has a demanding job that requires her to think on her feet and she cannot do that on an empty stomach and that same intense job leaves her hungry at the end of the day and all she wants is to eat ‘something with oil and salt.’ Many foods today have an added ingredient to make our brains think that the food tastes extra good, so we keep eating more and more. This ingredient goes by many names, MSG, monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, yeast extract, autolyzed yeast, flavor enhancer, etc. This stuff is in everything and it could almost be called a cravings-creating brain stimulant. It makes foods seem to taste so good that you just keep eating and eating. Also food is mass produced on soil lacking nutrients, animals are fed antibiotics to make them grow quicker but they contain less wholeness. Your body craves this missing whole-food nutrition, so you feel hungry more of the time. Womens-Health Questions recommends that we take a high quality multi-vitamin supplement and an omega 3 fish oil supplement. These will give you more of the nutrients you need as well as stop the cravings for ‘oil and salt’. Avoiding MSG products helps too. Cook your own take-away.
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| Finger-licking goodness? |
Molly (33) suspects that she gained weight due to her use of oral contraceptives. She doesn’t know whether to keep taking them at the expense of her weight. It is true that one of the side effects of hormonal contraceptives (The Pills, injectables, rings, implantations, Morning-after pills) is weight gain. No two women react the same way to these contraceptives so it is difficult to attribute the weight gain to the contraceptive. It could be just poor eating or lack of exercise. It is important to understand the options available when it comes to contraception. Sometimes a more permanent and non-hormonal method like intra-uterine devices are recommended for women who have severe side-effects.
Sometimes peers prevent each other from dieting. Funny comments from ‘non-dieting’ friends may discourage you. Be confident in your choices. Over half the population needs to lose weight so they will soon be following your example. Sometimes people just need someone to emulate. Violet (56) attends a prayer group which meets every week. It has become tradition to provide sweet eats and tea after the meeting. She says every home tries to out-do the last by having more and more cake and cookies as treats. One would consider it offensive to refuse to taste something in our African culture. Violet decided to try something different by making the eats at her house after the meeting based on traditional foods. She had slices of boiled sweet potato, some grilled nuts, boiled maize grazed with lemon and boiled chicken and lettuce sandwiches. These are all low fat and sugar foods but highly appreciated. Be the change you want to see around you!
Eating out can be tricky. Always assess the menu and avoid fried foods. Remember boiled, grilled, steamed, broiled, baked or poached is always better than fried. Have a salad instead of chips. Ask the waiter to use low fat salad dressing instead of mayonnaise. If you are unavoidably at a take-away try the grilled chicken. Don’t listen to the ‘Dare for More’ or ‘Obey your Thirst’ soda ads. Stick to water. Having tonnes of juice does not help either. One glass of orange juice contains sugar of 5 oranges!
The reality is that there is no final diet. A new eating lifestyle is the key to weight loss. Weight creeps up on you from bad habits and slow but sure calorie-cheats. Make permanent changes like getting smaller plates so that your servings are smaller. Eat like you live in the stone age: meat, vegetables and fruits. Stone-age man did not have chocolate, potato crisps or Fanta. It’s a lifestyle, don’t get excited when you do lose that weight and splurge in fatty food. Maintaining weight is harder than losing. Give up desserts as a rule. No second helpings. Do not add salt. There is no one solution, it’s about many little things and you on your way to a new diet-free lifestyle that will keep those kilograms off for good.
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