NOW PLAYING: Diet & Exercise2 July, 2004 So. The Wife has decided to put us on the South Beach Diet. She wants to lose the Baby Weight a little quicker, and I told her I'd play along. My folks have been on that diet for a while now, and have shed a bunch of pounds and seem to have improved their overall health, too. I could stand to lose the usual 10-20 pounds, even though I've been at the same weight for a couple of years now. I seem to have reached a plateau around 165, but I wouldn't mind dropping back down to the low 150s. I haven't read the book, but the things that the Wife pointed out to me seem to make a good bit of sense: stay away from highly processed, refined foods, cut out as much sugar as possible, etc. Of course, like the "eeeeeevil" Atkins regime, this mostly flies in the face of the Official Government Recommendations of "eat lots of grains (carbohydrates)" -- which means it must be good. Other noteworthy things about eating this way (i.e., "healthy") are that it's not only quite a bit more expensive, but it also takes a lot more time. We're talking fresh ingredients here, so the groceries cost more; and since they're fresh (raw), we -- by which I mean "Wifey," in our case -- has to do all the prep-work (processing) before being able to consume the food. Given that the average American family has both parents (assuming that both parents are even around) working, and kids to take care of, and a thousand other responsibilities to deal with, it's no wonder that a lot of folks choose to either grab something at the take-out window or buy the "pre-processed" foodstuffs that they can easily heat-n-eat. Add to that the sedentary lifestyle most of us have, and it's no wonder that the country is full of fatties. Anyway, so far so good on the diet -- it doesn't even seem like a "diet" at this point, but time will tell.
Update: Okay, so after the first two weeks, I'd like to modify the above paragraph. Some days it doesn't seem like a diet ... other days have been very "diet-y." I've lost 6 pounds at this point, but I haven't been following the entire menu as faithfully as The Wife has (i.e., I've been "cheating" occasionally). But my pants do fit better, which is a definite plus. Breakfast is pretty good, lunch is usually good -- it's the dinners that every now and then leave me thinking, "Yeah, this really is a diet." I will also re-confirm that this is a more expensive way to eat -- our weekly food bills have climbed significantly. And now, some "South-Beach-isms" courtesy of The Wife: "It's called the 'South Beach Diet' because you have to be able to afford to live in South Beach to afford to eat like this." and: "This diet doesn't have to stress 'exercise' because you'll get plenty of it running back and forth to the grocery store for all the fresh ingredients." and: "I haven't seen the center aisles of the grocery store since we started this thing... I go from the 'fresh veggies' area, then through the 'meats' section in back, to the 'dairy' aisle and up to the checkout." We've got to admit, though, that we are losing weight, and since the meals are all quite good, it's relatively painless. We'll see how it goes.
visit the now playing archives
|