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Trick but no treat….
On the radio today I heard a story about a woman who is refusing to give out candy to overweight children. She is instead giving these children notes to take home to their parents about how they need to lose weight.
These kids who may already feel self-conscious or be made fun of for their weight are going to be handed a note while their skinnier friends around them get candy….
Sounds like a great way to stop bullying and build children’s self-esteems!
NOT!
While teaching moderation is important it shouldn’t be done on Halloween OR in this way!
Ok I’m all for teaching our kids about healthy eating, but this simply is not the way.
Yes, childhood obesity is a problem. Yes, I would love to promote healthier eating to our kids. Yes, I kind of believe that drastic measures need to be taken and the community needs to become involved.
But NOT on a holiday based around eating candy until your belly hurts is not the time.
This is actually the attitude that irritates me more than anything else.
We vilify holidays and restaurants and even busy schedules as the reason why we or our children are overweight.
We focus on not eating “too badly” over Thanksgiving or Christmas.
But the real problem isn’t those few days during the year that we decide to indulge. It is the decisions we make those 300 some other days that really causes the problems.
Trick-or-treating on Halloween isn’t the cause of childhood obesity and a child shouldn’t be penalized on that day.
Instead we need to focus on teaching healthy habits on those other 300 some odd days that aren’t holidays.
So tomorrow indulge in those treats. Heck maybe even eat too many.
But then get right back on track the next day! The day after Halloween is the perfect time to instill the healthy habit of MODERATION with all that leftover candy (which half of it will finally be thrown away around New Years when all the yucky candy remains uneaten!).
Oh and one last thing….Embarrassing a kid isn’t going to change things. While teaching kids and telling kids the right way to behave is important, it is more important that we adults actually LEAD BY EXAMPLE.
So if this woman actually wanted to prevent childhood obesity, she would be working to get better food into the schools. Or help make healthier foods easier to obtain. Or even leading a class for parents about preparing healthy family meals on a budget.
But no…instead she is choosing to shame and bully a little kid….Great job fighting childhood obesity!
NOT!
Thanksgiving – Diet or Indulge
I swear if you looked at top searches over the past week you would find something involving “Thanksgiving” and “diet.”
It seems like half of the United States population decides to freak out about their diet around Thanksgiving…not the 364 other days of the year…but on Thanksgiving…the one day they should, in my opinion, indulge.
And most of the tips that you will find are absolutely ridiculous:
- Drink water so that you feel fuller and don’t eat as much. (That has never ever worked for me..I always still eat as much but just feel way fuller at the end…like I’m going to explode…)
- Use a smaller plate (I’d love to see someone ask their host for a smaller plate…)
- Make sure to eat breakfast (If you’ve ever done IF, you will be better off fasting UNTIL the meal)
- Exercise on Thanksgiving (How about you exercise the other 364 days and take Thanksgiving off. That will probably help you burn more calories in the end than going for a long walk on Thanksgiving)
- Skip the dark meat (UHM HELLO!?! The dark meat is the best part! AND not bad if you eat Primal/Paleo.)
Ok so those tips are totally bogus. People waste a perfectly good holiday meal trying to stick to their diet by following those tips.
And I even tell most of my clients that if they like Thanksgiving food, this is one day they should indulge. I tell them they need to stick to their diet until the day of and go right back on afterwards, but for that one day, that is based around food and family, they can indulge.
I just think there can be too much stress and deprivation involved in trying to stick to a diet on Thanksgiving.
But not everyone agrees with me. And while I don’t believe in dieting on Thanksgiving (I DEFINITELY count it as a cheat meal!), Mark’s Daily Apple does give some good recommendations on how to prepare a Primal Thanksgiving or how to stick to Primal if you’re not cooking.
So if you think a cheat day will derail your progress or make it hard to get back on track, maybe following good (underlining good) tips like the ones on Mark’s Daily Apple will be the way to go.
For me though there is no question about whether or not I’m dieting or indulging. I’m always going to cheat on Thanksgiving. For me, it is absolutely worth it to eat pie, gravy, cranberries cooked with sugar and stuffing (I LOVE STUFFING).
What do you think? Is it worth it to indulge? Or do you stick to your diet?
Man Bicep 