The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook

In keeping with the theme in January regarding resolutions, we thought we would take some time to discuss a favorite topic of many of us…food.  Many of us have resolved to eat better or have decided to go on a diet.  A lot of my co-workers are doing ‘Keto’ or ‘Paleo’ which seem to be the fad diets that are in now.  As I reflected on food trends over the years, I was reminded of a few stories that made me smile. 

-In the 90s, I did the cabbage soup diet, have any of you ever tried that one?  The guarantee was fast weight loss because there were enzymes in the soup that facilitated fat burning at a rapid rate (or something like that).  After a few weeks of being on that diet, the only thing that was facilitated was my dislike of cabbage which lasted for quite a while afterward. 

-A relative of my husband’s, who had always struggled with their weight, decided to try a popular food prep and delivery service to help with weight loss.  The way it worked was that you would choose the meals for the week and they would be delivered to your door.  No fuss, no muss, you would be ready for your week!  The meals were great, except he had to double up to get full.  So that didn’t work. 

-My husband says he is gluten free and he is, most of the time but sometimes, when he has a craving and is carb-loading, I call him gluten-full.   

Shades readers, we are just having a bit of fun with the fad diets that we all seem to gravitate to in one way or another and we do recognize that some of these diets, like the gluten free diet, have proven health benefits and don’t quite fit in the category of ‘fad’.  It’s just fascinating that there have been so many different types of diets over the years, all promising to garner quick results.  Which do you try?  Do any of them really work on a sustained basis?

Another thing that puzzles us about all of the different findings about food and nutrition that we get bombarded with every day is how contradictory they can seem to be. 

For example, should we intermittently fast or eat small portions of a varied diet through the day?  Is fat good or bad for you/does fat make you fat or not?  Should we drink coffee or red wine or are caffeine and alcohol not good for us?  Is going vegetarian a healthier option or not?  How about eggs – should we or shouldn’t we?  The constant barrage of arguments for and against is head spinning!

We know there are answers to all of those questions and one shouldn’t paint all of the information with a broad brush – for example, there are good fats and bad fats so of course, we should stay away from the bad ones.  It is just amazing how much information is out there to wade through. 

We think a healthy amount of skepticism about food fads and different diets is a good thing.  We feel strongly that you should do what works for you in your quest to gain and keep overall good health.  So if intermittent fasting is working, great, but make sure you do your research so you know exactly what you are doing.

What we do absolutely know, Shades readers, is that life is short so please have a small slice of the cake. 

Have a great week!

(Blog title credit - Julia Child)