Beer and Salad - Life Beyond South Beach 


Dieting is a mass-marketed phenomenon 

I busted my butt today. Worked 10 hours, (got my CPR renewed -whoooohoooo!) and then came running home 1/2 later than I like to, to let the dog out while her legs were crossed at the back door, then off to the gym, then off to the grocery store (I am making omelettes to order for the administrative assistants at work tomorrow, in honor of administrative professionals week.... ain't I a great boss?), then home to run doggie around a few blocks and now back in my unbearably hot home in which I refuse to turn on the A/C cause last week I had the heat running. Phew.

So I am drinking a Corona (Lite of course) and eating a yummy salad of mixed asian greens with croutons and a fabulous raspberry vinaigrette. Soon I will snarf down a plate of sausage and perogies. Yum. Screw the South Beach diet.

Eons ago, well ok 6 years ago anyway, I did my one and only bodybuilding show.... and I had to diet down from 185 to 160 in 3 months. It just about killed me. I ate nothing that had carbs in it for like 6 weeks.

We as a society have become so preoccupied with our weight, bodyfat, and body image. I have no problem admitting that I am a gym fascist and that if I skip two days at the gym I feel like I am ripping the seam of my pants and my arms are shrinking and some little kid is gonna kick sand in my face at the beach... but still, the fitness industry boomed in the 90s, with all these companies like EAS releasing bogus supplement after supplement and pills and the whole ridiculous andro thing (come on folks, Andro breaks down into nothing in your tummy, the pro athletes have access to the real good drugs and the drugs that mask the presence of them in their urine tests... let's be honest here... Mark McGwire was most likely on WAY MORE than andro). It was all in the quest to become fit and muscled and look great naked.

Now we are pushing dieting like crazy. Atkins, South Beach, nutrition bars, even Dr Phil. Ugh. Diet book after diet book.

Didn't Bloom County get it right years ago when one of the characters told Opus to "Eat Less and Exercise" instead of doing these ridiculous diets???

Now I am a healthy and hearty (and 35 waisted) 210 pounds and I love it. I'd love to get back to like 195, cause my body looks great at that weight, (I almost get abs there!), but my body seems really content and happiest (as in I don't wake up at 2 a.m. needing a peanut butter sandwich or someone gets hurt) (and no I am not pregnant) when I am around 205. When I join a team sport (rugby) or train for an event (aidsride), I get lean and feel really great and sexy and cute and take my shirt off at the club and all. But these days, I ain't all that interested in the club and I ain't too worried about the only people to see me shirtless - my neighbors seeing me with my shirt off while I mow the lawn - so I live quite happily cause until my doctor tells me to do so I am NOT giving up my corona, my perogies, desert when I eat out, or those little cookies that snackwells makes that I can eat an entire box of in one sitting.

It doesn't mean I don't freak out and add more time on cardio to my routine at the gym, but never again will I diet like a fiend..... 

Posted: Mon - April 19, 2004 at 09:24 PM          
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