Image by Chris at You Look Tired
… a cross between an elephant and a rhinoceros?
Elephino. (Say it out loud.)
… someone with no musical ability who hangs out with musicians?
A drummer.
… people who use the rhythm method for birth control?
Parents.
… someone on a low-fat diet?
Fat.
Okay, that’s a little unfair. What I meant to say is: Someone on a low-fat diet is going to be fat.
Undieting
Undieting is based on two simple ideas. First, willpower just doesn’t work.[nonmember]..
Sign up for a free guest membership to see the rest of this post.[/nonmember][ismember] Eventually you’re going to cheat. And most people, when they cheat, feel like they’ve failed their diet and just give up. Now you’re fat and feeling guilty. Yippee.
Second, no one likes to spend every day thinking about what they aren’t allowed to eat. So what you have to do is think about what you’re eating instead. You can eat a doughnut for breakfast, or you can have a ham and spinach omelet instead. You can have neon orange mac and cheese from a box, or you can have pan-seared pork chops and roasted asparagus instead.
I know what you’re thinking. “Omelets and pork chops … cheating on purpose … How can this possibly make me lose weight?”
Well …
Weight loss is just a side-effect of eating better
I’m not a diet-and-exercise guy, putting out a collection of recipes that happen to go with my diet plan. [cough … Tim Ferris … cough] I’m coming from the other direction: My blog How To Cook Like Your Grandmother has spawned three books; I’ve been writing about food since 2007 without ever talking about weight loss or fitness.
What I’m saying is I’m a food guy first. I knew that there’s no way I’m going to stick to a diet that says I can never have bread and pasta again. And I’m sure as hell not going to carry around a deck of cards that tells me when I’m done eating for the day.
That doesn’t mean I can’t still lose weight. I just had to find a way that didn’t feel like I was depriving myself of the joy that comes from good food.
Starting next week I’ll be sharing recipes, and the ideas behind them, based on three years of studying food, metabolism, and the psychology of eating. Follow along as I keep making the same great food I’ve always made, and get into the best shape of my life at the same time.[/ismember]