My friend who sold me on the Low-carb lifestyle (she's a model in her late 30's btw) gave me this book, "Why we get fat" a few weeks back. I had a day off today, so I finally started reading it last night.
The book is a revelation. 'Least to me. Because I have all those people in my life - the girl who exercises everyday and is still overweight. The emaciated - chronic under eater. The yo-yo dieter. The girl who has a chef who cooks and plans her meals every week (she's a mess anytime we eat out). The emotional eater.
Hell, I've been most of those people at some point.
I used to exercise excessively - It helped till it didn't. I was anorexic for a while - In my defense, It was brought on by depression not vanity. I've tried at least 3 different types of diets that have all failed me. (Vegan (Skinny Bitch), Portion Control and Juice fasting (the most ridiculous diet ever created)). Okay - I've never had anyone cook for me to keep me fit. That's insane. I'm THE quintessential emotional eater. I eat whenever i'm happy. I eat mindlessly, because food in our culture is celebration and happiness. If anything in my life reels out of control I lose weight. I just can't eat.
Another point that sold me on the ideas in this book is that I don't look fat - not as fat as I am... obviously. That's because all my sisters + mother + aunts + me we don't store fat on our faces or bellies. We have "thunder thighs" and "bingo wings" instead. :)
What I finally connected to last night - after reading this book (yes I stayed up most of the night) is that it IS hormonal and genetic predisposition that makes me fat.
Here's an excerpt, "...led him to the conclusion that some tissue is obviously “lipophilic” and avidly accumulates fat, and other tissue is not. This attribute, he noted, differs not only from tissue to tissue but from person to person. Just as some parts of the body have an affinity for growing hair and others don’t, and some people are hairier than others, some have an affinity for accumulating fat and others don’t, and some people are fatter (their bodies are more lipophilic) than others. These people fatten easily, and it often seems there’s nothing they can do about it. Others, whose bodies are not lipophilic, are lean; they find it difficult to put on weight, even if they make a concerted effort."
This book makes me look at food and weight in a totally different, yet very comfortably understandable way. It makes sense to me. Ah well - that gets all my excitement out for now. :)
Happy eating, Sam
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