Slow and Steady Wins the Race

By
Laura Dion-jones


"He that is good for making excuses
is seldom good for anything else."

Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790, American scientist, publisher, diplomat)

Summer is a difficult time of year for me, eating-wise. I know it is for you, too. But then, what time of year isn't?

At Holiday BBQ's and picnics, family reunions and all manner of parties and festivals - tempting goodies surround us everywhere we turn. The key is to develop a new way of eating those celebratory goodies so that we don't pack on the extra poundage that's so harmful to us - like we've done in the past.

I don't have to tell you how, before we know it, excess fat has mysteriously multiplied on our hips, our waistline, our tummy and on other trouble spots, like under our chin(s), beneath our arms and on our butts, backs and cheeks. Summer's hot enough without carrying around all that extra insulation. Been there, done that for a lifetime, it seems.

Well, no more.

A wonderful maintenance technique I've developed for myself is to eat just the burger, not the bun. I've said this 8 trillion times, but it's true. I'm nuts about burgers - just can't eat the bun. They're poison for me, and for others like me who overproduce insulin.

And if you're the least bit fat, chances are you overproduce insulin.

Once you get in the habit of taking the bun, bread and other white, starchy stuff off of your food, you'll wonder how you ever ate that awful, pasty goop in the first place.

Believe me, it's what's lurking right under your skin, bulging you out here, puffing you out there and, well, you know where it is on your own frame.

Go ahead, eat your burger, hot dog or sandwich with all the other trimmings; smother that baby with everything you've got that's not carb-laden. You can even heap up on the salads (lettuce), coleslaw, and many other greens as long as you make sure to go real easy on the dressing.

And no potato salad! Nada. LQQK in the mirror.

Learn to order your burger, dog or sandwich without the bun or get it off your plate immediately. Put it on a separate plate and have the wait-person remove it from the table, push it away from you or cover it with your napkin. Better yet, get up and slip it into the garbage yourself. That way you'll be sure not to be tempted. Do whatever it takes to get it out of your face.

Once you've finished eating, you'll look at that silly piece of soggy, caustic carb sadly sitting there by itself and wonder how in the heck you ever had enough room in your tummy to fit that in there, too.

I guarantee that if you do this every chance you get for a week, you'll be over the hump and will no longer be interested in eating that skanky bun or bread.

Or would you rather wear it?

And like everything else in life, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

For me, it only took twice, just two times, before I got sick thinking of all the bread and buns I've stuffed under my skin in my lifetime. No wonder I was always so fat. Now I'm not.

And beware of the three or five-bean salad, too. Pick out the green beans, leave the rest, and tell Aunt Tillie not to take it personally, you just can't eat these things right now.

All that stuff is tremendously high on the glycemic index and also exceptionally high in harmful carbs. And that's the last thing you need right about now if you're seriously trying to lose weight.

While you're at it, cut the other junk you eat at these parties and picnics in half. Eat more protein. You won't starve and this way you won't feel deprived. I just hope you'll be able to stop at half. For some of us, it's all or nothing.

And the portion control problem is another habit we need to break, since it's how we got where we are in the first place, isn't it?

Don't believe me? Believe the scale. This is why I recommend weighing each and every day. I'd be sunk without it.

I'd also be big and fat once again, if I didn't weight darn near every day. You have no idea what a powerful motivational tool this is for you in your weight loss quest. I could never have lost my 130 pounds in 2 1/2 years if I hadn't weighed myself every single day.

And still the struggle is never-ending.

I can hear some of you: "Oh, for right now I'll just enjoy my summer the way I always have and starting Monday I'll take Laura's advice and go on that diet I've been talking about going on for the last ten years."

Or how about for the last ten or eleven weeks?

Stop waiting for yet another Monday to roll around. If you don't do something about your weight now, sooner or later it will be all or nothing for you, and by then you'll be out of Mondays, too.

Remember the immortal words of our friend the Tortoise: "Slow and steady wins the race, Pal." Learn to make your weaknesses your strengths and your new strength will make you even stronger."


550 N. Kingsbury St. #120
Chicago, IL 60654
312-933-7325
dionjones@aol.com
July 18, 2005©
www.lauradionjones.com
www.lauradionjones.blogspot.com