Jack's Diet Journal

Dieters often don’t know what to do about carbohydrates hereafter referred to as carbs. We think of carbs as the nemesis to our weight gain woes. It might be a giant slice of cake or a plate of cookies. We think of munching on potato chips, crackers, and Little Debbie snacks. Many of the carbs we choose are our downfall. However, let’s not toss the Twinkie out with the quinoa.

Wikipedia says, “A carbohydrate is an organic compound that consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, usually with a hydrogen: oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water); in other words, with the empirical formula C_m(H₂O)_n. (Some exceptions exist; for example, deoxyribose, a component of DNA, has the empirical formula C₅H₁₀O₄.) Carbohydrates are not technically hydrates of carbon. Structurally it is more accurate to view them as polyhydroxy aldehydes and ketones.”

Did that make any sense? Maybe if you are a chemist or biologist, but not to most of us. They didn’t have Wikipedia when I was a high school student. They didn’t even have computers. Back in the dark ages we had to go to the library to steal paragraphs like that to put into our reports.

There are two types of carbs: simple and complex. Complex carbs are starches such as you might find in cereals, bread, and pasta and some vegetables. They may also contain dietary fiber, both soluble and insoluble. Complex carbs require more digestion work and take longer for your body to break down. Simple carbs are sugar such as you might find in candy, jams, and desserts as well as fruits, vegetables, and milk products. The body breaks them down and absorbs them quickly.

Some diets eliminate carbs or severely restrict them. I saw an interview with Drew Cary where he talked about his dramatic weight loss. He said he eliminated the carbs. Did he eliminate all carbs? Some people don’t count natural sugar in such things as tomatoes as carbs. Your body uses carbs to make glucose, which is the fuel that gives you energy, and helps keep everything going. Therefore, we need carbs but in what form? What about so-called good and bad carbs? Stay tuned.

“Setbacks are not failure” – Don Colbert. I saw this quote on Twitter. Yes, I’m on Twitter and I tweet. (Just look me up and follow – Jack Elder @jackgelder) I think this is an important distinction. I have many setbacks. Almost every time I take a trip, it is a setback. Although the last trip I stuck to the plan better than usual. With setbacks come postponement of goals, a little guilt, and depression over the outcome on the scale.

These are only setbacks. Some people have a setback and they think they have failed, and figure what’s the use. If you have been on a weight loss plan for any length of time, you will have had setbacks. We can’t isolate ourselves from all temptations and cookie plates. We are going to grab a cookie. That isn’t even a setback if you figure it into your daily calorie allotment. If you grabbed more than one cookie, you probably have had a setback.

All professional athletes have setbacks. Golfers, for example, do good one week and don’t make the cut the next week. Do they quit? Not usually over one setback. They buckle down and come back stronger.

Setbacks are just life. How you handle the setback is what counts. If you quit, you fail. If you treat it as a learning tool, then you get back as quickly as possible and live the lifestyle. A setback should push you forward. You find out where your weaknesses are. Then next time avoid the cookie plate. Or make healthy cookies and figure them into your plan.

You fail when you give up. Don’t let a setback turn you into a failure. Don’t give up.

Giving up your present lifestyle and opting for healthy isn’t so easy. One person said that her boyfriend “didn’t like all the things you had to give up when you choose a healthy lifestyle.”

First, you aren’t giving up good things. You are saying no to bad things. If you can’t do that then you are just not going to eat healthy. If it’s junk food or junk drinks you crave and you are not about to give those up, then no amount of common sense or information is going to change your mind. “I want a Twinkie and I want it now.”

For many however, what they are giving up isn’t just a Twinkie. With better health, there are fewer visits to doctors. There is less huffing and puffing going up the stairs or on a small hike with the kids or grandkids. You give up greater risk of obesity caused diseases and illnesses. You give up sitting on the couch because you don’t have the energy to do anything. You don’t have to find the nearest parking spot because you can’t walk to the mall from the back.

Yes, there are lots you get to give up. I’m sure you can come up with tons of reasons why you would rather have a healthy lifestyle. You might have a regimented diet, but it doesn’t mean you can’t have a slice of your favorite pizza or a hamburger on occasion. If you eat some forbidden things that isn’t committing the unpardonable sin.

The more you eat good food, the more you will want good food. The body craves nutrients, minerals, and vitamins. Eating clean will help you enjoy life by doing your part to help. We never know what’s in store in our life but if we can assist it in any way we should do that. Giving up junk will help.

Don’t see it has giving up anything good. Just enjoy the healthy life.

The Incredible Shrinking Man is a 1957 science fiction film about a man contaminated by a radioactive cloud and begins to shrink. I wonder if there is a cloud that helps to shrink dieters. I’ll step into the cloud and become The incredible shrinking man.

That was 1950’s science fiction. Today’s diet pills including many “incredible shrinking pills” aren’t any more help than finding a shrinking cloud. You can find a few supplements that help but mostly you must lose weight the old-fashioned way.

We dieters dream of a pill that would just melt off the fat. Almost overnight, we could be at our goal. We never stop to think where the melted fat go would. When dreaming we don’t try to figure things out we just want results.

I watch Biggest Loser each year and I’m amazed at the shrinking men and woman who over the few months they are on the show, lose up to 200 pounds. Talk about shrinking. Each week they shrink before your eyes. Can we do that at home? Maybe if we worked out as they do for hours a day and eat a regimented menu of carefully calculated foods.

We won’t work out for hours, we won’t watch our foods so strictly, and we won’t shrink so fast. In fact, I’m the incredibly slow shrinking man. Just my wallet is shrinking. My belly isn’t moving much.

It’s hard dieting. There are no magic shrinking pills, potions, clouds, or diets that will remove fat before your bare eyes. So get over it and keep working at it even if you see little shrinking.

Every Monday affords us a new start to the week. We’ve been to church and now the week lies ahead, untouched like a clean blackboard. It’s up to us to write the next episode of our lives. Wow, that sounds philosophical. You know what they say about clichés. They are clichés because they have been proven in the vicissitudes of life. Let’s move on.

When it comes to weight loss, there is no quick fix. We live in the society of fast food and drive thru cleaners. We want quick. I like recipes that are easy and quick. Most of us don’t have time to waste.

However, dieting is a slow, sometimes painful process. The scale moves slow and sometimes in the wrong direction. We must stretch out the goals for weight loss over long periods. We agonize over small losses. We must push our patience to the limits. Most people fail at losing.

The sooner we realize that weight loss is a slow process the easier it will be to succeed at losing. We may not get two pounds this week. We may stay where we are for a week or two. The body is in control of how it handles excess weight.

If patience is not your strong suit, you know the weakness on which you have to work. I have worked extremely hard for a week and saw little on the scale for it. You may have seen that as well on the Biggest Loser. A contestant will work very hard all week and only lose a pound or two. This is when patience must kick in and you force yourself to stick with the plan no matter what.

There are no quick fixes, so buckle down for the long haul.