Bits and Bites

So a few of the thoughts discussed at the AR meeting have been rattling around my brain today. At the last meeting I recommended the book "French Women Don't Get Fat" (love that book) and one of my AR sisters read it. We talked about the principle of compensation and how if French women splurge, they compensate (at least, according to the book they do.) For example, you know you're going to order dessert, so skip the bread course. Or, if you have a a super heavy dinner, do some extra walking the next day. If you must have fries, put a salad with it instead of a cheese-burger.

I generally take an Arthur Dimsdale approach to indulgences and wallow in prolonged guilt trips rather than compensating immediately. This is doubly unhealthy since stress promotes fat retention.

The principle of "eat this, not that" dovetails into the "compensation" approach. No, I've never read the book by that title, but I saw a two minute blurb by the author on Good Morning America. The idea is, don't "diet" just make smarter choices - like pretzel M&Ms over a dove bar. Or get a small steak instead of a super-cheese burger. Feeling indulged and taken care of is important.

So the bottom line is what we've known all along. You can have any food you want, just not all the time. Eat smart, stay sane and take time to enjoy the good stuff.