Nurse's Notes
2002 View
Feasting and Fat—the Holiday Nemesis
I have been “overweight” all my life—I weighed a pound more than the
average baby when I was born and it never got better. Thinking about
what I eat and thinking “I can’t eat this” are daily factors in my
life, almost as pervasive as prayer. Only by constant thought can I
keep myself in ordinary sizes and away from being “obese”. My father
and both grandmothers were heavy—my mother and both grandfathers
were slim. Why couldn’t I have inherited those genes?
It didn’t help that I grew up in the upper Midwest, where meat and
potatoes are the food staples, fish is only eaten fried (if at all),
the usual vegetables are corn, peas or beans (and tomatoes in
season), and there is always a dessert. Fortunately for me, my
parents didn’t consider salads “exotic” as did the parents of some
of my friends. We actually had fruit in the house for snacks—apples,
peaches in the summer, and oranges at Christmas time. It also
doesn’t help that about the only “exercise” I really like is to turn
the pages of a book, one page at a time!
Obesity is a national epidemic in the United States, partly because
we tend to “super-size” everything. The media and medical personnel
continually discuss the problem, especially with regards to our
children. Except for a very few poor souls who have major metabolic
problems or are on certain medications, the only reason anyone gains
weight is that they take in more calories than they burn off.
Period. Therefore the only way to lose weight is to either reduce
the caloric intake or increase the caloric burn-off through activity
such as walking. There is no “magic” bullet and no fancy diet that
changes this very basic fact.
Unfortunately for the ladies, men lose weight easier than women.
Physiologically they use up more calories per pound of body weight
than women do. ‘Tain’t fair, but that’s the way it is. Women were
designed by God to maintain their weight through famine, in order to
survive, produce children, and nourish them. Our bodies are still
prepared for famine, which thankfully is not a problem in the United
States, but the excess fat is.
Celebrating with food is a very important part of our culture. We
are offered “treats” whenever we socialize, here at the church after
services, for example. The holiday season is especially difficult
for dieters and others who need to watch what they eat for various
reasons. The holidays are laden with food—Christmas cookies,
fruitcake, hard sauce, pies, ham, turkey dressing, gravies, wine,
homemade candies. Avoiding weight gain is a constant battle.
There are certain “tricks” to getting past Christmas and New Year’s
without over-indulging. One is to eat small, frequent meals, so that
you never become excessively hungry. Another is to eat before you
attend a party where you know there will be a lot of high caloric
food for grazing, and then not eating when you are not hungry.
Alcohol contains a lot of calories—no one will notice if you are
drinking club soda “with a twist”. Weigh yourself every morning
without fail, and if the numbers begin to creep up, get control
right then! It is far easier to lose two pounds than twenty!
This is a blessed season. Learn to enjoy the sights and sounds and
smells of Christmas without indulging too much in the taste. Let’s
all have a happy and healthy New Year!
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