primalendeavour:

“I know I should give up ____…”

“I just love ____ too much.”

“But ____ are just so good.”

“I’m just a carb-o!  LOL!”

“You have to die from something, right?”

“I would miss it.”

“I know it’s bad for me, but I love it.”

I file lines like those in my brain as “most often-used lame excuses.”  This doesn’t apply just to dietary issues, which I know I tend to harp on, they apply to everything.  Bad habits.  Vices.  Treats.  Whatever they are and whatever we want to call them, some things are just bad for us.

For a lot of people, it’s an issue of stress management.  For others, its a coping tool for other emotions.  Sometimes food, a cigarette, a drink or a round of risky sexual activity is deemed necessary to get through the day.

On the one hand, I am sympathetic.  Life can be tough.  But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I have reached a conclusion that might be tough to accept, but it’s the truth.

There is a certain group of people in the world that exists across all countries, continents and languages.  They love things that are sweet, comfortable and reassuring.  Even if it has the potential to cause them great harm, they will continue to desire it for the temporary or superficial reassurance or pleasure that these favorite things bring.  If you ask to take these things away, you will receive a sharp “NO!” in response.

Who are these people?  It should be obvious by now.  They are children.

Children want what they want.  They don’t care what it does or how it might hurt them, they want what they want.  And it will be a cold day in hell before you take it away.

But we aren’t children (okay, there might be a few high school thinspo blogs following me that might qualify), we are the adults who are supposed to be leading by example.  And what example do we set when children grow up hearing us excuse and rationalize everything that know we should change?

And this is the part where I bring it back around to diet.  It is impossible to raise healthy kids if we are unconsciously teaching them to rationalize bad choices!

“It’s okay, I’ll run that pizza off in the morning.”

“I’ve been good this week, think I’ll have another slice of cake.”

Are you a child or an adult?

There comes a time when we have to be responsible for how we live and the choices we make.  If you are obese and have reached the age of accountability, your obesity is no longer your mom’s fault, your grandparents’ fault or your budget’s fault.  You are the only one who can change your life.  No one else.  You.

We cannot be children.  This is a nation of excess and easy living.  We cannot let that lull us into a childlike state of accepting metaphorical lollypops or thinking that something as mandatory as getting to the end of the week somehow requires an indulgence or forgives a binge.

This isn’t just about food.  I’m talking about a lifestyle of responsibility.  A philosophy that pervades your entire life.  A philosophy that guides you into eating right because moderation and good sense is an overall lifestyle of which diet is only a part.

Well said!! It baffles me how often people think they should coddle themselves or they “can’t” do whatever. Stop lying to yourself.