The Social Aspect (Family)

One of the toughest things about dieting is the social aspect of eating, particularly if you’re trying to change long-term habits and lifestyle instead of just running a crash diet.

Often the only time I see extended family members socially is at some sort of eating occasion. Oh, we’ll work on projects or help each other move or whatnot, but the only time we just get together to spend time, we are usually having a lunch or something. Maybe we’ll all get together for dinner, we have holiday celebrations, etc.

If this is at a restaurant, portions are out of control AND we really have no idea what is healthy to eat. Yummm…those green beans and chicken sure were good and we thought we they were healthy…well, until we found out that to make them taste better they add lard to the beans and inject the chicken with a hot broth that is butter-laden and rich in trans-fatty goodness. How else do you manage to stuff 2200 calories in a chicken breast and green beans?

Plus, eating out is expensive…we paid for it, we generally feel we need to eat it to get our money’s worth. This is particularly dangerous in a buffet-style place.

If the meal is at home, we all seem compelled to put out these giant spreads of food…many of them rich or decadent, and of course, your host expects you to try everything…if you don’t you’ll hear something like, “You didn’t like the (insert whatever you didn’t stack your plate with here)?” Family social occasions are not a success unless everybody goes away stuffed.

Rarely is there any kind of family social occasion that doesn’t involve food, and it’s never a simple meal. When’s the last time you had family over for something simple or light (or that didn’t involve food at all)?

This is even a problem with immediate family…for instance just me and the wife. If she cooks, I feel compelled to eat it. Leaving it untouched or only partially consumed seems to be an insult to the cook and the effort expended. It simply irritates her to have me say, “No thanks.” and often she will prepare or offer something else in its place.

This is not her fault…it’s ingrained by our society and social values. She’s the caregiver. This is a hard thing to overcome.

Hopefully looking at some of these issues from the outside in will help make them easier to deal with. Unfortunately, it seems that the indivdual (me) just has to get to a point where he/she says, “enough” and is willing to offend if necessary, the loved ones in his/her life. Individual, outside support simply just really isn’t there…and the consequences can be serious to relationships. Spousal jealousy/insecurity (He/she’s getting in shape! Is he/she looking/hunting?) and family gatherings can suffer. I myself, gave it up on a low carb lifestyle even though it was working for me and I was healthier than I’d been in three decades because at any occasion where I was observed practicing it, I was preached to about how it must be a fad or dangerous. At the time, it seemed less damaging to myself in the long term to preserve my family and spousal relationship than it did to worry about my “figure”.

Ah well. That’s not the case any longer. I’ve had enough. This is for me.

Damn the consequences.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer