‘Of lean mean diet fads and the obsession with being a “lightweight”.’
People all around me are disappearing. Friends, some family, acquaintances, even people on the big and small screen are slowly and surely whittling away to a fast approaching state of nothingness, and voluntarily too.
Words like “meals”, “healthy” and “eat” make them cringe while words like “Low Carbohydrate”, “High Protein” and “Zero Fat” light up their dull faces.
The new vocabulary seems to be A for Anorexic. B for Bran. C for Calories. D for Diet. E for Enema. F for Fat-free, and so on.
People have somehow got the idea into their heads that being thin is “in” and eating is the eighth deadly sin. Out to lunch and feverishly masticating a stick of celery, they will proudly list out the “latest diet” they are slavishly following. Between fragile sips of warm water with some lemon squeezed in (“very good for weight loss and skin”), they will screw up their face, deciding which of the lesser-calorie-d devils to choose from the menu.
Ordering is a Herculean mental task. No fat, low calorie, no protein, low carbohydrate and no starch, please! All these requirements plus the food should taste like heaven and should slide right through you. After ages spent pondering and weighing the menu something that is green and tastes like water is ordered. It also looks like something even a cow would turn away finding it boring. Slimming food, you see!
Also, read Don’t lose health while losing weight.
Lean mean diet fads
A particular favourite seems to be a diet which was actually conceptualized for the factory workers of a motor company. No alcohol. Lots of water. Food groups divided into days. So, you can have fruits only on a certain day, vegetables on the next, a mix of both fruits and vegetables on the third day, meat on the fifth and so on and so forth. After segregating the days and food groups and what-not you don’t even get a car at the end of the diet! What a waste!
Sippers are the latest fashion accessory and you will see people with these innocuous little contraptions everywhere. “Water, dahling, water!” you are enlightened “10-12 glasses a day.” Keeps you full, flushes out toxins and keeps the skin supple and moisturized” all this explained in between.
Math is no longer a dreaded subject anymore, and much needed too. You can literally see the calculators in the brain of ‘dieters’ frantically tapping away as they furiously calculate calories. As they are always trying to figure out the fat, protein, and carbohydrates percentages in each food. Then trying to figure out how many calories have been used up already and how many more can be consumed.
Lean mean diet fads
Chalky, brightly-colored and artificially flavoured meal replacement drinks, some of which have so many chemicals you shouldn’t be allowed to buy them without a prescription. Also, specially prepared low fat, baked-instead-of-fried “diet food” is popular “must try” fads fast flying off the shelves.
If you covet Mrs. Malhotra’s dessert more than her diamonds and dream of Butter Chicken instead of Shahrukh Khan, you need a bite, not a diet.
This post is for friendship day special guest post series.
About the author –
Mayuri Nidigallu is a Tarot Consultant by Profession and an Author, Blogger, and Writer by design. Since she is already aware of what the future holds, she enjoys unwrapping the present. She writes at Srimiri.in
Also, read the previous guest post by Mayuri.
August 20, 2018 at 11:01 am
Fad meets death so fast that one doesn’t get enough time to shed a tear for it. But leaves the one who is a follower of the fad into poor state and test! Wish people keep their eyes and ears open and carry a thinking cap all the time so as to avoid being victim of the fad.
Thought provoking post Mayur. An eye opener!