Just say no to shake diets!

A dear friend mentioned to me that she is seeing a new doctor (a PA, actually) about his weight loss plan. The plan involves some sort of shake and $200 a month. That's all my friend knew, but she was on board. After all, he's a doctor!

Now. My friend is indeed overweight. She's also 70 years old, and has tried more than her share of "diets". My heart breaks at the thought of her jumping into another one - it's like watching someone drive off into the intersection, not seeing what you see - a big truck speeding right towards them!

It also makes me very frustrated - why is she so willing to put so much time, money, and energy into something that will not work in the long run? Here is what is going to happen: she will go on the diet, feel great about herself for a little while, lose a little weight, start thinking about real food, start dreaming about real food, start obsessing about real food, binge on real food, feel terrible about herself, yadda, yadda, yadda, end up gaining the weight back plus a few extra pounds for good measure. Who needs this insanity??

Here is my wish for my friend: enjoy your life. This means that you take gentle care of yourself by finding some sort of daily activity that makes your heart work a little harder and challenges your muscles a bit. This means choosing good-tasting food that you enjoy, and enjoying healthy food because you feel good nourishing your body. This means taking an interest in life, which by the way - takes your mind off of dieting and off of food. This means learning to like yourself as you are, because you are a fabulous person and you are not your weight.

The magic of concentrating on these things is the by-product - living this way ultimately makes you healthier, without you needing to do some silly "Doctor approved shake diet". There are steps you can take every day to get closer to taking care of yourself, and guess what? These steps will probably get you closer to skinnier and farther from caring about it.