I love French fries. Period. If I could eat them every day
with no regret or side effects, I probably would. I make this confession
because as a health, wellness, and nutrition “expert,” evidently, I’m not supposed to eat French Fries…especially not from McDonald's. But today, I craved French Fries. I didn’t
eat much throughout today, so I didn’t think it would hurt me. But boy, was I
in for a surprise. I ordered fries and a smoothie earlier from McDonald's, and
when I went around the drive thru to pay for my order, who should I see? One of
my former nutrition students. And what did she say? With a smile, she said, “Dr.
Robinson, I would have never expected to see you here.” My heart sunk. I felt
ashamed. (My feelings were hurt…for myself, mind you). I sat there with my
mouth open. I wasn’t sure what I could say that would make it “okay” in her
mind for me to be at McDonald’s ordering French Fries. So I just told her the
truth. I said, “I was craving French Fries, and I really haven’t had anything for
dinner.” She smiled and laughed and told me it was okay. But that didn’t take
the feeling of shame away...
Why am I
sharing this? Because I am in the process of marketing my services as a
nutrition and weight loss expert. I know how to make diet and meal plans. I
know how to help people lose weight. I know how to motivate people to eat and
live healthy. I’ve done this for years. But I am also human. I fall short in
the same ways my clients fall short. I have the same cravings my clients have.
I have the same daily struggles clients have. This is the reason why I don’t
provide prohibitive plans. Prohibitive plans are the type of diet plans that make you
give up most if not all of the foods you like. And while a lot of
weight loss plans work that way and help people lose weight, they don’t help
people sustain their weight loss. So if you tell me you like fries, I try to accommodate
this. If you say you like sweets, I try to figure out a way to incorporate this
within reason. With that being said, I don’t believe you should become a slave
to any food, so if there is a food that has enslaved you and it is causing
negative effects in your body, I advise you to give that food up…only because
you don’t want to be a slave to any food or type of foods that negatively
affect you long term. But I wholeheartedly believe that people don’t become
obese or suffer from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, or
any other diseases because of eating a cheeseburger once a week. More often than not,
aside from genetics and environmental influences, people deal with these issues because of daily habits of eating foods that are high
in fat and sugar.
So unless you are working on body
building or body sculpting, which requires a more strict diet, I try to offer
weight loss and wellness plans that work more so around portion sizes versus foods you can and cannot
eat. I allow for cheat meals as well, though the goal is to focus on eating
healthier foods and portioning properly those foods that you don’t need to
overindulge in. If this is something you desire, check out my new website
drjenellenicole.com. And if you see me eating French fries, don’t judge me…I eat healthy on most days, but may be caught with a fry or cupcake in hand on occasions...
Until next time…
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