You’re Not So Special. Rethinking Your Double Standard.

Ouch, that’s harsh! Let me explain…

Honey and milk-filled chai and a snack--just what I needed!

You tell me that you skipped your breakfast—because you just couldn’t eat in the morning, or there was simply no time—but you would never allow your kids do this.

You acknowledge that a salad—just a salad—for lunch—is not much of a meal. Yet you believe that’s all you really need. Besides, it fills you up. Doesn’t that mean it’s enough for lunch?

You attribute your low energy, your fatigue, to everything from your fibromyalgia to your poor sleep, your MS to your high stress, yet you’ve only eaten a fraction of what you need to, in a 10-hour period.

You believe that once you start eating you won’t be able to take control—that restricting is the only way to manage your weight—yet you struggle with rebound binge eating and resulting weight gain. And you think it’s just you.

You mindlessly eat, and then over exercise, then get frustrated. “Why am I the only one who has no willpower?” you wonder.  What’s wrong with my body?

Pure sugar slush--I love it for some quick energy. Even
when I'm not active!

You believe a yogurt is a meal, perhaps because you eat it with a spoon. So here’s a test—is an 8-ounce glass of low fat milk a meal? Because that’s a fair equivalent. And I’ll bet you’d never think of that as an adequate meal—at least for someone else.

You believe that others have needs—physical and emotional, but yours aren’t that important. Friends, family members—they need to eat meals, adequate balanced meals for health—yet for you, the rules don’t apply.

Yesterday I saw a television ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSQVT3IwMas that helped me understand how you’ve come to such distortions, why you might think these thoughts. Crystal Light Energy—just 5 calories, “because you never know”, is what they say.  

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? 5 calories? Energy? In the very same sentence? Let me remind you (and Crystal Light makers) that calories=energy. “Girl power to go”, as they claim, certainly isn’t coming from the FIVE calories per serving, that’s for sure. It does have 60 mgs. caffeine (about a cup of mildly brewed tea), which also isn’t going to give you any great energy boost. But they want you to think that a 5 calorie difference (from their 0 calorie version) is a lot—that it’s going to make a difference in your energy.

Not Crystal Light! Powered with food, this beverage came after.

But they’re wrong. “Girl power” comes not from a 5-calorie beverage. It comes from rejecting these absurd and misleading suggestions, convincing you that such restricted calorie intake should sustain you. “Girl power” comes from tossing the diet beverages, and fueling yourself with beverages with nutrients (milk or soy milk, or smoothies, to name a few) or with food. And it comes from believing you deserve to eat, to eat enough, and truly fuel your body.

Because really, you’re not special. We all need and deserve to eat—regardless of our size.