I have never understood people on fad diets and chances are that the ones on diets haven’t either. And we’ve come a long way since the controversial Atkins diet. It has been more than 10 years since the brainchild behind that diet passed way, but the battle over carbs, low carbs and no carbs still hasn’t died down. And it’s only getting more ridiculous.
Naturally, it doesn’t include those who have to avoid certain food groups by choice. Nor does it include mindless eating when you’re binge-watching TV shows. This is mindful eating, we’re talking about. Why is it so complicated? Especially when you’re out with people; people you’re trying to win, to impress or just hope to be friends with?
Even as recent as, perhaps, six months ago, no one wanted to be that person on a diet, ordering salad and black coffee while the rest of the table chomped down plates of fries. Today, there’s a new breed of dieters: one that swears by chia seed pudding sweetened with stevia and balanced with Himalayan pink salt. Or one that ingests a revolting concoction of spinach-ginger-apple-pear-and-other-organic-matter, all juiced beyond oblivion and Instagrammed to full effect. (The lazier ones opt for home delivery of cold pressed juices.) Why are we willing to follow every complicated diet that exists, except the balanced diet? Is it too basic for us?
But there’s always extreme unwanted counsel floating in the air — “don’t ask that guy out”, “it’s better to grow your own basil”, “contour your face like a clown to achieve best results”, “try to fly your own private jet”... that kind of stuff. And then there’s excellent advice such as Gwyneth Paltrow’s who suggested that women steam-clean their lady parts. Doctors don’t recommend it. Then again, anyone with half a brain wouldn’t.
