Why is it that just about every magazine or book promoting weight loss features a gorgeous image of cake? It seems clear that magazine and book editors believe that cakes sell better than steaks.
Is it that people who buy these magazines want to lose weight without losing the very foods that contributed to their weight? If so, it’s an approach doomed to fail.
As idiotic as the mantra “everything in moderation” is the idea that weight loss is likely while eating cake. For most people, the two are mutually exclusive. Women we’ve seen over the years who have tried this approach are met with frustration, anger, and cries of “it’s not fair.”
It’s definitely not fair.
Why can some people eat cake – and pasta and bread and drink as much alcohol as they like – and stay slim while others seem to gain weight just thinking about it?
It all comes down to biological differences. Genetics, hormonal responses to food, gut bacteria, appetite, and activity levels all contribute to each person’s weight. Our faces are all different and this is a biological and genetic difference. Our skin tones are all different. We are shorter or taller, more muscular or leaner, introverted or extroverted.
We. Are. All. Different.
It’s important that each person eats according to the needs of their own body. Following a plan that worked for Jenny over the road, or the exercise program that Internet Susie recommends, is unlikely to give you the results you want. Eating cake – other than for very special and rare occasions – is unlikely to give you the results you want.
What works for most people is to avoid nutrient-poor foods like cake, and instead select nutrient-rich, unprocessed foods that satisfy hunger, and nourish the body and mind, and to set up habits of selecting these foods.
Overcoming the need for sweet flavours is essential for those with a sweet tooth, and keeping cake as a regular part of their eating pattern will at best slow results, and at worst sabotage so much that the person gives up.
Instead of being lured by images of foods you instinctively know you shouldn’t eat when losing weight, forget the magazine and instead go to the butcher and greengrocer and get your food ideas from there.