SUMMER is finally here! Children of all ages are roaming the streets. Sports cars of every make and color abound; barely able to see above the steering wheels are little heads which surely do not have a clear view of the road. Heat waves dance on the cars’ rooftops. The shopping malls are crowded even in the morning and we all say how last summer the heat definitely wasn’t as intense as it is now.
Summer... a time when thoughts turn to “How am I going to look in these shorts or this pair of jeans or that dress at so and so’s wedding?” Magazines take advantage of our free time and we are flooded with diets and exercise plans guaranteed to make us feel better and live longer. These same magazines take great pains to make us feel insecure about our bodies and then present us with a solution. The solution is usually buy that cream, pill or lotion, try this diet and/or exercise. Many are ludicrous: “The Incredible Shrinking Soap” — I am sure it is the soap that shrinks and not the user; others are just hilarious — “Put the magazine down and sit on it; this determines the size of your bottom and thus how much weight you should lose and once you know that, you will know which diet or exercise program to follow!”
From this point on, the opportunities are endless. I am sure we have all heard of the banana diet, the grape diet, the mushroom diet, the four-day wonder diet, the Beverly Hills diet, the protein diet, the carbohydrate diet, the low-fat diet, the high-fat diet, the blood-type diet, the buy-everything-on-this-list-and-eat-it diet! I could go on forever since the diet industry has snowballed over the years with more and more titles every season. In fact, here is a quote from Andy Rooney: “The two biggest sellers in any bookshop are the cookbooks and the diet books. The cookbooks tell you how to prepare the food and the diet books tell you how not to eat any of it.”
And if that weren’t enough, the Internet diet gurus have joined in. Who of us hasn’t been quietly surfing, then has been suddenly bombarded with promises such as “Lose up to 10lb in one month!” It’s simple, “Just pay us a certain sum and we will tell you what to eat for the rest of the period (the catch of course is that you have to sign up for a minimum of three months). Let us know how much you weigh once a week and you’re home free. We even have a 24-hour support group just in case you want to tell Aunt Judith why you felt you just had to eat that chocolate cake. Maybe it was a feeling of loneliness and inadequacy stemming from your kindergarten experiences with Bobby the Bully?” I wonder what is wrong with the simple answer that chocolate cake tastes good and I was hungry.
Still not interested? What about a diet where the food is cooked and brought right to your door? Promises to make you feel pounds lighter — or riyals at any rate! — in a matter of months. You are tested and examined, your dietary needs assessed by professionals and a cute little van will come and deliver your meals every day. Many assure me that the food is varied; there are even pizzas, manakeesh and cakes too.
It is rather distressing to hear all these stories and realize that people are getting rich by telling others what to eat and what not to eat. More distressing is the fact that the written word is not finding its way to those for whom it is actually intended i.e. people who are clinically obese and who have medical problems. Instead, most of those who buy and try out these diets are, in general, women of dress sizes 14/16 trying to get into dress sizes 10/12 (I am using British sizes here so don’t get confused). For this category a “simple” lifestyle change is all that is needed along with a pinch of common sense.
Disregard the books, the lotions, the miracle diets — all that you need is summed up in three sentences:
1. Eat everything but in moderation and substitute low fat whenever possible (scale down your portions and don’t deny yourself anything because it is a law of nature that what is denied to you, you’ll want more of).
2. Exercise every day for at least 20 minutes, doing something that you enjoy (gardening, housework or brisk walking in the mall perhaps?).
3. And finally, learn to accept your basic body shape because unless you resort to surgery, wide hips are here to stay.
And just in case you are wondering, I did actually sit on the magazine and they determined my bottom was “Oooh! Perky” — but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t benefit from the diet/exercise routine!