D is for Dilemma: Diet, or Decadence?

by Sarah Gilbert, Posted Jan 18th 2006 @ 11:33PM

when its cold outside, i want it warm inside my tummy It's not our fault. It's evolution, man. When the days are short and the weather is cold, all we want to do is snuggle into our comfiest chair with a blanket, a steamy mug of hot chocolate, and maybe a nice slice of meatloaf or macaroni and cheese. Followed up by (naturally) chocolate layer cake with extra coffee ice cream.

But the magazines, the newspapers, heck, even the blogs, all they say is eat right! Lose weight! Get out of the house! And most importantly, lose that comfy chair, man!

We're left with the ultimate D-word: Dilemma. What's to be done when our biology is warring with our better judgment? Diet? Or give in to the Decadence of the season, fill our tummies with warm, fattening comfort food, and just wait 'til spring to follow through on those resolutions?

Filed Under: Magazines, Newspapers, On the Blogs, Brought to you by the letter D, Ingredients
Tags: biology, comfort food, ComfortFood, decadence, diet, dilemma, eating in winter, EatingInWinter, evolution, winter, winter diet, winter eating, WinterDiet, WinterEating

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-19-2006 @7:11AM Melissa said... I say keep the comfy chair, just use it a little less. Eat those comfort foods, just eat a little less. America is fat! A little fat is ok, being obese is deadly. Funny how most people would not think of using drugs or becoming an alcoholic, yet almost intentionaly subject themselves to possible corotid atery disease, type I & II diabetes, liver failure and worse, feeling emotionally and physically like a social outcast. Be an adult, choose your destiny. Is that chocolate cake worth dying for?
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1-19-2006 @8:17AM Hawk said... I guess if you're going to be decadent, you need to compensate for it with physical workout to match whatever you put into your body. You have to be intelligent about it.

I'm not sure if people are inherently lazy, or it's some sort of culturally constructed phenomena, but we're an intelligent-enough species that we should be able to have our cake and eat it too, to overuse that cliche.
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1-19-2006 @2:06PM Huffy said... Both comments previous to mine are concisely practical, and thus I have little to add other than the following:

Ditch the dirty word "diet," please, and make intelligent choices about what you put in your mouth. Want meatloaf?? Fine, just modify the portion size. Skip the overly-sweet, trans-fat laden Krispy Kremes at the office, and have a small slice of that chocolate layer cake after dinner instead. The comfy chair is perfectly acceptable, but do park a bit further out in the parking lot; research tells us we needn't run marathons to reap the benefits of exercise. We tend to think in terms of extremes in our culture: the "Mashed Yeast and Tofu Diet" or fast food three times a day; zero carbs/protein overload or obsessive food-combining; no fat, no sugar, no white foods, no caffeine. The concept of moderation doesn't seem to sit well with us.
We Americans look for quick fixes, alas, and are loathe really to take responsibility for our health and well-being. The weight-loss industry is a multi-million dollar enterprise, yet we're fatter than ever. Folks, be sensible. It's not that difficult, really, but you do have to think about what you're eating.

Huffy
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