Stop counting....start living!

I will start this off by saying this can be a bit controversial but it is what it is…no offense to anybody.

When did we stop eating and start counting? Except for some references in science books, I never knew anything about counting calories in our food. And I didn’t know until 2001 or so.

When I started my masters at Utah, almost every night, my roommates and I would treat ourselves to strawberry milkshake. Very easy to make and this was how we did it. Vitamin D milk, big bucket of ice cream ($4), strawberry syrup, blender, big glass! I remember somebody stopping by, someone who had been in this country for few months more and had been institutionalized (borrowing one from Shawshank Redemption) with the calorie-counting mantra! He looks at it and goes “You guys have this every night?” We proudly declare, “heh, pretty much. Why you want some?” He takes a step back “what me? This is like a million calories?” Hmm…Million calories? (Our still-in-metric-system-brains going 10 lakhs…10 lakhs…6 zeroes…). He explains the label on the ice cream bucket, milk can and strawberry syrup. Wow! When you put it that way, it felt like I was chugging artery cloggers and had a death wish. And so it began…

Now I pick up a label and that’s what I am looking. I am not a calorie counter per se but that’s what I am looking. Why god, why? How is it possible that I didn’t do that for over 20 years and was just fine? But then, I used to eat at home and you always eat right at home or you are made to eat right. A good balanced diet…I suppose.

Weight loss is a multi-billion industry and the focus around calorie counting is huge. You switch on TV and you will be flooded with several weight loss commercials. Weight watchers, jenny craig, NutriSystem…Maybe it is the buzz this has created that has caused us to just count our way in pursuit of a healthy life.

I am against calorie counting. Hmm…let me put it this way. I will not go eat a big mac, milkshake and finish it off with a snickers bar. I am not stupid or irresponsible. But I will not bury all my taste buds and eat Kashi fiber cereal or Special K (and join the special K challenge) because honey bunches with almonds has like 200 calories more. The alternative I propose is exercise and being responsible (as mentioned above). I will not count calories in a 32 ounce steak. I will not flinch, I will not back out, I will not resist when I see that meat. I will go at it and I will give my taste buds a reason to exist. I am not at my ideal weight…yet. But I will proudly declare that I have lost 30 lbs not by counting calories. And I will thank my work out schedule for the perfect EKG graph last week...ending self-flattery!

We work hard for this life. And we deserve to live a LOT. Someone recently wrote this to me “We become numb to our daily routine and often forget what we need to feed our spirit.” How very well put. What is your need? One of my needs is to eat good food and not count calories , not worry about every grain or rice I swallow, not fret over every bite of chicken wings, not feel guilty over every scoop of ice cream…I will satisfy that need. I will run a mile to burn that scoop but I will satisfy that need.

So go have that donut you have been craving for. Go have that brownie you so wanted to eat. Go eat that sundae you have been dreaming about all month. Go feed those taste buds of yours. Go feed your spirit…but then go hit the gym or walk a mile or run a mile or walk to work or bike to work or take the stairs....

To a healthy life…and a healthy mind.