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Habits that are handed down
By admin | June 2, 2009
I just finished reading the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. Wow, if you have not had a chance to read any of his writings, that would be a great thing to do for the New Year, read all three of his books, “Blink, “The Tipping Point” and now “Outliers”. He is amazing! Anyway, this book deals with success and how certain people attain it and others DON’T. Most importantly it points out the path that was laid out for people that have achieved mind-boggling success by the people that came before them and how your personal success or failure might not have as much to do with innate talent, as you might have thought.
At one point in the book he’s talking about the affect your ancestry may have had on you and as usual it got me thinking about diet and exercise. As much as we think we’re not like our parents and grandparents, some habits run so deeply, that they’re at a subconscious level, we’re not even aware that we’re doing it or that there is another option. When you go to cook chicken, your interpretation of chicken and mine could very easily be two entirely different things.
When I talk about eating or cooking chicken, 99% of the time I am referring to Chicken breast. It doesn’t even cross my mind to eat or use another portion of the bird. When I cook it I either boil a breast of chicken with nothing but water in the pan or I take boneless skinless, chicken breasts and stick them in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees, with some kind of non-fat dressing, like salsa or garlic and soy-sauce, or bbq sauce. That’s it, I rarely, rarely, rarely ever do anything else with chicken but when you cook chicken. That could be a whole other story. You could be using different cuts of meat besides breast (which have more fat). You could be leaving the skin on. Which is a huge diet “no-no”, you could be using oil to cook it in. Don’t lie. I know several of you do that. Even if you sneak it in “oh it’s just “E.V.O.O.” or it’s only a little Italian dressing. Hey, trust me, to your hips it all counts! If you’re happy with Rachel Ray’s body then you go ahead and use your “EVOO” all you want. If you think she’s a little chunky then, drop it! By the way I love her and think she’s very slim considering what she does for a living (just for the record).
My point is, that my interpretation of what it means to eat chicken and yours could sound like they come from different planets. One is not right and the other wrong. But one may get you the body of your dreams and the other may make a slim body an impossibility and that’s just one habit. How many other habits do you have that have led you to the body you currently reside in? Start looking at every aspect of your diet and if you need help having someone look at your habits from the outside.
So make sure you read that book and remember, if you’re looking for something to change in your life, including your figure, then you have to realize that your ways, your grandmothers ways, her grandmothers ways, probably aren’t going to get you the body of the “next top model” that you like. You’re probably going to have to change some habits that run so deep you don’t even think of them as something that can be changed. Like yes, it is possible to eat only breast meat and it is possible to give up beef and pork entirely or at least 80% of the time. Save it for cheat days, your body will thank you and so will your figure!
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