by DebbieSLP » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:15 am
Roberta, I agree with you on #1:
Lack of support at home.
My husband is the worst kind of SAD eater, although he is thin, active, happy, and healthy: at 44 he has no medications, health concerns, or elevated risk factors. He has no desire to change, but does not comment about my eating style except to tell me my greens "stink!" His philosophy seems to be that we can each eat the way we want, as long as the other person doesn't interfere or complain. Sigh.
My parents are also SAD eaters, and although my mother has read McDougall, Fuhrman, China Study, etc., she continues to feel pity for me having to eat in such a "restricted" manner. She and Dad are on a huge variety of medications, and feel they no longer have health problems because the symptoms are under control.
If I lived alone, I would have NO problem eating whole-foods vegan all the time. But I don't like living alone, and hope I never have to again.
#2 for me would be eating out, including eating at friends' or family gatherings. I often have some of what I would normally not choose to eat, because it is there. Fortunately I am now at a point where such off plan eating does not put me in a downward spiral or cause cravings.
#3 would be a lack of time or inspiration for cooking on certain days. Normally this is not a problem, but I am surrounded by SAD food in the home (see #1), and so if I'm exhausted from working late, or sick, or it's almost time for bed when I get home, I may eat something I normally would not choose because it's there.
I don't exercise. OK, I do play golf once a week, and bowl 5-6 games a week, and run around outside with the dog, and garden, and walk a fair amount, but that's not "real" exercise. I just don't have time for the "real" thing.
I do stay informed and interested by reading newsletters and forums like this one. "Commitment" really isn't an issue for me, because eating healthy is no longer an effort after five years. I may not be perfect, but I will never go back to being a SAD eater.