I was wondering: where did we get the idea of starting a diet on
Monday? Is it because it is
the beginning of the traditional workweek? We want
to have one last hoorah of an eating binge over the weekend (like most
other addicts we need to have one more last…….)
How were we socialized into believing this is the best day to start eating
right? If we can start on this day, AND
we can make it through the week, what happens on Friday night? Do we reward ourselves for good behavior by
binging again over the weekend? Which
essentially only negates any calorie deficit that we may have accumulated. Worse yet, many people who begin the week with
all good intentions only make it until Tuesday Evening, with a voice in the
back of their heads “I can start NEXT Monday”: now we have allowed ourselves a
6-day-binge. I search for “starting a
diet on a Monday” I quickly find Good Housekeeping’s helpful article “The
Monday Diet”…. now that’s a big help! In my imagination this habit started in the 50’s, I can clearly invision a
Campbell’s advertisement telling us that we can start eating their healthy soup on
Monday night – and our lives will be filled with JOY and we will live FOREVER.... wonderful things will happen! I guess the bottom line here is that we need
to decide that we are going to be healthy . That means we should eat whole foods and
add activity into our routines – this can be done any day of the week! If it happens to be Monday then go for it,
but Tuesday or Thursdays are just as good.
disclaimer: "whole foods" does not translate to a whole pint of ice cream, or a whole bag of potato chips.
Lara I love your post! I strongly agree with this statement. I think one of the most important concepts to healthy eating is that it is a lifestyle change. It is a choice that we face everyday! I think that picking a specific day or saying I will start tomorrow only instills the bad habits for longer and makes it even harder to change.
ReplyDeleteHi Lara, great posts! It's so easy to take for granted the stages in life we are not experiencing at the time, until we get there, that is so true! Pre-menopause is a necessary topic to discuss since it is totally unpredictable as to when it will happen. Every woman is different, and menopause can come on as early as 30-something!
ReplyDeleteMotivation to change the way we approach our diets is quite the foundation to improvement. I think that many people whether the chicken or the egg comes first; do they want to see change first before they are motivated, or motivation before change. For those who want to see change before they are motivated, it may be very difficult to flip a "switch" cold turkey- no pun intended! :-) I look forward to working with every type of personality, using a different skill set with those who want to see change before they are motivated.