However, a post there yesterday on "diet" versus "whole" foods really rubbed me the wrong way.
I understand the backlash against preservative-ridden pseudo-foods filling the shelves these days. Eating foods as close to their source and nature as possible makes sense to me, even if it's not something I specifically set out to do.
There's also the argument that when what one craves is ice cream, one should have (a serving) of ice cream, and not placate a pang with sugar-free fat free whipped frozen yogurt, lest the jones linger unsatisfied.
But... while this post claimed to be accepting of diet foods (like bagel thins, frozen yogurt, fat free sour cream), if only as a tool in weight loss, it actually came off very condescending, at least to this dieter's ears.
vs.
...it's like saying, "Well, yes, I'm sure driving a 2004 Honda Civic is JUST FINE for some people who really, truly prefer cars with two c's and a v in the name, and to each their own, but let me tell you...every morning when I sink into the heated leather seats of my Mercedes SUV, gaze up through the moonroof, and listen to the hum of a fine piece of European-manufactured machinery purring like a panther...well, there's not a moment I regret making that purchase."
We can't all AFFORD the Mercedes! For some of us, it would be a huge, life-wrecking mistake to even attempt to buy one! Am I making sense?
The analogy of "lite" or "diet" foods to training wheels is made. That they're a stepping stone along the (inevitable, apparently) path to whole foods. Since this writer is 5 years into weight maintenance, perhaps it is easy for her to poo-pooh fat free pudding, cool whip, skinny cow ice creams, butter spray, light bread, and all the other substitutions that most dieters assume as a given. And if her blog were just. a food blog, then fine.
But she's made her name (not to mention her upcoming weight-loss memoir and accompanying cookbook) as a weight-loss inspiration. She knows her audience is primarily folks in the beginning or middle of a battle of the bulge! And to give us this "Well...yess...those things were ok back when I was losing weight...but here, darling, on this side of the scale, I can see how big a faux pas they really are..." just feels like a slap in the face.
Her comments about how, when she was losing weight, it was more important to have the quantity of 6 fat free fudgesicles than the "real" goodness of 1/2 cup of Haagen-Dazs ... a "barrel" of baked chips than 14 Doritos really irked me. That she's proud of the trust she now has in herself...the control she has now that she can eat only two of the dozen buttery, eggy chocolate walnut chip cookies she's just baked off without eating the whole lot hurt.
How about I only have ROOM in my calorie budget for ONE fat free fudgsicle? If I HAD the 400 calories available for dessert, maybe my ass WOULD be eating the "real" thing, but I don't! I have 50! or 100!
Should I reduce my 200-cal breakfasts even further so I can accommodate the "whole" food Doritos? Or is it ok with you if I eat some pretzels instead? Am I supposed to forgo one small Skinny Cow ice cream cone in favor of 3 teaspoons of Extreme Moose tracks? And I'm supposed to be satisfied (not just mentally, mind you, but physically too, since it's a "whole" food) by that teeny amount?
Maybe the self-control isn't my issue, but staying realistically within my calorie budget is. If I make an entire batch of cookies, but can only afford to eat (maybe) one per day....I'm either eating a lot of stale cookies or wasting them.
It didn't help that the comments section was full of people trying to agree with the error of their diet-food-eating ways. Things like, "Oh-em-gee! I totes <3 this post! Get out of my head! I remember when I was trying to lose weight (after ballooning all the way up to 155 when I was pregnant, GROSS!) and ate a lot of fat free, light foods. Now that I've lost that 15 pounds, I can see how AWFUL it was that I put all that POISON into my body! Now I only eat lard straight from the can (cuz what's less processed than lard?) and I'm maintaining after 3 whole weeks!"***
***not an actual comment, but actually reflective of how snarky I feel about the comments
Truly, I still like this blog and its writer. I hope, though, that she can remember from whence she came. Talking down to a group on people eating the same foods she did when she was trying to lose an assload of weight just stings. If she is wanting her blog to morph into a food or foodie blog and not a source of weight loss inspiration, then ok. I hope she won't be using it to promote her book any longer, and please remove the three articles that draw most people in, all of which are focused entirely on weight loss.
/rant
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