Friday fat day
It's Friday! And with Friday, come the Friday rituals!
At one of my previous jobs, Friday mornings included a free bagel/pastry/fruit spread. Then for lunch, a bunch of us would partake in what became to be known as Friday Fat Day. Basically, we would find a restaraunt that had a buffet, go stuff ourselves, and then come back to the office and complain about how full we were. We tried several buffets, but the old fall back was Mountain Mike's.
Now, Friday mornings I usually start with a workout of some sort. The workout helps (incorrectly) justify the fact that I buy a small breakfast somewhere downtown. I spent the first several months downtown going to a different place each Friday, to find the best breakfast. For awhile, I settled on a chocolate croissant and decaf soy mocha at a nearby Tully's. But lately, the breakfast of choice has been a soy hot chocolate and a veggie bagel sandwhich at Cafe Venue. I'm not sure how long I've been going there, but it's gotten to the point where they know what I always order.
I haven't had the Friday buffet lunch in awhile though...
An interesting note - the Bill Phillips Body For Life program actually allows you to have one day where you eat "anything you want" and still have a perfectly healthy and fit body. I don't really agree with this. I know that if I were to control my friday Fat Day cravings a bit I'd be that much healthier for it. Part of the philosophy of this "anything goes day" is that by allowing yourself one "bad" day, it helps cure the cravings you have throughout the rest of the week... again, not sure if I really believe it.
Anyway, it's Friday!
posted by Jim @ 1:08 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Ah, yes, the "Free for All Day"...it works for some who seek opitmal health and weight loss but, honestly, not for a lot of others. I don't personally agree with Philip's philosophy on his free day for a couple of reasons:
1) It maintains the food as reward mentality which I think is stupid. By setting up a system where you encourage "good behavior" (which in this context is defined by sticking to your new daily diet and exercise plan) with the promise of a weekly food free for all reward, you only set up a never ending cycle of binge type behavior. You also create the association of "reward" with the very foods that made and kept you fat in the first place.
2) Philips allows for a "free" day because he believes that it will help "control" cravings. Ok. Let's think about this idea in a different context. If you were trying to encourage someone to quit smoking (and I think we can all agree that smoking KILLS), would you say to them, "Oh hey, Bob, why don't you not smoke for 6 days out of the week and then smoke all you want on the 7th day?"
Probably not because smoking, even in "small" doses is still damn unhealthy and cancer promoting. That 7th day free for all is preventing Bob's body from cleaning itself of the addictive toxins of cigarettes while doing nothing other than keeping the craving alive.
I hear some of you dismissing my comparison of food to cigarettes because everyone knows smoking kills and it is an addictive substance and well, food is food. No chance. Poor diet and exercise are the second most preventable cause of death in the United States, second only to smoking. That's based on the recent CDC study and that was based only on mortality rates of OBESE people. They weren't even looking at merely FAT people.
But I digress. Sugar is a brain altering substance that evokes an addictive response is many people. Sugar addicts will crave sugar. When you are dealing with an addiction, moderation is a fool's bargain. Elimination is the only sure bet to weight loss and a more sane existence. By promoting a "free" day in his program, Philips is laying bare his intention to make a buck. NOBODY wants to hear that in order to be healthy and actually MAINTAIN their hard won weight loss, you just might have to entirely give up your "drug" of choice: certain foods. So what to do? Tell people it's okay to feed their cravings once a week - that'll sell books.
What's funny is that as you read through his books, the more successful people often say that after eating "on plan" for 6 days, they either feel like crap after that 7th free day or find themselves no longer wanting to even eat the foods the previously crave.
I'm all over the place on this comment.
What? No more bi-weekly glop?
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