“To stay on track, a friend and I have become training partners. We exercise and eat the same way, but I’m bigger than her. I have about 15 pounds of excess weight and have - what I dread most - cellulite. I admit that my eating habits used to be poor and hers have always been strict, but now we eat the same. What gives?”
Response from Robert Kennedy: “Maybe your girlfriend was brought up on clean eating. Fat cells are formed during childhood. If she was fed whole-grain cereals, fish, grilled chicken, rice, sweet potatoes and lots of fruits and veggies while you ate bacon and eggs, hamburgers, fries, cakes, doughnuts, cookies, and candy, there’s your answer: You’ll have a higher amount of fat cells in your body. After puberty, the number of fat cells in your body can’t be changed, but they can be shrunken or plumped up, depending on your nutrition intake.”
Robert then goes onto to recommend The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno that I also swear by.
Wow! This article got me thinking and I came up with two major points I want to discuss.
1. My diet as a child was poor. We were broke and lived off the No-No List. Fortunately, growing up my brother was naturally thin and didn’t suffer the same fat-fate I had in school. Fast-forward ten years and he struggles with his weight. Not only does he still enjoy the No-No List, but it doesn’t take much for him to gain weight. This article really spoke to me as to how those of us with more fat cells than our healthier counterparts MUST be extra attentive to our diet. I have jokingly said a million times, “I can look at a cheeseburger and gain five pounds.” Well, now I know why. I have a lot more hungry fat cells in this body just dying to get their grubs on a cheeseburger! I’m not sour about it, nor will I dwell on it. I’m just happy to know what I have to do to stay healthy, and that means I must be willing to work a little harder and be more cautious about my choices.
2. As parents of young children it is easy to forget the incredible influence we have over their entire life. We worry about building their self-esteem so that they won’t do drugs. We download educational websites and activities out the wazoo so that our kids will have the intellilectual edge over their peers in school. We quiz them over and over again about not talking to strangers. We do many of these activities in the drive-thru, while sucking down a soda in front of the computer, or eating Tuna Helper followed by ice cream at dinner. It is now more clear than ever that what I feed my child and how active I encourage him to be as a kid has an amazing ripple effect throughout his entire life.
I hope that after reading this that you check out what clean eating is about and you consider making it a new or continuing tradition in your own family.