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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

“I’m a ______________ aholic”


Take your pick, fill in the blank. This is an all too familiar quote with people today. We have learned as a society to attach the suffix aholic to any word, and that somehow makes it okay. I have heard it all, carbaholic, sugaraholic, candyaholic, chocoholic,(Just a side note, chocoholic is actually in the dictionary) whatever the vice may be, by saying this you are attempting to take away any and all responsibility or control that you have in the matter. The fact is that all of these things are just excuses that we tell ourselves to make it okay to over eat foods we know we should not.
So what is the answer? Now before I get 100 emails telling me how insensitive that sounds, let’s look at it from my point of view. I am 26 years old, 215 lbs, and tend to stay around 10% body fat. Now I am not saying that to brag, or to get any applause, rather to prove a point. I LOVE chocolate. Now I am not saying just as an attempt to relate to all of you, I really LOVE CHOCOLATE. Now is it any harder for me to resist eating a pound of chocolate each day? Did I find a magic pill that takes away my chocolate cravings? While you think about that last one, I’ll tell you the answer is NO. I know how I want to look, and feel every day of my life. I also know that chocolate, no matter how much I want it to will not help me get there. So I CHOOSE not to gorge myself on chocolate. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to, doesn’t mean I still don’t eat it from time to time, what it means is that I am in control of what I put into my body. Too many times when I use myself as an example I get responses like “Well you’re different”, or “It’s easy for you.” NO it isn’t, and I am not immune to the temptation of food either. Truth be told, normally if there is chocolate around in my house when I crave it, I will eat it. Knowing that about myself, I have found a fail proof way to make sure that I don’t let my chocolate cravings get the best of me. Now this is a great tool, and I recommend that all of you write this down and put it into practice. Here it is: I DO NOT keep chocolate in my house. If I do have chocolate, it has to be a once in a while thing, because unless I leave my house, I can’t have it.
Now each of you has the same ability to control what you put into your bodies as well. There is no scientific evidence of a “carb-gene” or “sugar-gene” or any other food gene. There is only choice, and self control. We all hear people, especially in sports talk about mental toughness. Well mental toughness is not isolated to athletics, rather applies to all aspects of life. It is the idea that you are in control of you at all times, and can help you in all aspects of your life. It means that you and you only are in control of your decisions good or bad.


Written by, Geoff Etherson BS, NASM CPT, NASM CES, NASM PES

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