It’s January!!

It’s January, so the men’s magazines about fitness and health are just as full of diet ideas as anything you’ll see in the tabloids at the supermarket checkout stand. Devin gave me his copy of Men’s Health, featuring such articles as “Lose Fat Fast” and “Build Muscle and Burn Fat in 15 Minutes.” (Both promoted a high-fat, low-carb approach!).

Probably the biggest difference between men’s and women’s magazines is that men are apparently focused on (1) being bigger (more muscular), (2) having washboard abdominal muscles and (3) not going bald! But it’s still all about fast, easy fixes in three (or five or seven) simple steps.

One feature in the magazine that I liked was when they approached a series of chain restaurants to try to get the nutrition information of their dishes and how most of them refused with these really lame corporate responses. That’s no news to those of us in the weight management world.

One claim in that article intrigued me, however: “In Italy, a serving of pasta is about 4 ounces, at Maggiano’s, a large pasta order is two pounds.” I don’t know that particular restaurant, but that serving size doesn’t surprise me. What I thought was starting was the four measly ounces that Italians are supposedly eating!

I asked a friend today who said that in Italy pasta was often a side, rather than being the focus of the entrée. It contradicts everything I’ve heard from anyone else, but I dunno, maybe she’s right. Having tried on a few pairs of Armani pants, I’m assuming that Italian men (at least the fashionable ones) are living on cigarettes and wine.

It seems to me that the bottom line for these magazines is the dramatic visible nature of the changes that are talked about. I bet magazines showing skinny “after” photos on the cover sell a lot more than those that talk about lowering cholesterol or reducing hypertension. We like to see results, and the more exaggerated the better!

I often find this when I’m introducing myself at weight loss meetings. I show them my “before” picture and quite often people hand it back to me unimpressed. Unimpressed because I “only” lost 50 pounds. Sheesh. Had I been 150 pounds overweight would that make me a better role model?

I don’t have any good ideas about how we could resolve all of this. My personal mantra is that “small changes make the biggest difference” (because they last longer). We’re all impatient, we all want to be beautiful, and we all hope for it to happen quickly and cheaply. We’re all human. But my advice is this – give yourself a break from all the advice you’re getting and don’t waste time with those magazines.

Instead, spend the $4.95 on an heirloom tomato.