Don't get swept away

A lot of diets out there these days are barely diets at all. They like to grab a hold of an idea and run with it regardless of successful results. They like to think "how does this make me money," instead of "how can I make this population healthier." This is what's important when considering new diets.

I just looked into a couple diet fads around the internet right now. I'm somewhat shocked to see what people are willing to try. One of the diets, designed for women, says "Here! Take this hormone that pregnant women make more of in order to feed their baby more instead of their own body! Then, eat only about 500 Calories per day!" Seriously?? 0_o

People, it's these kinds of diets we need to step back and say wow. Let me ask you, what's making these people lose weight? The expensive hormone? Or the 500 Calories per day?

In relation to sport, this can happen on multiple levels. Diets that promise to lose fat and gain lean muscle or cut/gain weight are everywhere. Products are thrown around from teas to protein smoothies. For the athlete what's most important is to realize that diets can produce results, but long term results come from changing behaviors. What I mean is that most could lose weight on a crazy or not so crazy diet but once we get off of these diets a lot of the time we head right back down to where we don't want to be.

So, for you athletes out there looking to gain/lose weight on whatever level, it's not about laying off the Twinkies and chips for a month or two until you get to a happy weight. It's about understanding food, and realizing it's not the Twinkies that's the problem and not the protein shake and other supplements that's the solution. We must individually find out what we eat that makes us happy, whether that's on a emotional, physiological, or social level. This can be tough because it requires to become attached to our food. And by attached I mean you should know or start to learn a couple of things:

• Where your food comes from
• What is in your food
• How do I cook this food
• How certain foods make you feel

This is just the short list. But it makes your food that much better and rewarding! Let me give you an example.

I lived with my teammate Joey for a full year my junior year in college. Every now and then he would be in the mood to cook some Italian food. And the process would begin. He would get out to the grocery and buy all the ingredients he needed. Then he would set up the kitchen in order for him to be ready on time; this usually meant getting some sausages into the crock pot. After leaving that delicious smell on all day, he would start cooking the main dish later that night and recruit others to help on whatever level. Did he cook from a recipe? Not really. Just family tradition. If he had a question it was as easy as calling up mom or dad and saying "what kind of cheeses again?" After all was cooked and ready to go, he'd call everyone in, including friends. Everyone would sit down food in front of us and we would throw on some sports game or other TV. But then we'd socialize. And everyone loved it, except whoever was left with the dishes...

What I'm trying to say is, love your food and have some fun with it. Invite friends over saying, "Hey! I'm trying fried rice for the first time and want some testers." Take notes or mental notes on how to make it better next time. This relationship to build with understanding food will automatically make you a better eater. You can start to develop knowledge of basic foods and then YOU can answer the question, "how can I eat healthier?"