Everything in moderation

Recently a friend came to visit and uttered those famous words, the ones that strike fear into the hardiest of hearts... I know you'll give me an honest answer... Uh oh, emotional minefield coming up! Be alert and very afraid, one wrong utterance and your friend may flounce out of your house and out of your life forever.

I've discovered that most people don't really want to hear the truth. What they want is someone to confirm that their opinion is right (regardless of whether it is or not). I'm talking about those confronting personal truths to do with health, lifestyle and parenting.

So, back to my friend, she had three questions for me (my heart sank even further at this news) but only the first one is relevant to this post.

Did I think she needed to lose weight? Really? Surely the more sensible question was did she think she needed to lose weight? But she asked the question and looked to me for some sort of response so, I took a shot. No, I didn't think she needed to lose weight (and this was indeed the truth) but I did think she shouldn't put any more on either. Her diet is very healthy so I suggested she should consider exercise.

We've been friends for a long time and during the course of our friendship I've watched her change all of her exercise habits, when we met she attended a gym, went on bike rides with the family and caught the bus to work - adding 20 minutes of walking exercise to her day. But slowly over time, she quit the gym, her bike gathered cobwebs and she takes the car to work. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd walked anywhere.

The next day as I was walking to the shops I saw her out with her daughter. She gave me a big smile and a thumbs up. A month later that walk was one of only two that she has taken.

A recent research article suggests that in order to deal with the rising obesity crisis governments must treat it the same way we treated smoking. That, with 30 percent of the world population now obese, we can no longer attribute weight gain to a lack of willpower, instead we had to look to convenience food and a an increasingly sedentary lifestyle as the root causes. No big surprises there. But surely people are making choices to eat these foods and to lie on the lounge? The message is out there loud and strong that pre-packaged food is bad for you. yet people are still eating it. So whilst we may not be seeing a collective loss of willpower we are certainly seeing people making bad choices and succumbing to them.

But rather than addressing those choices in a moderate and considered way, society's reaction, lead by the media, is tinged with hysteria. The common element in all those foods is sugar. So now sugar is the bad guy and we should banish it from our diets forever. Really? Surely, a gradual move from a diet consisting of pre-prepared meals to one based on whole foods would be a more sustainable goal.

Change is something you must want. It's no good setting yourself unattainable goals or a schedule that is so ambitious and challenging that it's impossible to maintain. Setting yourself up to fail means you revert to your old habits all too quickly.

But just in case I'm wrong about sugar and it is the root of all evil (not human nature after all), HerCanberra is challenging its readers to a sugar-free day tomorrow. That means no added sugar in anything you eat. So, in the interests of research and fairness I'm taking the challenge. I'm not expecting to have to change my food consumption dramatically but I'm also prepared to be surprised and to honestly report my findings.

(Oh, and in another point of fairness, my friend knows that I'm blogging about our conversation and she said to let you all know she wants to change but she simply doesn't have the willpower!)