The bottom of your plate will make you fat!

sttrp........shtwp........thhtw, its usually the sound of my tongue or fingers against my saliva shiny plate. I finished first! I would scream for all my cousins to hear, for the first to finish cleaning their bowl gets reward ranging from Ice cream to chicken. My mum always told me 'God frowns on those that waste food' which in my understanding meant I had to finish whatever food is in my plate and stop not til my plate was shiny. In the habit of listening to my taste buds which constantly wants more and ignoring the loud protest of my belly and brain, I would eat until my belly was protruding and my leg staggering and all I want to do is sleep, an habit I horned from my boarding life where food comes only once in a while so when it does, we eat for the present and shaky future.

Out of school,I never remembered to unlearn it, so I would go about eating till the bottom is up regardless on the type of meal.

My wake up call came when Wura and I decided to take a break and eat an elaborate meal at barcelos, ordering a burger and french fries, it was time to gossip!. Half way through the meal and chattering, I noticed Wura going quiet with her fork in the air as if pondering something important. "what are you doing?" i asked, "I'm trying to decide if I'm full, i think i am" she said, and with that she dropped the fork into a plate still half filled with burger and fries, lunch was over.

A couple of days pass bye and I'm still wondering if Wura was crazy. Truth be told, she was slim and never had a problem with weight gain but that didnt make it easier to understand, "for petes sake, who leaves her burger unfinished!" where i come from, i was taught to clean my plate completely and the reward for doing so was dessert.

Slowly, i started the painful process of tearing myself from my plate before it hits the bottom and believe me when i say it wasn't easy. Dropping my fork half way through the meal wasnt working for me, so i tried something different. drinking water before my food and in between mouthful thereby tiring out before i hit spoon 10

It takes about 20minutes for your stomach muscle to communicate with your brain that you are full, so i also tried eating slowly and taking time to savor the taste of each spoon. Eventually, I found it easier to slash my meals from its preparations,reducing deliberately, my cups of rice , my packs of noodles, my slices of yam. thereby cooking only half of what i usually eat and subsequently removing the temptation to overeat. Also eating with my little sis helps me eat slower and reduces the amount I take in

Now,  i have choosen to believe that being full is psychological, you are full when you tell yourself you are. Discipline is the watch word.....


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The miracle diet Pill!!!

I would save N100 everyday, so maybe next two years i would be able to buy that herbal tea"......I said to my little sister, while 'borrowing' my mother’s diet tablets and my father slimming tea.

Fast-forward a couple of year later, my obsession with my weight is on a different level as being fat has taken an entirely different meaning. The world as it advances is now being judged by the Hollywood size 0-2 standard,  while my job is definitely cut out for me, my only fear is that eventually we all will have to disappear to fit the future standard.

Still with the stubborn mentality that pill and teas are my answer, especially since I was now able to afford my own pills, I had chosen to believe that my parents didn’t loose any weight because of their inconsistency and unseriousness with their dosage but it didn’t matter because, I would find the pills that do work and adhere absolutely to its directions

The Large cycle had begun, i would fixate on a said miracle pill  and stick to it spending like a dog with a bone all my money and time but after frequent and painstaking trips to the toilet with no visible change in my body size I would decide it was time to switch brands to the new miracle pill my friends have been rising hell about or to the next big appetite suppresant on the internet, or to the next......next.....and next. In time, I found myself jumping from pills, to tea, herbal rems and back with no acceptable result.  Frustration was setting in, I was beginning to question my reliance on these products. When I eventually find a drug that works and do lose a little weight,I pile them back on before I can finish my pack of chocolate.  Considering how bitter or tasteless most of these herbal teas are, the pain they sometimes bring and my frustration for lack result, I soon got tired all together.

After while and a lot of jumping around before it finally dawned on me, diet pills are made to be complimentary and not substitutes! they will work hand in hand with a careful lifestyle which includes your eating habits and exercise pattern, and if it indeed works without any adjustment in your routine, it’s only a start-stop mechanism, meaning that it will work for the duration you are taking it by increasing your bowel movement(metabolism booster/fat blocker) or making you fill up easily or suppressing your appetite(appetite suppressant).

Considering your lifestyle hasn't changed, the question is, while these pills may help get the weight off, can they keep it off? Ofcourse not! Because once you stop taking these pills, whatever aid they were giving your body stops too and it’s only a matter of time before the weight creeps back on aggressively. Also, overtime, the body will build-up a tolerance to them and once that happens, the pills won’t be as effective. Another questions is, are they as harmless to the health as they claim? I sincerely doubt it; They have scientifically been proven to increase the risk of high blood pressure, Gastrointestinal problems, stroke, Increased heart rate and many more, also their effects are largely unproven and come with many side effects that are not really worth the hassle. It’s my opinion that if there was a magic pill that could make people lose weight overnight, we would be living in a slim world and all fat related diseases will be eradicated.

Everyone wants the easy way but has taking the easy way out ever helped in other areas of your life?, if it hasn’t, why should it work here?


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