Not on a supermodel diet

I once overheard a colleague telling another, that Frou is “too generous with herself”.

As I eavesdrop further, I realized she was referring to one of my lunches with her, where I apparently ‘threw all caution to the wind’ and just ordered whatever I wanted to eat.

Now, I thought that was a strange remark to make. Why wouldn’t anyone, who is going to spend money to eat in a restaurant, order whatever they would like to eat? Would you pay to eat something you DON’T want to eat?

Oh, apparently, some of them do! Recalling lunch that day at Epicurus, my colleague had ordered a small garden salad whilst I was tucking into the All-Day Breakfast (think sausages, bacon, beans and eggs – yums!) When I was patting my food baby with delight afterwards, my colleague was sour, grumpy and….still hungry. No wonder she was downing plain water like crazy.

You see, that is my gripe about eating with these silly people. They don’t eat what they want to eat. I have eaten with one too many stick-thin girls who think that eating a slice of bread will create a (nother imaginary) fold in their tummy. Most cut out rice and noodles from their diet and then munch hungrily on ‘healthy’ snacks like nuts – not knowing nuts contain more fats than carbs. And rather than having a nice juicy steak to quash that protein craving, they would order a tiny piece of steamed chicken breast – and then, still crave for that steak for many weeks to come!
VS.

Denial is never a good diet solution. If you want to eat something, you should just eat it and get it out of the way. Obsessing about it and then replacing that craving with a lesser alternative will not get it out of your system.

Stealing from other people’s plate is not a good option either. Too many times have I had girls stealing fries off my plate, thinking that calories from my plate don’t count as long as what is on their plate is healthy. I went on a holiday with a girl who did exactly that. She will order the least ‘offensive’ meal on the menu and then steal from everyone else’s plates so much so that we all have to order bigger portions to accommodate her. In fact, I actually asked her what she would like me to order for MY meal since she will be eating half of it anyway.

I have another girlfriend who once spoke vehemently against carbs during one of our girly dinners at Buko Nero. She was telling us to avoid carbs, especially at night when we don’t burn them off fast enough, when the waitress brought us the bread basket. Piping warm home-made bread served with slaps of whipped butter. Instinctively, she reached over and pops a roll in her mouth while continuing with her diatribe on the evils of carbs between mouthfuls. We all stared at her, saying nothing. I waited until she swallowed that bread roll then quietly ask, “Excuse me, isn’t bread considered ‘carbs’?” We watched her face fall as she shriek, “OH MY GAWD, I FORGOT!”

So, if you don’t want to forget the next time, just stop talking about what you should or should not be eating and just eat whatever you want! In moderation, of course. Surely if you crave beef, you won’t be eating the whole cow. Well, if you forbid yourself from having it, you probably WANT to have the whole cow in the end.

I once brought a serious triathlete to one of my climbing session. After his first trial climb with us, he asked me and my climb-mates a pretty interesting question: ‘What kind of diet do you climbers go on?” Puzzled, we looked at one another and I replied for all of us, 'We usually have roti prata at Jalan Kayu afterwards. Wanna come?"

If he is expecting a debate on how much protein a climber need to build lean muscle mass or how much carbs we should consume for energy to haul us up the rocks etc., he certainly ain't getting one from us. Our simple rule is: There are no rules. Whatever keeps us going up, works.

So ladies and gentlemen, just go and have that Krispy Kreme donut you’ve been dreaming of and be happy, ok? By the time you finish reading this blog, you would have burnt it off anyway.


"Donuts...is there anything they can't do?" - Matt Groening