Ready, Steady, Go!
Wendy Lewis begins her annual ritual
For most of us, after the excesses of the festive period, the New Year brings attempts in various degrees of determination to ‘make that change’ (whatever it, or they, might be).
I’m sure that many follow my own traditional routine of hatching my list of ‘improvement’ goals anywhere from October onwards and then postponing the start of my campaigns on them until 1st January – or this year, in my case, 5th January because a Monday is a good day to begin – to allow for one last burst of over-indulgence unfettered by guilt over Christmas (any excuse will do).
Cue a positive plague of faddist diets and fitness regimes. My personal favourite so far has been that featured in the ‘Weekend’ section of The Times on Saturday – The high-fat diet: how to lose 10 lbs in 2 weeks, a programme devised by personal trainer Zana Morris. Morris promotes the idea that anyone can drop two dress sizes in a fortnight by following her favoured combination of diet and short 12-minute bursts of exercise.
Morris’s unique selling point is her espousal of the belief that a diet high in natural fats and low in carbohydrates removes the body’s natural source of fuel, so as a result it turns to burning fat. For any woman, of course, the other theme – that, quite apart from the weight loss involved in following her guidelines, what is really noticeable is the reduction in waist, thigh and stomach measurements – is just as compelling in prospect.
I’m not sitting here as a slavish devotee or PR representative for Zana Morris – who knows if her theories work? – but I am going to give them a try, if only on the basis that imposing a degree of self-discipline over what I eat, even if the result is vaguely unappetizing, will tend to induce a general sense of achievement and ‘gain through pain’ which in itself may have a general positive and beneficial mental effect, never mind any attendant weight reduction.
Elsewhere I have spotted the following articles in the media recently which I found either interesting and/or entertaining:
On lessons to be gained from internet dating, by Daisy Buchanan in THE GUARDIAN
On why doctors are economical with the truth, by Dr Phil Hammond in the DAILY TELEGRAPH
Dare I suggest it – male readers might also gain useful insights from taking time out to read them!
