I\u2019m on a new diet, \u201cThe Old Coot Eat Anything You Want Diet.\u201d It started out as \u201cThe Opposite Diet\u201d \u2013 when I simply did the opposite of what the \u201cexperts\u201d said. It\u2019s something a lot of us old coots do. We\u2019re contrary! We reject and resent expert advice, like weather forecasters who tell us how to dress when a cold front is headed our way. The forecast is often overblown anyhow. A lot of experts are wrong. Nutrition zealots\u2019 advice bounces back and forth so much, it reminds me of watching the ball in a tennis match: eyes left, eyes right. Coffee bad! \u2013 Coffee good. Fat bad! (Stop drinking whole milk, eating eggs or using butter). Fat good! – Red meat bad! Chicken good! Red meat okay. Chicken bad! Count calories to lose weight! Calories aren\u2019t the issue! On and on goes dietary and nutritional advice, bouncing back and forth across the net. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s often a \u201cfollow the money\u201d thing. Dieting is a billion-dollar business. A billion dollar \u201cREPEAT\u201d business. Every lost pound comes back, and brings a bunch of friends. Weigh 200, and lose 30 pounds, two years later you weigh 210. Now, \u201cthey\u201d tell us we should carry 10 to 15 extra pounds, especially seniors. We\u2019ll need the extra weight to carry us through an illness. That\u2019s why I\u2019m happily going through life on the \u201cOld Coot Eat Anything You Want Diet.\u201d Cake for breakfast? Why not? A double cheeseburger with fries and a shake (now and then). Sure! Have a snack before dinner? \u201cIt will spoil your appetite,\u201d we\u2019re told. So what? Another appetite will come along soon enough. <\/p>\n
There are a lot of us old coots who eat anything we want. But, there is a sound, diet philosophy that underpins it, an old truism that has worked for centuries. \u201cDo everything in moderation.\u201d And more specific to the issue at hand, \u201cEat anything you want in moderation. You\u2019ll be healthy and happy.\u201d And, to help inspire you to adopt the Old Coot Diet, consider how conventional diet and weight loss advice turned out for the nations poster children for weight control, Al Roker and Oprah Winfrey. Back to being a little chunky, aren\u2019t they? <\/p>\n