The Upside: Habits of the rich and thin
Filed under: Budgets, Debt, Make Money Fast, Food, Career, Health, Credit Cards
Since the recession began, we've all been tightening our belts, but only metaphorically. As our finances have grown leaner, Americans' bellies continue to grow larger. Therefore, the question of how to increase net worth while decreasing net girth has been on my mind for a while -- like about 20 years.You see, I've been both rich and poor as well as fat and thin. Say what you want about the best things in life being free and money not being able to buy you happiness; in my experience, rich and thin were way better. What's more, for me physical and fiscal fitness seem to go together.
For instance, with the help of Jim Karas' The Business Plan for the Body I lost more than 60 pounds in a year by applying the skills I learned from running a successful small business. Since then, I've noticed that the challenges and benefits of following a diet mirror that of following a budget.
The opposite may also be true. As Daniel Engbar asked recently at Slate, "Does poverty make you obese, or is it the other way around?" It's a hard question to ask without sounding like a jerk, but it's one I've been asking myself as I strive to stabilize both my weight and my income.
So I've been researching What's Necessary to Be Rich and Thin. And here's what I've learned so far:
1) IT'S A CONSPIRACY. It's not a coincidence that the obesity epidemic of the last 20 years parallels Americans' overspending. The food and credit industries have actually conspired to make you overweight and in debt. And it takes an extraordinary will to combat them. Because:
2) YOU'RE NOT WEAK, YOU'RE HUMAN. More and more, studies of behavioral science are showing that humans are pack animals determined to follow the herd. Which is why you're more likely to be overweight if your friends are. Therefore:
3) IF YOU WANT WHAT SOMEONE HAS, DO WHAT THEY DO. According to Jean Chatzky's The Difference, what separates financially successful people from the rest of us is that they set goals and -- here's the important part -- actually stick to them. Chatzky is Oprah-approved, so I'm apt to believe her. (Of course, so is Dr. Phil and I think he's a gaseous windbag.) In which case:
4) CHANGE YOUR HABITS. This one has worked for me in the past, so I'm trying it again. Instead of making some dramatic changes, I'm working on little ones -- the barest minimum of what I'm willing to do. Take exercise. If all I can muster is a set of push-ups one day, that's what I do. I figure it's better than nothing, which is what usually happens after a few days of compulsive, Herculean efforts. Small, repetitive changes stand a better chance of becoming automatic and permanent. "Habit is habit," Mark Twain said, "and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time." Which ultimately means you get to:
5) REWARD YOURSELF. There's a lag between behavioral changes and results, so I've started treating myself like a lab rat -- giving myself rewards for accomplishing a task. Like this article, for instance. It's a small part of my overall business strategy of generating steady income. Now that I've finished it, I'll give myself a reward.
But it won't be a snack.
And that, my friends, is The Upside.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-21-2009 @ 6:03PM
Dave said...
My own theory is that obesity is an economic problem. For example, the latest gov stats say 1 in 6 Americans is below the poverty line. And when you don't have money, you buy cheap food. And cheap food will just about explode your insides with extra fat, carbs, useless calories, and whatever else it contains (like high-fructose corn syrup. Ever check the labels? HFCS is in everything.)
When my wife and I started eating healthier, our combined weight dropped 90 pounds in six months. But our food bill skyrocketed. Fresh fruit and vegetables cost way more than canned, and raw food you actually have to cook costs way more than frozen dinners.
I know it's not all economics, of course. Pure laziness plays a big part too. It's more work to shop healthy and prepare healthy meals.
But the biggest factor is exercise: we never exercise enough in this country. The author of this article is absolutely correct in saying even a little is far better than nothing at all.
http://www.greenmantshirts.com
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10-23-2009 @ 3:05PM
Rebecca said...
I had been overweight for the past five years. I had tried almost everything in the market, right from taking diet pills to enrolling in a gym but nothing really worked. Yes I did lose a few pounds but nothing substantial. It was then that a friend recommended Acai Burn ( http://tiny.cc/AcaiBurn748 ) to me. I have been using the product for about a month now and have slimmed down considerably. I have actually started to wear all those dresses that I had put off for so long. The product is definitely one of the best weight loss products in the market today. I have already finished two bottles of Acai Burn and am on my third bottle now. It totally changed my life! Not only did I lose a lot of weight quickly, I have also never felt more energetic and so full of life!
10-23-2009 @ 12:22AM
Jeffrey said...
As Dave says above, a large part of if is the high fructose corn syrup in everything (including many items in the millions of free lunches served in schools each day). Over the past thirty years, America's cost for food has decreased by the same percentage now spent on medical and medication bills. $1.29 for a jug of Sunny Delight; $129 for diabetes medication.
I've never seen this written about, but I think the whole "New Coke" failure was due to that "new" formula using so much of the cheaper, high fructose corn sweetener in place of the more expensive cane sugar. It tasted worse, so it was rejected. And as Andy Warhol said, rich and poor alike drink the same Coke.
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10-23-2009 @ 3:01PM
ae said...
There's no high fructose corn syrup in pinto beans. Or brown rice. Or cabbage. I agree, the food industry has made every attempt to hook us on non-foods that are nutritionally empty, taste good and are easy to get. That doesn't relieve us of the responsibility of making smarter choices. No box of sugared cereal can compete with plain oatmeal with real fruit on it. Real food isn't more expensive. There's PLENTY of real, living, nutritious foods available if you want them. It's not poverty that causes obesity. It's ignorance.
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10-23-2009 @ 5:01PM
vch73 said...
ae - you hit the nail on the head! Sometimes when I'm standing in the checkout line watching what food stamp users are buying, I think how our tax money would be so much better used if we could TEACH these people about nutrition. I say show them, educate them, TEACH them!
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10-23-2009 @ 5:16PM
nora said...
I was always skinny as a kid, and slim well into my 30s. Then I developed just enough of a belly that made my clothes tight around the middle, but loose in other places. No matter how much I exercised and tried to cut back on eating, I couldn't get rid of the "pooch." I was by no means overweight: 5'3" and 128 - but the pounds started to creep on and this past spring I hit 134. (I'm 58, by the way.) I think that having to lose just a few pounds can be even harder than losing a lot. I'm no shill for weight watchers, but it did the trick. It cost me $65 to join (online) but it also taught me how to balance out exercise and portion control. Since May, I've lost 14 pounds. My goal was 122 and I'm below that, but just a little. When I creep up to 121, I know I have to kick up the exercise a notch or have a low fat English muffin for breakfast instead of cinnamon toast. Walking the mile to and from the train station from work also earns me a couple points for a glass of white wine in the evening.
Fiber in your diet is also important. At the risk of sounding like an old fogie, I take Metamucil or fiber tablets. They even make Splenda now with extra fiber. And speaking of splenda, I always had 2 tsp. of sugar with cream in my daily Dunkin Donuts coffee. Now it's skim milk and splenda. I thought I could never get used to anything "diet" like Diet Coke or splenda. After a while, you get used to it.
With my weight down, I've also found running is easier. Doing 5K on the treadmill three times a week was brutal. I can now do it in less than 27 minutes. Not bad for an old broad.
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10-23-2009 @ 6:18PM
chris said...
Terribly naive to rank obesity with income. I see lots of wealthy people who are over weight.. One thing the "studies" never seem to take into affect is with our great influx on immigration (legal and illegal), we have added many cultures to our population that are either biologically prone to excess weight, or , culturally a form of affluence in being over weight, (you can afford lots of food).
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10-27-2009 @ 2:11PM
Diana said...
Which is cheaper? A package of kool-aid or a gallon of milk? The kool-aid, which is also the least healthy and worst for us.
10-23-2009 @ 7:28PM
Dana said...
Poverty is not the reason for obesity. Laziness is the driving factor. Isn't it easier to grab a burger & fries at the drive through than actually purchase whole foods and cook them? I buy lots of fruits, vegies, lean protein and whole grains and it is not more expensive than running to the takeout, it's less. Also, I agree with another writer about the influx of immigrants from cultures predisposed to being overweight. Then they are lumped in with Americans, then "Americans" are said to be overweight when many of the overweight are not Americans at all. Granted we have plenty of our own overweight, but I live in the west and I everyday I see TONS of overweight non-Americans on the street.
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10-29-2009 @ 3:35PM
Patrick said...
I love that #2's comment is an advertisement spamed as a comment...that aside......
Being overweight has nothing to do with money. It's calories consumed vs. calories expended.....it's not rocket science...and it's not politics, it's not race, it's not nationality and it's not economics. Stop with the excuses and blaming anything and everything but yourself.
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11-04-2009 @ 11:45AM
Charlotte said...
What kind of nonfood rewards do you provide for yourself that don't drain your pocketbook? I am struggling with that--it seems like most nonfood rewards are expensive, for example a massage or new gadget. I think that a nonfood reward that is just more random stuff is not necessarily getting to the heart of the problem. You are still "consuming." What kinds of things would you recommend as positive reinforcement?
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