"American adults downed an average of 6,000 calories on Christmas day—and are now living to regret their feasts. That means each adult consumed in that one day the calories recommended for a single adult for three days. And given that many Americans watched their food intake carefully, many other Americans consumed on Christmas enough calories for several adults, if not an SUV full of them. Much of the excess calories will, of course, be packed on top of people’s already excessively padded butts and guts.
How to make amends? The easy answer all too many nutritionist and fat experts give is to seek a “negative energy balance,” which is to professional jargon for the obvious, eat less than you expend. Well, duh! I dare say all but brain-dead Americans know that.
Many Americans will return to diets they used before, most of which haven’t worked (judging by Americans’ continuing expanding waistlines). Let me proposed a new approach to dieting that draws on two solid economic propositions:
{enter Greenspan voice}
First, “demand curves slope downward,” which is to say that if the price of food goes up, the quantity consumed will go down.
Second, “incentive matters,” which is to say that successful diets require some real or imagined gain that exceeds any pain associated with weight loss.
What dieting advice plays to these long-tested economic dictums? Let me give you my top ten dieting tips that fall out of my economic analysis of the country’s excess weight problems:
First, settle on the amount of weight you want to lose, say, by Christmas. Then, agree to pay someone, preferably someone you don’t like, $500 (or $1,000) if you have not lost the desired weight by Christmas Eve. The pledged payment will immediately raise the price of calorie-rich combo meals at fast-food restaurants and provide a reward for running an extra mile, literally.
Second, if wine consumption is a contributor to your excess weight, buy more expensive wine, because the higher price will cause you to sip the wine more slowly and cause you to down fewer glasses. Ditto for eating out. Commit to going to more expensive restaurants. You will tend to get smaller and healthier portions and forgo the high-priced deserts.
Third, recognize that out-of-home meals generally are more fattening than in-home meals. Agree on a tight monthly budget for eating out and put the budgeted amount of cash in an envelope. The budgeted cash will raise the cost of meals out, because they will force you to assess the cost of going out today in terms of giving up meals out later in the month.
Fourth, many Americans use credit cards to pay for food for an obvious reason: They make the immediate cost of food “feel” cheaper. Raise the perceived cost of food purchases by committing to using only cash.
Fifth, if you have a candy bowl with leftover Christmas goodies on your office desk, place it as far away as you can in your office. Better yet, put the bowl on someone else’s desk down the hall, which will increase the walking “price” of snacking.
Sixth, researchers have found that people who use large dinner plates eat larger portions than people who use small plates. Throw out your twelve-inch plates and replace them with ten-inch plates. Better yet, use your salad plates for dinners.
Seventh, people who have fat friends tend to be fat themselves, and tend to gain more weight than people with thin friends, mainly because weight has a lower psychic cost when all around are heavy. Make thin friends, exactly because they will make you feel fatter.
Eighth, people eat more when they go to eat with people of the same sex, presumably because they are not trying to attract them as sexual partners and mates. Increase the frequency you eat with people of the opposite sex.
Ninth, we all are inclined to put our trimmest pictures on our Facebook sites. Put your most unflattering and fattening pictures up for all to see. Such postings will increase the incentive you have to lose weight and post new, thinner pictures.
People who have fat friends tend to be fat themselves, and tend to gain more weight than people with thin friends, mainly because weight has a lower psychic cost when all around are heavy.
Tenth, join a gym that has a high upfront investment and low monthly payment, or low payment per visit. The low marginal cost will encourage you to workout more often.
Frankly, there are a multitude of ways to lose those Christmas calories, and then some. The key is to find ways to make food more expensive (in real or perceived ways) and to find a payoff for controlling the calorie intake."
Or, you could forget about all this, and go Paleo--it's cheaper and much faster! Isn't it so typical for an economist to throw money at a problem, via gyms, expensive restaurants, and agreeing to pay upfront for weight not lost? I agree with the improvement of the quality of foods, and money NOT spent on gyms and such is money that could go toward buying improved foods.
Are there any fat, or formerly fat economists? Probably not--otherwise, the logic wouldn't escape them so easily...or somebody's using the CW approach through economics.
Speaking as a lay HOME economist, and having been through the experience firsthand, I can tell you that going Paleo has "released the hounds of riches" as it were--yes, my food costs more per pound, ounce, or any other measure, but it isn't junk and/or empty calories. What I do have that's empty is cupboards, a pantry, and a stomach, since I no longer feel hungry and consume out of emotion. Also, since it takes less food to fill me up, I've been able to unplug my chest freezer, saving on my electric bill. Since I now eat more raw foods, my oven gets barely used, and my gas bill is kept in check (I still use burners, though).
Any baking, cooking, or heating gets done in a toaster oven, which uses less electricity, and when I combine it (and all other electric use) with my utility's time-of-use plan, the electric bill is also kept in check.
As a frugal living "black-belt", I already knew how to buy in bulk, grow my own food, explore new sources of store-bought foods (through ethnic groceries, hole-in-the-wall stores, etc.), and make my own kitchen convenience--now I do it using less foods than before. Now I've added foraging and Amazon subscribe-n-save*.
*Amazon subscribe-n-save may have good deals, but you HAVE TO STAY ON TOP OF THEM, because prices creep up as the product runs out, and a new source is found to fulfill orders, or a new agreement is reached with the old vendor. What you have to look out for is new vendors coming into the arena with better per-unit prices than your current subscription price for the same or a comparable item.
I had this experience with coffee for my husband's work--I found the best (at the time) price per pound for the office's preferred coffee (which Hubby was selling per cup, and collecting money for--he doesn't drink it), and over the course of a couple of months, the price went up, and a new and better offer was now part of the subscribe-n-save program, plus I found a cheaper per-pound price at WallyWorld for the same stuff. I contacted Amazon about price-matching WallyWorld's price, or re-negotiating with the vendor to Wally's price level, and neither could be done. I cancelled my then-current subscription, and switched to a new, cheaper per pound one for the same coffee.
If you don't occasionally go through Amazon to make sure you're still getting the best deal (according to your parameters), you could be slowly losing money--THEY DO RAISE PRICES, causing you to have a money leak. Amazon is slowly becoming the WallyWorld of non-perishable groceries, but even the real WallyWorld eventually lost out to the recession, manufacturer price steadfastness, and eroding market strength. All of this could hit Amazon as well.
I advise you to make a list with the price you first subscribed to, then go back every month or so to see if your subscription is still at the same price. If you ever see an out-of-stock notice, or a higher price than when you first signed up, that's your cue to cancel and go find another subscription...or another source.
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