http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-belgian-waffle-diet.html
The Belgian Waffle Diet
By Craig Cox, Experience Life
Back to the gym last night after a couple of weeks away, and I have to admit I was a little apprehensive when I climbed on the scale before my workout. It’s not just that I’ve been avoiding the gym; I’ve been avoiding the gym while quaffing pints of ale, brutalizing Belgian waffles, devouring Yorkshire pudding with no regard for my personal safety and simply inhaling any jambon et fromage within 30 meters of a baguette. And I’m not even going to mention the chocolate. A European vacation is a magnificent culinary adventure, but I had to assume that our 10 days in Belgium, France and England would create some unwanted impact on my personal poundage.
So, I had to look twice when 158.6 flashed on the scale’s digital screen.
158.6?
All summer long, I’ve been essentially stuck at 160 — despite ramping up my fat-burning efforts on the Elliptical Death Machine, despite embracing a mindful eating protocol, despite creatively visualizing those last 5 lbs. melting away. I’ve been stranded in plateau city.
Now, if I knew that drinking lots of beer and eating lots of rich food (you cannot even believe those waffles) was the key to rappelling down from that bluff, I would’ve got after it a lot sooner. But, of course, that’s not how it works. My personal weight-loss serendipity had nothing to do with what I ate or didn’t eat; it’s all about the sightseeing. Or, more accurately, it’s all about getting from point A to point B without an automobile.
For years, Americans have puzzled over the seemingly counterintuitive spectacle of lithe French women who eat all the rich food they want without accumulating any excess weight. How come all those croissants and full-fat yoghurt and wine and exquisite sauces and chocolate don’t wind up attaching themselves to their hips?
Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s not just the women and it’s not just the French. Europeans, in general, avoid the epidemic of obesity that so afflicts Americans because they don’t drive that much. A 2008 study from the Journal of Physical Activity and Health says it all: In Belgium, 30 percent of all trips away from home involve walking, biking or mass transit. And Belgians are pikers compared with the Dutch; people in the Netherlands get around town without an automobile 52 percent of the time. (Each year, the average Dutch resident logs an outrageous 1,225 kilometers on foot, bicycle, bus or train.) Americans, on the other hand, drive everywhere: only 12 percent of trips away from home in the U.S. are accomplished sans automobile.
Such “active transportation” helps prevent weight gain, the study’s authors note: “Walking and bicycle commuting usually fall into the moderate-intensity range, and if performed regularly, can result in substantial amounts of energy expenditure. In addition, the use of public transit (trains, subways, and buses) usually involves walking or cycling to and from transit stops and, hence, would also be expected to promote weight control, as well as a host of other physical and mental health benefits.”
This added “routine” activity by your average European burns as much as 9 pounds of fat per year, while your average car-centric American might burn 2. And, when you add it all up, here’s what you get: In the U.S., 34 percent of the population is now considered obese. In the Netherlands, it’s 11 percent.
So, this helps to explain that 158.6 number above. Every day of our vacation, we walked. A lot. On our last day in London, for instance, my son decided for some reason to count the number of stairs he climbed. The final count when we boarded the train back to Brussels that evening: 903. Now, he went out of his way to scamper up steps unnecessarily at times, but I’m guessing that My Lovely Wife and I scaled at least 750. At least, that’s what my knees were telling me. That’s a pretty decent StairMaster session.
We’ll see in a few days whether I’ve been able to maintain my newfound European weight-loss plan in a city with one puny light-rail line and the ever-alluring Crapmobile parked in the driveway, but as long as my old Schwinn remains operational and my sneakers hold onto their tread, there’s no reason why I can’t continue to live like a Belgian (or even a Dutchman!) right here on the prairie.
Except for the waffles. I’m really going to miss the waffles.
Experience Life magazine is an award-winning health and fitness publication that aims to empower people to live their best, most authentic lives, and challenges the conventions of hype, gimmicks and superficiality in favor of a discerning, whole-person perspective. Visit www.experiencelifemag.com to learn more and to sign up for the Experience Life newsletter.
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9 comments
add your comment »I am all for biking/ walking instead of driving a car - mostly for environmental reasons, but also because I believe that it is physically but also mentally healthy to do so.
However... Most European countries actually do have quite high obesity levels. Also, I am a truly fat person (morbidly obese for you - I weigh approximately 300 lbs) and I still take my bike every day to go to work and back - that means I ride approximately 50 kilometers per week, which means about 2,500 kilometer per year.
I am not some kind of extreme outlier. The idea that everyone will become thin through moderate exercise is not supported by research - in fact, even the idea that moderate exercise plus intake of an average, not even a high, amount of food will make you thin is at least questionable in light of the evidence. (Yes, severe food restriction and several hours of daily exercise will make people lose weight, but they also appear to be unsustainable for the majority and their positive health effects are unclear.)
Why do I write this? Because I hope that apart from busting a few stereotypes about us fatties I hope people might get a little close to being obsessed with weight loss. In fact, I really hope that at some point in the future more people switch from car to bike or foot because it is pleasurable (plus, a lot more sustainable way to get some exercisize than going to the gym regularly - if you don't own a car you have no choice than to move in order to get anywhere).
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People can naysay all they like, I can completely relate to this. A while back I went to Hawaii for a week or so ... business mixed with pleasure. I had been dieting and exercising regularly and had lost 30 lbs. prior to the trip. During the trip, I declared my diet "on hold," and all of my great plans to keep up with my workouts fell by the wayside from Day One. Alas! So when I got home, I dreaded getting back on the scale. Once I did, however, I was shocked to find that I had lost 2 lbs. How could that be? When I thought about it though, I realized that I had walked the whole time. We had no rental car, so it was either walk or overspend on cabs. We're cheap, so we went on foot most of the time. That was quite a revelation.
Back home though, it's tougher to do that. We're in the burbs. I work 35 miles from home. Few businesses are within remotely reasonable walking distance of my house except for pizza joints and convenience stores. I do all my errands here near work and none of it is close enough that I could walk there and back within a lunch hour. Ah well... maybe I'll just have to move to Hawaii then!
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I loved your article it was hilarious and enlightening. I have been stuck on 160lbs for awhile so I can relate. I wish I could walk or ride a bike to work but that's not gonna happen anytime soon. I commute 35 miles one way and at the end of the day when I get home it's late and I'm so tired. Got any advice for a time crunched person such as myself?? I am watching what I eat and portion size and I don't take any shortcuts. I use the stairs instead of elevator and park far away from the doors at a store so I walk the extra distance. Thanks for the inspiration!!
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Hilarious. Et tres vrai. Pass the canoli, prego. Grazie.
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Urban Sprawl will kill ya!
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And the problem with this theory is distance. In America most people don't live within walking distance of their work. Or biking, for that matter. I ride the bus, myself, but many of our commutes are hours long.
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nice story; thank you
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Yes, Europeans are much less car-obsessed than we are here in America. But it also sounds like you were not eating processed foods with hidden chemicals, like most of us do, with or without our knowledge, here in America.
A good deal of our problems here are processed foods and video games.
You are right, we need to get off the couch, out of the back seat, and get on with life.
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Sorry to be the one to burst your bubble, but depending on how much weight training you do at the gym, it may be that you have replaced muscle mass with fat during your holiday. Since muscle weighs more than fat, your scale would register you being lighter - but actually fatter.
Also, it's the amount of rich foods the Europeans (especially the French and the croissants), eat at each meal. They eat very small portions, unlike American portion sizes - especially the women. They are terrified of getting fat. I'm a Canadian living in the UK for the last 12 years, and since then I've noticed the severe increase of obese people I see on a daily basis. But I do agree that visiting a city where you can do loads of walking does help burn of the treats.
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