One of Brazil’s great philosophers, Tim Maia, once said: “I decided to go on a strict diet. I cut out alcohol, all fats and sugar. In two weeks I lost 14 days”.
For 28 years I have been living with a marvelous woman who now and again loses her temper and her usual good humor because she feels that she has put on a couple of kilos. I wonder if maybe we are exaggerating a little. One thing is obesity, another is trying to stop the time and normal evolution of our organism.
The worst of it all is that at each and every moment there appears a new way to lose weight: eating calories, then not eating calories, compulsively consuming fats, then avoiding fats at any price. We step inside a pharmacy and are visually assaulted by all sorts of miraculous products that promise to do away with our desire to eat, with our fat tissue, with our belly, and so on.
We have survived all these millennia because we could eat. And nowadays this seems to have turned into a curse. Why is that? What makes us try at the age of 40 to keep the same body we had when we were young? Will it ever be at all possible to stop this dimension of time?
Of course not. And so why do we need to be slim?
We don’t. We buy books, go to the gym, devote a great deal of our concentration trying to stop time, when we ought to be celebrating the miracle of living in this world. Instead of wondering how to live better, we are obsessed with how much we weigh.
Let’s forget all that; you can read all the books you want, do all the exercise you want, suffer all the punishment you decide to inflict on yourself, and you will have only two choices – you either stop living, or else you will get fat.
It is obvious that you have to eat moderately, but above all you have to take pleasure in eating. Jesus Christ said that: “evil is not what goes into man’s mouth, but rather what comes out of it”.
The other day I was in a Lebanese restaurant with an Irish friend, and we were talking about salads. With all due respect to vegetarians and the fundamentalists of food, for me, salad is just something to decorate a dish. We cannot live without it, but on the other hand we cannot consider it as the center of our gastronomic attention. Every day the newspapers publish stories of young people looking for fame on the catwalk who end up dying because of this obsession with weight.
Remember that for thousands of years we fought to avoid being hungry. Who invented this story that we have to spend our whole life being slim?
Let me give you the answer: the vampires of the soul, who think that it is possible to stop the wheel of time. It is not possible. Use the energy and the effort of a diet to feed yourself with the bread of the spirit, and go on enjoying (moderately, let me repeat) the pleasures of good eating. Last year I wrote a series of columns on the capital sins, and greed was one of them. But what exactly is greed? An obsession.
The same goes for diets. And this is where the two extremes meet and become harmful to our health. While millions of people the world over are hungry, we see people provoking this other obsession because at some moment or other somebody decides that being slim is the only option for regaining youth and beauty.
Instead of artificially burning those calories, we should try to turn them into the energy we need to fight for our dreams; no-one has ever stayed slim for long just by following a diet.
Hmmm…I agree that the person should enjoy living, and eating is one of daily joys that we have, but there are some cases that diet should be vitally important to some people. Sometimes diet saves life…I know such cases.
I hope people who want to be healthy and eat normally without restrictions will not get crazy after your article and start eating limitless amounts of food…
There should be joy, but you ought to be listening to your body and not exgagerate!
On the other hand if the diet doesn’t work, you should change your opinion and love any single kilo of your own body, while enjoying a nice dinner;)
Bon appetit!;)
I have decided to go on a strict diet
last month a bacteria was torturing my body, I had a light fever during over 2 months, and it became worse after every meal i took. the problem was that I got hungry after one day or so of starvation, so I would feel good for a couple of hours, after the food had left my body, then, the process started all over again, and i started to eat.
the general practitioner convinced himself it was the pfeiffer virus – that i by the way did not have. \the, 2 days before christmas, i got so mad with him because he did not do anything about it, i went back but the g.p. was n ‘ t there. so I asked his substitute for advise.
He felt by stomach, and it really was hurtfull. he said it was the intestino grueso. I do not know the english word. he said to not eat anything that annoyed my intestino.
in the end, I drank juices tea and water for 10 days, after that, the fever was gone.
and a lot of kilo’s were gone too… nice!!!
Oui thanks for reminding me
~~~ ;)
hi MR COELHO
I used your text last week in my class as an examination text.while monitoring my students i could see them smile as they read through the text.most took high grades and read it over and over again.this means i’ll give them more of your magical texts of course it is after your permission.thank you for inspiring us all the time
Your words are pure logic, but so inspiring. I have fought with my weight for years; I have used it as an excuse for opting out of all sorts of committments and for standing in the corner unobserved. I have read many of your books and just finished ‘Veronika Deides to Die’….it truly blew my socks off. I’ve been aware for some time that I allow myself very limited freedom of expression and live my life in a way that is expected of me…by my parents, my husband, children, work, society, etc., etc. Like so many, I have completely repressed my individuality and in so doing even denied my connection to God. At this precise moment, my heart feel as if it wants to explode. Thanks to your words, I suddenly realise that my chains of imprisonment have been self imposed; no one else put them there! Those chains are just about to be unlocked and I am setting myself free. Thankyou very much.
socks off hey? OOH OOH
a new franchise!
xx
I don’t believe in diets! None of them really works! The theories of what/when/how we should eat change all the time. Who really knows what is good for you? Each of us is a unique system that needs unique care.
Happiness and well-being is what we are really all looking for. Eating is one of the most pleasurable experiences. What’s the point of restricting ourselves from this natural pleasure?
Listening to our body needs (creating mind/body connection) and giving to our bodies the energies (food) that it needs – may be is a way of perciving our eating habits.
Balance and holistic approach to all, including food, should replace the ‘diet’ misconception.
Love to all foods: spiritual, mental, physical and emotional!
olga
Dear Paulo,
Thank you very much for writing this article. I feel so relievd after reading this. After my marriage, I have been trying to lose weight and actually stopped enjoying the joys of marriage. I stopped living! And as you have rightly said that “What makes us try at the age of 40 to keep the same body we had when we were young? ” So true! Body shape changes with age.
This artcile is so convincing.
Thanks a million, Paulo. :)
Shruti, India.
Thank you :) this is an eye opener
This morning as I looked in the mirror at my fifty-something body I became filled with self contempt. That negativity sustained me all morning until at lunch I treated myself to one of your books. Before I went back to “work” I decided to find you online and discovered this web site and WOL texts. Of course with the mentality that I had from the start of my day I went to the WOL “dieting” section. My dear, dear man, you have touched my soul! I bless you and give thanks for your presence. I will take up your challenge and print your online works and distribute them to those who can not! Thank you for honoring your Spirit by writing to and for us as well as yourself! Blessings to you! Barbara
Thank you Paulo,
the weight isue is one that is always needs tackling from different angles since the vast majority suffers from it.
I think no one denies that the problem lies in the media that propagates the perfect image for people, hence we all feel as if flawed.
one needs to know the authentic person within him/her, then we can try to live, eat, and excercise in a healthy way which will lead with time to the healthy body (i.e. losing some weight)
I’m a huge fan of yours, unfortuantely I haven’t read any of your books because I want to read them in English, yet here in my country (Syria) I could only find the translated (Arabic) version of them.. so I’ll keep on waiting, and reading the warrior of Light till then.
by the way, I LOVE the concept of WOL, and I’m truly working on living by it..
thank you more and more.
Paulo, The answer is No . I have no intention to.Just enjoying the lovely food around -making the most of it. I love my food. Yam Yam.
Love
Marie-Christine
I am a great fan of yours. Since the day I read Alchemist, I have loved your every single word, be it Alchemist, Valkyries, Fifth Mountain, Eleven Minutes, Zahir, or Brida – I love the way you put your thoughts into words. And this one was just mindblowing. From today, I enjoy living instead of worrying about my weight :) Thank you
Thank you Paulo. For standing up against this obssession that has been corrupting my generation and the ones before it. I am not going to be a hypocrite and say that I don’t worry about how I look compared to models but you have put into words what I’ve always thought being healthy is all about.