We are a nation of blamers. We love to blame situations, circumstances, events and even ourselves for where we are in our lives. Blame allows you to avoid taking a necessary action — it gets you off the hook from acting responsibly. In terms of diet, it allows you to avoid focusing on controlling your weight — because there’s nothing you can do about it. Keep in mind, however, that one of the key characteristics of all successful weight-losers is their ability to avoid blaming and accept responsibility for whatever failures or setbacks trip them up along the road. Here are a few tips to help you recognize, reorganize and resolve the impact blame may be having on your weight-control efforts.
Eating with manners can certainly be helpful if you’re trying to make a decent impression on a date, at a business meeting or on any social occasion – it might even help keep a marriage together. According to Robin Abrahams, TheBoston Globe’s manners expert (www.boston.com/missconduct), “The writer Peg Bracken, in her 1960s etiquette book I Try to Behave Myself, explained that ‘[T]he raison d’etre of table etiquette is to make the fairly unattractive spectacle of ingesting food as unobjectionable as possible.’” However, there is an even better reason to eat with etiquette: It can help you to lose weight. Here are a few table manners that will help you look better in two ways – your waistline and your eating style.
Whether you’re aware of it or not, most people’s lives are accompanied by a stream of internal commentary. The act of “talking to yourself about yourself” makes the situation more real than just visualizing it. And positive self-talk, also referred to as affirmations, can improve your chances of sticking to your diet and exercising more.
This is the second of a two-part series on fitness and nutrition for new mothers. This column is about nutrition and weight loss.
We are a nation of blamers. We love to blame situations, circumstances, events and even ourselves for where we are in our lives. Blame allows you to avoid taking a necessary action — it gets you off the hook from acting responsibly. In terms of diet, it allows you to avoid focusing on controlling your weight — because there’s nothing you can do about it. Keep in mind, however, that one of the key characteristics of all successful weight-losers is their ability to avoid blaming and accept responsibility for whatever failures or setbacks trip them up along the road. Here are a few tips to help you recognize, reorganize and resolve the impact blame may be having on your weight-control efforts. 
Eating with manners can certainly be helpful if you’re trying to make a decent impression on a date, at a business meeting or on any social occasion – it might even help keep a marriage together. According to Robin Abrahams, The Boston Globe’s manners expert (
Whether you’re aware of it or not, most people’s lives are accompanied by a stream of internal commentary. The act of “talking to yourself about yourself” makes the situation more real than just visualizing it. And positive self-talk, also referred to as affirmations, can improve your chances of sticking to your diet and exercising more. 
