think of him? Who gave me the right to be so irresponsible to myself and my loved ones? But how much in life you need to be in time! Plans are huge. My beloved, sweet little and only organism, can you stand it all? How could I treat you so disrespectfully? My poor heart, isn't it hard for you to fulfill your function in order to pump blood through the kilometers of vessels of such a huge organism? My beloved legs, how do you carry this heavy carcass?

And from that moment it all began. The next night, I was surrounded by literature on the physiology of digestion, endocrinology, genetics, obesity theories. The next day - I was already on kefir as the only source of nutrition, which I began to alternate with a new, carefully programmed diet. In addition, she began to drink more water and only drank tea with milk in the evening, as she continued to feed her son three times a day. The goal that I set myself at this moment was to find my diet in order to regain a slender figure, but without forgetting the commandment: do no harm! And most importantly - health, in order to continue to enjoy motherhood and still have a lot to do in life.

The changes affected the entire house. Milk sausage, cuts, salted and fatty fish had to be removed from the refrigerator. Transfer the glazed curds to the shelf of the older child. After filtering the contents of the cupboards, I took sweets out of the house (only I ate them), surplus cookies, and other pastries. I stopped buying those foods that were difficult to control: nuts, dried fruits, sugary drinks, juicy fruits. I gave my parents stocks of canned cucumbers, tomatoes, as well as my favorite cherry jam. I agreed with my husband about mutual understanding and support.

The ice has broken! The first kilograms melted before our eyes. This made me happy, and I was infinitely grateful to my body and each of its cells that it also began to help me.

During the day, when the children were asleep, and at night, I continued to read "Physiology" and "Fundamentals of Dietetics". I learned to live in a new way, because I changed a very important component of my life - eating habits. And the only goal that helped me in this was health. And getting rid of excess weight is a consequence of restoring my health. I began to fantasize what I would be like when I achieved the result, how I would look, what clothes I could wear. What will the neighbors and relatives say? What compliments will I again receive from my husband and colleagues. How will I please my children with the fact that they have a young and beautiful mother. And it's all achievable. And ahead is only work, a hard and at the same time joyful kind of work on changing oneself, one's habits, addictions, and stereotypes. And over time, you will realize the fact that both sides of your self - the one that wants to be slim, and the one that loves to eat - you need both, and both are useful. The main thing is not to argue with any of them, but to constantly keep their mutual understanding in balance, without offending any of them. sides.

The very desire to eat does not mean that you should immediately sit down and eat a whole cake. We must realize any desires consciously. So I started a diary and started writing down everything I planned to put in my mouth.

It is known that to control desires, especially desires for food, incredible willpower is needed. Will I have enough? What is will? Will is one's own desire, desire. By showing willpower, you want or do not want to do something with a certain force, but you certainly do not force yourself to do it against your own will! And if you also apply your mind, you will satisfy your desire and preserve your health. When did food addiction begin? Trying to forget about it, in the hope that it will pass by itself, is a waste of time. Therefore, it is easier to accept it, but learn to make an informed choice. It was this understanding, as well as the acquired set of knowledge, that helped to structure my nutrition schedule in time, quantity, quality, and moreover, beneficial for both parties: for the one who wants to be beautiful, slim and not overeat, and for the one who is greedy for the delights of food and is not going to give them up.

Any food addicted person has a desire to eat, even when there is "nowhere else." Only an hour passes after the feast - and you again remember the buzz from food and again go to the kitchen, scolding yourself with the last words.

It is precisely with such games with your body and psyche and the struggle with your desires that nasty and terrible cellulite-fat kilograms are formed.

It was to get rid of this internal struggle that I made a nutrition schedule every 2-2 1/2 hours, taking into account the peculiarities of the metabolic processes in the body. And between the main meals (breakfast, lunch and a late dinner), snacks appeared in the form of apples, carrots, cucumbers or other products that were convenient to take with you for a walk with your children.

Weight gradually decreased. Over time, a small amount of food began to be enough for me, while I learned to enjoy what I eat, and satisfaction from an improving figure and well-being. But it was later, and at first, of course, it was not easy ...

I. BACKGROUND: BEAUTY THROUGH THE AGES
Margarita taught me not to associate emotions with food. You need to negotiate with yourself, but in no case do not starve yourself. Restrictions are necessary, you can not become slave of the stomach.

Zhanna Friske
At all times, people wanted to be rich, healthy and beautiful. Ideas about wealth have not changed much since antiquity. Except that earlier mankind measured well-being by the number of silicon arrowheads, and now by the size of a bank account. The essence remains the same, only the attributes have changed.

But with health and beauty, things were not so simple. Attitudes towards these concepts in different historical epochs sometimes differed dramatically. And far from always being overweight was considered a problem that needed to be dealt with.

For example, in the Stone Age, only a very successful and rich person by then standards could have extra fat. In those harsh times, few people managed to eat well. Now it is difficult to imagine it, but the ordinary day of a primitive man was filled exclusively with the search for something edible. When you roam the savanna from dawn to dusk, and your entire diet consists of a few edible roots or a piece of poorly fried meat, one can only dream of being overweight. Extra grams of fat was not a tragedy, but a success. After all, they made it possible to survive the hungry times that could come at any moment. It is not surprising that a dexterous hunter who managed to grow a small belly for himself was a model of health. And his wife with rounded shapes was considered the first beauty of the tribe. It is these conclusions that can be drawn on the basis of rock art and individual sculptures. The oldest sculpture of the female body that scientists have found in Austria was created around 2000 BC. e. is "Venus of Willendorf". She is a miniature figure of a woman with large breasts, wide hips and a rounded belly.

Fullness in the Stone Age testified to a more developed ability to obtain food and, therefore, to the hope of a long life and healthy offspring.

In a word, excess weight was then a guarantee of survival. So - an indicator of health and beauty.

However, as culture and science have developed, people's attitudes towards being overweight have changed. A person no longer experienced such difficulties with obtaining food, and he no longer needed to put off excess fat “in reserve”. But there was time and opportunity to abstractly speculate about what beauty is. In addition, it was during this period that mankind began actively wage full-scale wars. The warrior became the main figure in society. And what kind of warrior will turn out of a clumsy fat man with shortness of breath? It is not surprising that toned muscular bodies with ideal proportions have become the ideal of beauty. The ancient Greeks portrayed their gods and heroes just like that - with well-developed muscles and without a hint of a plump tummy. At the same time, mythological characters personifying any vices were presented in an unsightly form - overweight.

Of course, this does not mean that there were no obese people in ancient civilizations at all. There were enough of those. Statesmen, philosophers, wealthy merchants were often overweight. That is, fullness was still a companion of success and a high position in society.

But still, people who were obese were treated with some contempt. Therefore, fat citizens of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome often tried to hide their fullness. Sometimes in quite clever ways. Known, for example, is the story of the tyrant Heraclea Dionysius, who lived in the 4th century BC. e.

Dionysius was very fat and was ashamed of it. He hid his body in a kind of barrel, from which only his head protruded. So he could communicate with other people and at the same time not limit himself to food -