6 Rules for Slimming Down... Your Car Use!
6 Rules for Slimming Down... Your Car Use! By Jessica Davis You’ve read one dieting article, you’ve read them all… or so you thought. The latest trend in Portland dieting is car-dieting. Perhaps you, like many others, for whatever the reason, (gas prices, eco-consciousness, lovely weather) woke up thinking, “TODAY is the day I start.” We consulted with SE Portland’s Sarah Gilbert—who did not drive at all for more than two years and still gets around sans auto with three kids every day—for advice on the new rules of dieting. Diet Rule #1 Choose the car diet that is easiest for you to follow. Some people can go cold turkey. If you are brazen enough to try it, do something that makes it physically impossible—or very, very hard—to drive your car, such as canceling your insurance or losing your keys permanently. But for you, maybe weekends you travel only by bus, or perhaps you ride your bike to work (or preschool, or camp) three days a week. Your diet must be one that you want to stick to. Diet Rule #2 Instead of a food scale or calorie counter, get yourself familiar with public transportation and bike routes. Know how long it will take you to get somewhere. Instead of tracking your calories, carb grams, fat grams, or fiber grams that you take in each day, keep track of how many miles you log in a week. Or how many trips you take. These are numbers you’ll be psyched to see go up. Diet Rule #3 Splurge on a darling new rain jacket, step it up with a fancy helmet (check out Jess Says), or Diet Rule #4 What if you just don’t feel like getting on your bike to get somewhere? Take the bus, get a carpool pickup, or just don’t go. “Give yourself permission to be late to school once in a while. Give yourself the authority to say “no” to that activity… Change your expectations for grocery shopping and activities. Figure out a way to stay closer to home, to do a little less, to live more fully,” advises Gilbert. Think about how many of your outings are truly necessary. Do you really *have* to do them today? Combining trips is another trick to successful car-dieting. Diet Rule #5 Instead of serving you pizza and beer, a good friend who knows you’re dieting substitutes salads and wine. With car dieting it’s the same. Friends will plan outings easily accessible on the bus lines or within bike-able distance. Maybe set up a competition with a friend – who can be the biggest loser of gallons? And those in the know will hold you accountable too. You can’t just show up in a car – you have a rep to protect! Diet Rule #6 SKIP THIS STEP. Unlike weight-loss diets, car diets don’t ask you to exercise. If you’re car dieting you are already exercising! This pounding of pavement will help you melt the pounds away AND save time. Gilbert sums it up this way: “When I bike with my kids somewhere, I am combining my transportation, my family |
