When my wife and I decided to move to Paradise, I envisioned a life of tropical leaf plates bursting with fruit and vegetables, cut fresh daily, and pink scampi bouncing from plate-to-plate.

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And while maybe the nutritional realities here aren’t quite as cinematic as the dreams, the options seem better. Shockingly, the presence of hot new diet trends somehow followed us here, made it through customs, and set up residency as well.

So let’s talk about trends a little bit.

It was trendy advice at one time to talk to houseplants in order to help them grow better. When my wife and I arrived in Guanacaste during the rainy season I thought a good pep-talk wouldn’t hurt the surrounding forest. Days after, with a sore throat, and a good rainfall later, I was astounded at the results.

Of course I may be confusing my results a bit.

But what of dietary trends?

From an early age I can remember the seemingly endless trail of Scooby-doo diets my poor mother tried to follow, the soup diet, the veggie-diet, the tree-bark diet. I’m kidding a little, but in my memory it seemed there was always some new thing she was trying to eat in search of perfection.

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(Mother, you’re beautiful, stop it.)

Now, before we go any farther. If you the individual pursuing a modeling career, a bodybuilder (how did you end up on this article?) or just your everyday run-of-the-mill body sculptor, then I’m sorry, this advice is not for you.

This is for the rest of us, those who seek improvements with internal as well as external health, no matter where we live in the world.

So… why do us common folk always suffer the slings and arrows of Scooby-doo-diets? And what the heck is a Scooby-doo diet? And really what is the danger?

I call them “Scooby-doo” because in the world of Scooby Doo, secret passageways were always a book-pull away, uncovering a whole world unseen to the casual observer.

This caters to the perception that if we can only figure out the correct combination, find the secret passage way; somehow eliminate all the “bad foods,” eat all the “good foods,” and do it at all the “right times,” then we will finally catch the bad guy and unmask him.

If this process leads one to reconsider his or her choices in the long run, and ultimately live a healthier lifestyle, then I am all for it.

For many, as I have observed, the outcome is not a stabilization of diet but a frenetic running from one trend to the next, never really settling on a pattern of intake which sustainable and healthy.

So why do diets seem to work in the short run?

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Why did talking to my plants seem to make them healthier?

Really the answer is the same.

Taking time to look at one’s house plants every day forces that person to be conscious of the condition those same plants are in.

The answers are pretty obvious upon closer inspection. With food intake, most of us could know what our nutritional missteps are, even if we feel we cannot control them. We simply aren’t paying attention.

“Good morning houseplant… Oh what’s this? The leaves are browning at the tips… and the soil looks drier than it did yesterday. Gee, I think I will water my plant while I am standing here talking to it.”

Viola! Healthier Plant. It must be the stimulating conversation.

In my experience, the very process of taking awareness of what we are shoving in our face, fully conscious awareness, tracking and accountability, ultimately has more impact on our health than scooby-doo in the long run.

For each individual this may mean any number of honest moments such as: I have an addictive nature with food, I eat to cover childhood pain, I don’t enjoy eating and therefore avoid it… etc. It is an individual battle and above my pay grade to diagnose. Besides I have my own food-issues.

If the best advice anyone ever received on managing diet was to write down what was eaten, the second best advice was to keep those choices high in green veggies, lean meats, avoiding sugars, fats and salts…. but the reality is people are gonna eat what people are gonna eat.

Very few people I know can eat cleanly all the time; just don’t lie to yourself about how much and how often you get dirty (See best advice #1).

This means if you feel a dollop of butter in your morning coffee adds to your food experience somehow (protects you from bullets maybe?) then go get ‘um tiger! Again, no lying.

Regarding the second best advice… the beauty of living in Costa Rica is we have immediate and easy access to a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

This week my wife and I came home from the more expensive veggie stand with tomatoes, onions, garlic, a whole pineapple, cabbage, and some other things I can’t remember; two arm-pumping bags of produce, for about $10!

We buy a kilo of rice every other week for about $2, and various legumes for roughly the same price as needed. Lean cuts of chicken are spendy at about $8 for a kilo, and canned tuna we get for $1 a can.

All told, we eat better here than we did in Southern California, and cheaper than we did in the midwest. The health benefits can certainly be measured in be our improved body compositions, sure, but also in other surprising ways.

For example, before leaving Los Angeles my wife lived a life of bruises. True she is a klutz, we both are, but these were often unexplained bruises. It was months after living in Costa Rica that she pointed out the absence of the morning dark spots.

I have witnessed her clobber her leg on something which surely should have led to bruising… but nothing happens. The only variable outside of our jobs that has changed has been our respective diets. No Scooby-doo here… just sound conscious eating.

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To the fitness-freaks, of which I am one (abroad and otherwise), and to the dedicated fad diet-addicts, I wish you good luck in your pursuit of the truth and bid you adieu. To the man selling junk-science books and products in the name of good health, I tear off your mask and send you packing.

I know, you would have gotten away with it too… if it weren’t for this meddling kid.

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Written by VIP Member Damon Mitchell who spent over 10 years in the fitness industry before he moved to Costa Rica in search of a better work/life balance. Currently he runs a small business in Tamarindo with his wife Cristina and their dog Kai.

Daily, Damon’s exercise regimen could include running on the beach in Tamarindo, calisthenics, TRX training or working out at the Tamarindo Fitness Center; really just about anything he can to make fitness fun.

You can email Damon here if there is anything specific about staying fit and healthy in Costa Rica you would like him to cover in his next article.

You can email Damon here if there is anything specific about staying fit and healthy in Costa Rica you would like him to cover in his next article.

Scooby Doo Diets

Article/Property ID Number 4363

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