Interview: Pt. 2: No more dieting
BY CINDY ELAVSKY
Sunday, April 29, 2012
4/29/12 at 2:17 AM
Courtney Thorne-Smith has been
an outspoken advocate for healthful
eating after a very public battle with
compulsive dieting, which came to
a head while filming “Ally
McBeal."
After her third season on the
show, Courtney asked to be let out
of her contract due to exhaustion,
wanting to spend time with thenhusband
Andrew Conrad, and mostly
because of the demands of trying
to compete with her rail-thin costars.
At the time, Courtney said: “I
started undereating, overexercising,
pushing myself too hard and brutalizing
my immune system. The
amount of time I spent thinking
about food and being upset about
my body was insane.
Courtney is back and healthier
than ever – without dieting. Instead,
she simply watches what she eats
without depriving herself of the
foods she loves. I spoke with her
about her successful eating habits,
and as a spokesperson for the
Atkins Diet, she had a wealth of
information to share.
Daytime Dial: After years of
compulsive dieting, you’ve reached
a point in your life where you are fit
and healthy. How did you get there?
Courtney Thorne-Smith: I
spoke out many years ago about
being a compulsive dieter and trying
all these diets and making
myself crazy. I literally couldn’t sit
down at a meal. Every food is bad
on some diet. .. It was so sad, and I
thought, “Why am I always hungry?”
Well, because you
don’t have any food. I tried
Atkins once in the way
everybody does, which is I
just ate nothing but bacon,
and that obviously didn’t work.
Then years later, I read the whole
book and I said, “Oh, hey, so it’s
vegetables and low-sugar fruit and
proteins.” I started to do it the right
way, and I’ve been doing it ever
since.
I am so grateful I got that stuff
behind me before I had my son. I
want him to see a parent who’s really
relaxed around food, which I am,
and I never thought I would be. I
don’t think about it. I eat when I’m
hungry, and I eat until I’m full. My
weight stays the same.
DD: Once you get the hang of it,
does it make it easier to go out to
eat?
CTS: I’m going to go to dinner
with my girlfriends tonight and I’m
excited about it because I’m going
to have a Caesar salad with pesto
salmon, no croutons. I remember
going to the same restaurant many
years ago and they have this
chopped salad that has garbanzo
and cheese and turkey and salami
and tomatoes and avocado, and it’s
this great salad, but I couldn’t order
it because there were so many
things on it that I couldn’t have. I
spent so many years with so many
“can’ts.
I know people think if it’s low
carb then they can’t have a sweet
roll. I say: “First of all, no, you
shouldn’t really have a sweet roll.
You’re going to feel like crap, and
there’s nothing healthy in it for you.
Secondly, you can have some of the
sweet roll if it’s not the basis of
your diet.
Associated Images:
“Why am I always hungry?”– Courtney Thorne-Smith Photo Credit: Courtesy
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