Home | Sign in

Welcome to May ’s Slim Down
Here you’ll get nuggets from the forum, snippets and ideas from fellow No Diet Dieters, a sprinkling of science and anything else we think might raise a smile and inspire you to keep things fresh…

Bored of Board?

When did Monopoly fall out of favour? Can Triv’ really be dead? Well according to media reports a few weeks back, it seems the death of the board game is nigh. We can’t concentrate long enough apparently. Shall I continue or have you had enough already?

They say anything longer than 20 minutes is out of favour with the text-messaging generation which is why Hasbro (the world’s largest board games producer) is making express versions of the classics. Well we say balls, boots and shakers to that.

Throw your dummy out the cot, fling open your metaphorical toy-box, and scream from the top of your lungs “I know the good life. I love Scrabble and I’m proud of it!” OK, perhaps you don’t need to do that. But you could dig out your Trivial Pursuit or Monopoly box and share a Monday evening with friends debating whether it’s pie or cheese and what a real-time mortgage might cost on a hotel in Mayfair. It could last every night for a week….?  

Psychologists studying lives that go well say persevering with something difficult (as opposed to reaching for quick fixes and short cuts) – like rebuilding a broken relationship, learning a musical instrument or manicuring an overgrown garden – is an integral part of wellbeing and a pervading sense of happiness.

So what’s this got to do with Monopoly? Well we reckon Express Monopoly is a sign that we’re forgetting or neglecting the things that help us feel good.

Once upon a time Monopoly was about forgetting the chores, enjoying a simple pleasure and swapping the telly for family banter. It was a way to bond and to catch up. Buying houses wasn’t the point. It was everything that went with it that was. So go on, get your games out and enjoy the time it takes.

I’ve always wanted to….

Graham started the “Doing something you’ve always wanted to do” thread on the forum and if this isn’t inspiration for the month ahead we’ll eat our Trivial Pursuit pieces of pie:

Since starting the NDD program I have done quite a few new things that I would never have thought of without the prompting and help of the NDD Team, but we all have at least one of those things which we always said we would love to do but have never got round to doing it for any number of "reasons". Doing the program got me in the frame of mind to do the thing I have always wanted to do, but not done, which is to go on a walk round the South West Coast Path in Cornwall and I have just done it. I started planning it last autumn, spent the winter getting fit and doing a lot of walking (which was a new thing in itself) and have just completed an 8 day, 100 mile walk from St Ives to Coverack. Here are one or two things I have learnt by doing this:

  • The people you think will put you off doing something are often the ones who turn out to be most supportive.
  • It really is satisfying to achieve something you always wanted to do
  • Making one thing happen makes other things happen as well, often surprising and unexpected things. In my case this turned out to be writing poetry- strange.
  • Doing the thing you have always wanted to do will turn out to be a different experience from what you thought it would be but no less worthwhile for that.
  • Cornwall is so beautiful

Are there any more of you out there who have had this experience I would love to hear what you have done, or if you haven't done it yet, what you will do? P.S. my legs are two inches shorter than they were, and I have fallen in love with a sofa.

 What will you do? What have you done? What’s in the offing? Move someone else’s mind by leaving a post on the forum

Until next month, be game for every good opportunity,

The No Diet Diet Way Team

nodietdietway.com