After I’d made the decision, last July, to cut out processed and refined foods I gradually dropped about a stone.
A lady at church stopped me a few days ago and asked,
“Have you lost lots of weight? You look absolutely fabulous….”
A double edged sword…had I not looked ‘absolutely fabulous’ before?
“What did you do?” she continued rubbing my arm, “you are so tall and slender and your hair cut! Most becoming!”
“Yes,” I said, “I did lose weight, however,” I continued, “I didn’t need to…” A lame attempt to remind her I had never been fat. “All I did was cut out processed and refined foods and turn our pantry into a boring but healthy oasis, no Twinkies, Oreos or crisps allowed.”
“I don’t have that kind of will power, I love my carbohydrates.”
Well so do I!
“When I found out that my diet of anything-goes-as-long-as-I-don’t-balloon-up was doing my body no favors I went cold turkey and haven’t looked back.” I towered over the woman and wondered if I’d grown taller as well as thinner.
She looked me over unabashedly,
“Well, I wish I could look like you, you’re so willowy and graceful.”
“Thank you,” I said, “I’m trying to figure out how to regain some pounds…”
“What a great problem to have!” she said smiling at me.
That’s what she thinks!
I looked up the hazard of being underweight after I’d stood on Daughts’ scales and gasped at the number flashing at me.
I determined that by giving up sugar and starches I had reduced my calories but not my energy output causing me to use more fuel than I was ingesting.
Add to that my natural propensity to leanness inherited from my parents and my enjoyment of my new diet loaded with copious servings of greens and fruits, meat and fish,
Cod with grapes, red cabbage sautéed in coconut oil with onion and garlic, spring greens with avocado and portobellos
natural carbs to stop me from flagging, no wonder the numbers on the scales were dropping.
Happily my continued practice of Yoga kept me on track to build lean muscle weight as long as I ate between meals… gasp… my mother wouldn’t have approved!
There was no going back to cake and ice cream,
the foods my mother had frowned on between meals.
Instead I substituted avocado and nuts, yogurt and cheese, eggs and smoothies.
My hairdresser, the last time I went, said,
“Do you take those mega vitamin pills or something every day?” As she leaned me back in the chair over her sink, “Your hair is so thick and healthy?”
I looked down at my strong, long fingernails,
“No I don’t as a matter of fact…”
A good sign that nutritionally I am doing well.
I reckon if the cows in the field can pack on hundreds of pounds on their diet of grass,
then I should be able to bulk up on greens and salads…and lean meats and fish…
But, until I am comfortable with a different approach to food…
Fat bombs here I come!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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