Words from a Reader

The “Writing Life Stories” e-mails I receive are such treasures. As soon as I see there is one in my inbox, I read it immediately. I look forward to them and never know how they will touch me. They can be interesting, informative, humorous, and/or touching.

Sunday, October 29, 2017

A New Year - A New Plan - Wish Me Luck

I have to change my eating habits. Why is that so hard? Why does my body call out to me to eat things I should not have?

We are bombarded on TV with ads for food, food, food, and then we are bombarded with doctors and "experts" telling us we must eat things I never heard of before.

No more bread! What happened to Bread is the staff of Life? In the home where I grew up we had bread every single meal, and sometimes two kinds of bread -- biscuits and cornbread. Mother used to say it was the biscuits that made her fat. She was round in the middle just as I am now. And like me, she was slim and pretty when she was young and when she married. I weighed 105 pounds back then.

No sugar, no bread, cut back on fruit, but eat salads. No potatoes except sweet potatoes. I am not a fan of salads because at our house we ate cooked vegetables - turnips, corn, beans, okra, peas of all kinds. No one eats that way now it seems. We must eat raw.

The salad dressings bought at the store are filled with sugar, so that means just vinegar and oil with maybe a little lemon juice. I'd rather not eat at all.

I am told to eat ancient grains instead of corn and wheat. Why? I like my grits each morning. I add a couple of tablespoons of oatmeal to the pot when I cook them and they are delicious with butter, salt and pepper. How can that be so bad for me?

One English muffin with my eggs each morning gives me a great feeling of satisfaction. We are told to cut out almost everything we have always eaten in order to live longer. I'm not sure I want to live longer if I can't eat the foods I enjoy.

My father once said, "When you get old about the only pleasure you have left is eating." I agree.

When my mother was healing from a ruptured aneurysm, doctors said for her to eat no salt. Foolish and so afraid she would die, I insisted she have not salt in her food. I'm sure when I was not acting like the Food Nazi she ate what she wanted. What good did it do to ruin the taste of food for her? I finally quit policing her diet. She lived ten years and died at the age of 80.

We have to learn by experience I'm afraid so no one will learn from reading this, but when your parents are old, don't take away their biggest pleasure - eating good-tasting food.

As for me, I will cut back on bread, sugar and fruit, but I can't cut it out. I plan to make a new food plan and do my best to stick to it, but my sister, Gay, says I am a dismal failure at dieting. And, I hope to get back to pool exercise next week. A new year for me and a good time to make some changes. Wish me luck. I will certainly need it.







5 comments:

  1. Good luck.
    Without doubt the food rules will change. Again and again. I can remember when eggs were considered poison, and now it is bread, and sugar, and fat (depending on which guru you listen to).

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  2. I know what you are talking about. As we age, we must eat more sensibly, but if I can't have a treat now and then, it's not worth it. I recently decided to start counting my calories on an app on my phone. It isn't hard, and I have stopped the upward trend. I am not a fan of bread, but ice cream? My downfall. That and chocolate. :-)

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  3. EC, I too remember when we were told not to eat eggs. I didn't believe that eggs were bad for us. My family was raised on eggs - sometimes twice a day. On the farm the only things that were not scarce were chicken, eggs and milk.
    I never stopped eating eggs for breakfast. Now, I often eat scrambled eggs at night. I love eggs and now, I'm told eggs are no longer bad for me.
    I am trying to cut back on bread and definitely have cut back on sugar. I want to find out if those are really a problem for me. But, for sure the rules will change before long.

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  4. DJan, we all have those things we just cannot give up, don't we? I like ice cream and love chocolate, but bread is my favorite food.

    I wonder if this dieting thing is all about denial. Maybe we become better people when we deny ourselves what we love most. Maybe. But when I an hungry for something and I cannot have it, I become irritated and grouchy.

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  5. Good luck with the new diet. I hope it makes you feel better.

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