Eating In Season
When I was a kid, my mother would send me to the greengrocers for fruit and vegetables. It was almost all seasonal.
Except for bananas and oranges, just about everything came from the local farms, or at least within the county. and without celebration or fanfare either. No ‘locally grown’ or ‘organic’ labels back then.
This had a number of advantages. Produce was generally fresher. Everything was loose in any case, so you could pick out for yourself what you wanted.
It meant that you got fruit and vegetables at the peak of their ripeness, and probably at their most nutritious, save for picking them from your own garden.
It also mean that you got to look forward to certain items at certain times of the year.
I would look forward to new potatoes, to fresh peas, runner beans. I always looked forward to summer fruits. They were always a little more expensive than regular apples and oranges, but one certainly didn’t hand over a fistful of notes for a small carton of berries as one usually does in the supermarket these days.
Tomatoes, and other salad items were a summer treat too. We simply didn’t have salad in the winter, as their were no perfectly red round and totally tasteless hothouse tomatoes back then.
Actually my parents had a small back yard, and my father would grow runner beans, and tomatoes, for which he would sent me to the local fields with a bucket to get manure. Still, that’s another story for another time…
Think Yourself Thin
It’s often said that it’s mind over matter.
This goes for dieting.
If you can believe in yourself, believe that you really can lose weight, and apply yourself to it, then you will.
Think positive about the whole thing. Don’t be defeatist. Don’t tell yourself that you’re an overweight slob that’s never going to lose weight. Instead look in the mirror, and tell yourself how much better you will look (to yourself and others) when you do shed those pounds. Tell yourself how much better you will feel.
You don’t have to eat everything on your plate. If you find yourself wasting food, and can’t afford it, or feel guilty about such a practice, then order smaller portions when you eat out, and cook less at home, or split portions in two where practical for another meal another day, and freeze it.
You don’t have to eat every time you do anything. It’s perfectly fine to go to a movie without a 32 ounce soda, and a large popcorn. If you’ve eaten before you went into the theatre, and you’re going to eat again when you leave or get home, you’ll survive quite well without those extra calories! Also think how much money you save each time you don’t eat stuff that you really don’t need. You’ll find after a while, you break the habit of heading for the concession stand in any case.
Excess Gas?
When you eat or drink something sweet, do you have stomach issues?
Cramps, excess gas, a bloated feeling, even diarrhea and pain.
It could be that fructose is the culprit.
It’s found in many processed drinks, such as lemonade and soda, and in food such as low-fat sauces, yogurts, cereals, and more.
High Fructose Corn Syrup is trouble too.
What happens is that the fructose isn’t absorbed properly. It ends up in the colon where bacteria break it down, and turn it into acid and gas.
If this sounds like you, then try laying off anything with corn syrup in it for a few days, and see if your digestive system settles down.
