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 Normally
going into the grocery store isn’t any really big deal for me.
However, once you
realize that you need to lose some of those added pounds and start
out on a new diet to ‘change your lifestyle’; it becomes an
adventure in terror. Case in point. Someone took a picture of me
sitting down a month or so ago. When they gave it to me, I could
recognize my head without any trouble, but whose body was it in?
In my mind, I’m still 145 pounds with a full head of hair. That’s
in my mind. The reality is I’m almost bald and at least 35 pounds
over weight. Perhaps even more, I don’t weigh on a scale unless I
have to do so.
So, what to do?
Well, what everyone else in this country does. Go on a diet and
get that weight back down before it’s too late.
Unlike many of
the research scientists out there, I know what causes me to gain
weight.
Food.
Too much of it
and too much of the wrong kinds. It’s just that simple. I’ve known
it for years. I can’t eat bread, potatoes, chips, pasta…dips or
ice cream if I want to get back down to a healthy size for my
body. In short I can’t have any of the things I really like.
I can lose weight
and maintain my weight if I just lay off of just one food group.
Any food having
any carbohydrates.
I could be the
poster child for Atkins.
So, I find myself
inside of my favorite grocery store armed with the knowledge that
anything loaded with carbohydrates is bad for me and should be
avoided at all costs. Within fifteen minutes, I’m drenched in
sweat and having an anxiety attack from reading the labels of my
favorite foods.
Oatmeal, too
much. Yogurt, too much. Popcorn, forget it. My favorite bread,
never again.
It’s depressing
to say the least to walk into a store where you’ve been shopping
for years and find that you actually have to search for something
to eat. Perhaps depressing isn’t the right word. Maddening is more
like it. Somehow it doesn’t seem quite American to be standing in
a 40,000 square foot establishment stocked to the ceiling with
food from around the world and not be able to decide what you can
or cannot put into your mouth.
Naturally my
friends try to convince me that I’m just being irrational and life
isn’t all that bad. I suppose it’s because the only thing worse
than someone trying to quit smoking is someone trying to quit
eating. Everywhere I go I see carbohydrates. Take that piece of
candy from your lips…it’s just poison, don’t you know? Do you
really want that extra slice of bread..it’s not good for you, or
haven’t you heard? Lips that touch onion dip shall never touch
mine…and on and on.
I realize the
reasons so many of us are overweight. It’s hard not to be. Our
society has changed and made fast foods the norm of the day. It’s
tough to eat right and watch calories, fat or carbohydrates or
whatever it is that you cannot tolerate.
We bounce from
one magic diet to another in search of that simple solution to our
ever expanding waist lines only to find that we are surging
against the tide. It isn’t simple. It isn’t easy. It requires
stamina. It requires energy. It requires chocolate. No, no forget
I said that. It requires willpower.
I truthfully feel
sorry for our youngsters today who are faced with food choices I
never had to make as a teenager. We didn’t have fast food. We
didn’t eat out a lot. We ate a lot of vegetables and stuff that I
know has to be better for us than some of the ingredients I read
on the back of these labels as I’m standing, immobile in the
middle of the aisle.
The tempting
smells from the bakery are about to win me over, but I manage to
stay strong and leave with just the items I need for the next week
or so. I am on a never-ending quest for food that tastes good and
is good for you. I don’t think it exists. I am beginning to
believe that you must eat dirt or mud pies to lose weight. I can’t
find any recipes for these that I like, so that’s something I
haven’t explored as of yet.
It does make you
wonder if possibly those smells might be used to help us in our
ongoing war in the Middle East. I know if you put me in a cell and
then allowed the tempting smell of fresh bread or tacos to waft in
I would confess in a heartbeat. I could not hold out for any
length of time.
Maybe that’s the
answer to some of our problems over there. Lock ‘em up for a few
weeks with nothing but soy and whey meals and then drop a Big Mac
with super sized fries in their room. Bet we’d get our boys home a
lot faster.
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