The very beginning

     Welcome back fellow foodies. Its 5:30 A.M. on Saturday and yes I am bright eyed and bushy tailed.  Don't ask me why. I guess because it is Saturday and I don't have to get up for work.  Monday through Friday, when I have to get up for work, I could sleep till noon, but come Saturday and Sunday when I can well it just doesn't happen too often.  So Good Morning!  As I explained earlier, this is my journey into a better way of eating. I've always been interested in the natural way of doing things.  Even mental and spiritual issues. I read spiritual books, meditation books, books on changing your attitude and ways of thinking. They intrigue me. Some have worked over the years, some I just never grasped the concept, or since I don't have a lot of patience to follow through and make the changes they fell to the way side. I've also read a lot of diet books.  Yes that nasty 4 letter word, I just used it. I started gaining weight after my father was killed in 1975. I was 10 and that is when I discovered food and decided it was my friend.  My weight fluctuated throughout childhood and adolescence.  Mostly it depended on my activity level at that time.  This was the beginning of all those tasty processed sugary treats so easily acquired for about a quarter! This was also the beginning of my lifetime achievement of binge eating. 
 
      I have followed a lot of diets in my life time just like the rest of you. They lasted about 3 weeks then the novelty wears off.  Frankly I hate weighing my food. I hate watching every little thing that I put in my mouth. They say keep a journal, yeah right, I never could do that.  I can't decide if it is because I'm lazy, or because I just don't want to know. That is a lie, we know, us foodies,  we know everything we put in our mouth, now we might not admit it, but we know! So to make a long drawn out story short, I've been on about every diet out there, minus the ones like the grapefruit diet.  I hate grapefruit and I just can't seem to limit myself to eating one thing.  My weight fluctuated throughout childhood and adolescence.  Mostly it depended on my activity level at that time, which is true with most kids.

      I did have success on the Atkins but at a cost no one was aware of at that time.  I did the Atkins back in high school (back in the 80's). Myself and my girl friend followed it faithfully. We lived on Vienna sausages and fresca.  Oh yeah remember fresca?  We ate bacon, eggs, cheese, meatloaf, hamburger, fried chicken, oh and pork rinds.  Take a look at this list.  We lived on fat, fat, fat,  and more fat. Oh and cant for forget the saccharin we were pumping into our bodies from all that fresca. I didn't even like diet pop, I really didn't drink a lot of regular pop either, but it was filling.  We both lost a lot of weight.  I did the diet again back in the 90's. Again I lost a lot of weight, but I also lost brain cells. Believe it or not, our brains need carbs to function properly. I was having difficulty concentrating, thinking straight, and I would forget something that was just told to me I felt lost a lot. (Ok for my sarcastic friends, yes I can do that now, but it was different back then). I started doing some research and paying attention, that is when I realized that doing the Atkins Diet was somewhat dangerous. Not to mention one good down home meal and everything you accomplished was gone in one dinner!  One cannot live on fat alone, take a good look around this fine country and this holds true. For the record I believe that Weight Watchers is an excellent diet. I've been on it. It teaches portion control (which we all need) and for the most part good nutrition. As I mentioned above, I just am not interested in weighing every little thing I eat. I am not that disciplined. And I'm lazy, there I said it!  I have a personal statement. Many years ago, I decided that I would never "diet" again. Why?  Stay tuned for more later!

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