For years I have indulged in foods and activities (or lack of) that, up until now, I didn't realise was doing me so much damage. I LOVED sweet foods (still do....I just don't indulge that's all), rich foods, foods that are fried, quick hit foods and ....... no activity that burned all that fat that those foods built up. I guess, as I was growing up, the focus was on filling my belly with all these new foods that I was tasting in this new country of mine. My Mum has always been a healthy woman and rarely indulged in fast food or anything that wasn't good for her but she also has tremendous discipline which she didn't pass down to her progeny, obviously. My Dad.....loves the food that I love but he, too, could exercise moderation albeit his version of it.
So, fast forward to the present and all that abuse paid out it's dividends eventually. The penny didn't drop a year ago when it should have so, rather half-heartedly, I approached my diet and exercise regime and fell off that bucking horse 6 months later. No surprise really.
THIS time, the penny has dropped and you know how I know? Because I can say "No thank you" to all those foods that got me here. I can stare down chocolate and cake (my bane) and pies and pastries and cheeses (good cheese) and they will blink before I do. Sure, I have the desire, I won't deny that, but I wish I could verbalise adequately how GOOD my body feels right now.
I am treating it, metaphorically, like a luxury car. I'm only putting good things into it and it is reacting favourably by taking me places that I wouldn't normally go. I have discovered flavours that are luxurious and delicious that aren't fattening and that still give me the same pleasure as all those other foods. Only this time, I know that they're good for me. Foods like huge plump gorgeous cherries and organic avocadoes and tomatoes, home made hummus and beautiful soups made with ripe, fresh ingredients. Foods that don't taste like healthy foods. Foods that my son asks me to make for him - he's clueless as to it's nutritious quality, he just thinks they're yummy. Grant's beautiful Moroccan lamb and olive tagine with couscous..... chicken cacciatore (fat free version) made with ripe and juicy vine-ripened truss tomatoes and a handful of raw nuts eaten together with a large Bartlett pear.
Now, you may think that those ingredients sound more expensive than ye olde supermarket variety mass-produced vegetables and fruit but we went to the Queen Victoria market today and surprised the pure cotton socks out of ourselves. We not only bought produce that hadn't been cool-stored for God-knows-how-long and it was almost half the price and twice, even three times, more fresh than the stuff that is sold in most supermarkets........which meant we could afford to buy the better quality stuff like vine-ripened truss tomatoes instead of garden variety tomatoes. We still came out in front and my healthy little heart is beating like a drum with excitement about it all.
If you want your body to take you the distance, treat it like the temple that it is. It's a gift you were given and it's up to you to take care of it. If it was a Ferrari, how would you treat it? If it was a piece of Tiffany jewellery, would you store it and clean it carefully or just throw it in your top drawer?
Have a talk to it. If your body is arking up and giving you trouble, have you contributed to that in any way? Do you put stuff into it that exascerbates your issues or have you been kind and treated it with love?
Vine ripened truss tomatoes with goat's cheese feta and fresh basil! It's alllll healthy and I can eat as much of it as I want. Why would you swap this for takeaway?
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