About Me

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London, United Kingdom
This is the journey of an average girl trying to lose weight and embarking on a new adventure. Everything you read and see posted from me is real. I wear my heart on my sleeve and make mistakes just like everyone! Everything on this page is just my opinion I do not claim to be an expert I am just giving my account of how I feel!

Monday 9 April 2012

FOOD & GROWING UP

Born in 1977 (forget the maths I will do it for you - I am 34) my mum was a mere 17 when she gave birth to me, food education was not really at its best to say the least in the 1970's. My mum had grown up with wartime parents who were into very small portions (due to rations) and a lot of wheat flour based foods. My diet growing up was very much just smaller portions of what the adults ate.

The 1980s is when the dieting industry really took off! Women were entering the workforce full time and in full force! The home cooked meal was going the way of the horse and cart; quaint, but not really practical when you are in a hurry. It was my dad who took over mealtimes during my secondary school days, we would have our protein which would be something like a chicken pie (well ok a few chunks of chicken in a vast pastry tent) carbs would be mash or oven crunchies and then came the famous line in our household which was shouted every night by my dad "do you want beans, peas or tin tomatoes?". If I opened a cupboard door it would always be full of cereal, biscuits or bread. My brother and I would come home every night from secondary school and have a HUGE (and I mean huge fruit bowl sized) bowl of cornflakes (my mum could not afford any other brands as we used to get through so many boxes a week). We were addicted to breakfast cereals from about age 8, it was always a treat when we went on holiday to Devon and mum brought a Kellogg's selection pack which she knew would only last 2 days if that!

My addition to naughty carbs is still there, its like heroine to me without the social exclusion. Processed carbohydrates are everywhere, the second you walk into the supermarket to the minute you get through your front door and turn on the TV. Processed carbs are in your face! Why cant the supermarkets do the same with brocolli or butternut squash? Can you imagine saying no to your kid at the checkout because he wants a packet of carrot batons which are beautifly displayed at the side of the till? Sweets, chocolate and other processed carbs are easy and cheap to manufactuer and with a large profit margin why would the supermarkets change? Organic food is 100% tastier but it is much more expensive and when like me finances are strained how can I make the choice between feeding my family for a day or two compared to purchasing the cheaper food and feeding them for a week?The UK is such an expensive country to live in that I feel to give yourself the FULL opportunity to be organic and healthy just becomes unrealistic.

Now dont get me wrong everything does come down to choice, its my choice to stay paying the mortgage on a 3 bed detached house, I could always downsize so I can afford to shop at the local farm shop, but then I would not get my only luxury of having our spare room as a "walk-in wardrobe room". It is a side issue that I cant actually fit into any of the clothes but the room sure looks damm pretty! lol.

On a serious note the money that I earn is too thinly spread to justify eating great quality food and that in my opinion is the black and white of it. I do have to buy the processed water-injected chicken from the Tesco value range, I do have to count how many tins of cheap tomatoes you get for £1 instead of going for the posh ones with basil and no added salt.

I suppose what I am saying is that even before I make the decision about what diet I want to follow I am already controlled by the quality of the food I can purchase. Its not an excuse its a FACT.

However, we can do our BEST, which is the road I am trying to travel down. We could grow our own - that will not work for me right now due to time constraints but it is certainly something I am interested in doing in the future. Or we could train our brains to eat bird-sized portions so our newly purchased organic food can last for a week? lol

Currently I have been following the Rosemary Conley low fat diet, although this easter weekend has not been great for avoiding chocolate - why do people feel the need to still buy me easter eggs when they know I have a weight problem? Why could the supermarkets not really promote "real eggs" or "chicken" at easter? What a lot of people do not realise is how many times I have to say "no" to something, for example, someone brings a big fat gorgeous carrot cake into the office (no its not one of your 5 a day just because its carrot!) when they arrived I said "no thanks" I then get up to go to the printer and walk past the carrot cake again I say "no thanks" I walk back "no thanks" I go to the loo "no thanks" I come back from the loo "no thanks" in a day I could say "no thanks" at least 60 times before the cake was gone and only a few crumbs remained which I would lick off the plate! I wish I could live in a place where their was no temptation but unfortunatly this is not the case hence the saying "Life is hell then we go to heaven" and I really do hope their are no calories in heaven!

So the holidays are over and I am left to start a fresh with the food side of things, my exercise motivation is there and I am sure once I start seeing the effects of my efforts (or just simply seeing a muscle forming) I will not want to jeopordise it by eating a load of crap! I know processed carbs are my enemy and I think I may have to face going "cold turkey" to curb the addiction. For now I am going to stick to 80% healthy 10% pretend healthy (that means foods low in fat but high in suger) and 10% treats. This is until I am mentally ready to focus on the food 100%.

One thing at a time I say!

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