"Do not be too timid and squeamish
about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments
you make the better."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Putting aside the fact that leading off with
a quote invokes flashbacks to Lincoln-Douglas debates with the high school
debate team, my pal Ralphy clearly understood where I was going to be in my
life when he wrote this in his journal in November of 1842. No, I do not
have Ralph Waldo Emerson's journals memorized. That's why we have Google.
While undoubtedly I
could trace this journey back to my first breath if I wanted to, I think a
better starting point for my story would only go back a few months, when I made
a conscious decision to change something in my life I was not happy about. That change was a rather ordinary one in
this day and age: I decided I needed to lose weight. I am, unfortunately, an apple shape. This is a body type much more common on men than on women. For men, we tend to refer to their added
weight as a beer belly. Women don't
generally have beer bellies, a mound of weight over their stomach usually is an
indicator of other things. As my added
weight tended to bypass my legs and arms and even my tush on its way to settle
over my abdomen, I started getting congratulated about once a week on my
"pregnancy". Word to the
wise, oh readers, please promise me that you will NEVER assume someone is
pregnant, not even a friend but ESPECIALLY not a complete stranger? If someone has not specifically told you
they are pregnant and you do not see a child coming out of their body, you
stand the very real risk of simply making someone feel horrible about
themselves and embarrassing yourself. I
would tell people it was OK and not to worry about it, but it really
wasn't. The only time I remember not
being overly upset by it was when a clearly drunk guy at the Renaissance faire
made a comment on my "air pocket" and then, once I figured out
"air pocket" was his code word for "baby," he kept
insisting that I was lying about not being pregnant. That one I actually walked away more amused then upset As a second word to the wise, even if
someone has told you they ARE pregnant, please do not refer to their unborn
child as an "air pocket". I'm
not sure it's as amusing if you actually are pregnant.
Finally I received
one more pregnancy comment than I could handle (actually, it was two by a
hostess at a restaurant. She kept
commenting on it as she took us to our table and I tried to explain to her I
was not pregnant, but she clearly wasn't listening as she congratulated me
AGAIN on our way out the door.) and I snapped.
It was depressing, my self esteem was at an all time low. It was at this time that a good friend of
mine asked me to go back to using a food diary website, MyFitnessPal, which I
had tried a year before and had no luck with.
She told me that she and her two sisters were going to use it and they
wanted to do it as a group. My arm
didn't need that much twisting at that point, so I went and brushed off my
account. This time I decided to get
serious about losing the weight and keeping it off. The last time I tried this site, I had basically continued to eat
the same stuff but in smaller quantities which left me hungry ALL the time. This time I figured if I eat healthier, more
filling foods then maybe I wouldn't be so hungry all the time.
I went into
research mode. I am a chronic
over-researcher. From big fancy
electronics down to what water bottle to buy, I will spend hours online making
sure I have all the information before a purchase. But, surprisingly, I'd never done this with my food. The more I researched how to read a label
and the ingredients list, the more I realized I had very little idea about what
was going into my body and, frankly, it scared me. Half the items in any given ingredient list I couldn't pronounce
and hadn't the foggiest clue what it was or where it came from, but it usually
sounded like it had been produced in a lab.
While I did not get freaked out quite enough to switch to a paleo diet,
I did start making a concerted effort to eat more raw fruits and vegetables and
to buy things with simple, understandable ingredient lists.
From here I started
wondering if I really needed to be buying so many pre-made items at the grocery
store. I felt better if I could make it
myself and know EXACTLY what was in it (yes, that probably indicates I have
control issues). I started small, with
things like making my own instant oatmeal instead of buying the Quaker pouches. At the same time I started researching what
healthy things I could substitute for unhealthy things in recipes. There are still many many every day things I
eat that I need to research home-made alternatives to and I hope to post those
recipes as I find them.
From paying
attention to what goes IN my body, I recently made the jump to paying attention
to what goes ON my body. Though, to be
honest, that jump was just as fueled by economic considerations. The first inspiration came when I visited
family and a good friend for Columbus day and she saw how chapped my lips were
and insisted I use some of her Mary Kay lip exfoliator. It worked impressively well and I wanted
some, but it was way too much money for that tiny bottle. I looked at Walmart for a cheaper version
but they didn't have any lip exfoliators, so I turned to Google to see where I
could buy a cheaper version. What I
found were a bunch of recipes online for making this item out of things I
currently had in my kitchen (1tsp olive oil, 1stp honey and 1tsp brown
sugar). I tried it and it worked
amazingly well. Since then I have
changed how I look at the things I use every day, just as I'd changed how I
looked at the things I eat every day.
This new outlook
has inspired me to continually look for new ways to live cleaner, healthier and
(hopefully as an added bonus) cheaper, both inside and out. I'm hoping you'll share that journey with
me, even if only vicariously though my stories and pictures.
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