Now let me say right here and now I don’t have a clue about calories and diets, it’s not something I have ever had the time or the inclination to worry about.
I have always been solidly built, I remember clearly my mother telling me I was “built for comfort, not for speed” when I failed to ever win a race on school sports day. She also advised that the history of the world was not going to change in any way because I wasn’t as nifty on my feet as many other kids.
Growing up with a stick thin mother who saw no problem at all in having a more amply built daughter gave me confidence, but the thing is I wasn’t fat, just sturdy. Many children these days aren’t sturdy, they are outright fat and I’ve seen helping out at school how unhappy many of these children are.
I have to tell you Tess, I really do blame the parents. There’s a difference between telling your child that not being skinny is okay and allowing them to become so overweight that it is affecting their physical health and playing on their mind to boot.
It stands to reason, even to someone like me who knows nothing about diets, that if you feed a child rubbish and let them sit around all day on a computer they are going to get fat and become unfit. This as any person with an ounce of common sense knows is bad for their body and their mind.
You can’t blame a child who is too young to cook their own food and make their own decisions for being fat can you? It’s the parents who are to blame every time.
I have noticed since I had my fall and became less mobile that I put on weight far faster than I used to, and as I can’t do what I used to, my form of exercise, I have had to alter the way I eat. Not by much because we have decent meals made from scratch with fresh ingredients, but I discovered pepperoni pizza a while back. It makes me really thirsty and you can see the fat oozing out of it, but it’s so very tasty…
The grandkids were buying one for us every Saturday so we have cut that down to once a month now. Then there’s Friday night which is fish and chip night…(Ed note: British chips are thick chunky fries) and the Kentucky Fried Chicken meals which we didn’t have that often but it all adds up and my clothes were not quite as comfortable as they used to be. We decided to keep the fish and chips and reduce the pizza. We also share a portion of chips because we were throwing so much away, I hate waste.
I don’t think that all this calorie counting is that important. People who are piling on the weight know they are because their clothes are going to get tighter. Cutting down on a bit of fat and moving around more will most likely solve the problem. It doesn’t seem that complicated to me.
Delores disagrees of course, but she disagrees with everyone about everything so there’s no change there. She said I don’t understand about the complexities of modern life, how everyone is time poor and constantly tired. This from a woman whose children are at before and after school clubs and who has a cleaner come in three times a week. She’s an estate agent, hardly tough manual labour but what do I know?
Well, I have to go, time to finish off Christmas wrapping. I have been decorating brown paper for my childrens presents. Reindeer, Santa and Christmas trees are all there, I think they will recognise the trees, but I’m not sure about the rest, art was never my strong point. Having said that, you would think that after all these years they would understand what I’m trying to draw wouldn’t you?
I’ll bet your young ones are getting really excited, I am, I love Christmas, and birthdays and Easter, I like getting presents.
Right, I’m off. I’ll speak to you on the camera thing (Ed note: Skype) next week, don’t forget you promised you would show me your Christmas tree.
Love to the family,
Regards,
Maud.
Resources:
The Pantry Primer: How to Build a One Year Food Supply in Three Months
GMO Free Diet: How to stay healthy by identifying and avoiding dangerous foods
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health
