July 1, 2021 I began the journey of weight loss. It started with throwing out everything white in my kitchen and pantry.
It was my heart doctor who suggested heartily to do it. I heeded his advice.
In the course of a year, I lost 50 pounds. Hallelujah! My clothes were falling off me and I was able to stop taking high blood pressure medicine, my blood sugar was perfect and my cholesterol was also in the good zone. I hadn’t realized fully that those were also the side effects of changing my eating habits, I had just focused on losing the weight.
However, in the last 10 months that my back has gone bonkers, I slowly introduced white back into my diet. Popcorn, pretzels, I even bought a small bag of potatoes and every now and then, rice. It was easier for me to snack rather than stand at the stove to cook a meal. My friend Mabel had always cooked for me whenever I felt poorly, but she had moved to Mendocino county and I was pretty much on my own.
Left to my own devises I fell into eating poorly, stopped going to the farmers market to get my fresh produce and ate microwave frozen dinners.
This week I had the epiphany that the reason I had gained 13 pounds was that I had brought back the dreaded white into my diet. Sneaky stuff! I haven’t brought back butter or the ultimate addictive white – sugar! And I haven’t had ice cream since before July 1, 2022. Ice cream is/was my most favorite food group. Can anyone relate? I think of a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia every now and then but never acted on it.
When I was a kid, I would sometimes feign sickness to stay home from school to watch “Bill Kennedy at the Movies.” Kennedy was a local Detroit personality/actor, who I always thought was strange, but the movies he showcased were just the best. The only drawback was his program came on at 1 p.m. during the week. It was popular with housewives and kids who loved movies (me) and played hooky (me). My mom was aware of my shenanigans because she allowed me to come downstairs to sit on the couch with her and watch Bill Kennedy our black and white TV (all TVs were B&W back then). My favorites were old Wallace Beery films from the 1930s.
I remember one time my mom and I ate a whole box of Sanders Candy while watching Beery and Jackie Cooper in “The Champ.” We’d eat a chocolate and have a good cry. Eat another chocolate and have another good cry. Wonder where I got my sweet tooth? Actually, I remember way, way back in early childhood when I would stop at a shop on the way home from kindergarten and I’d buy, for a penny, those red oversized wax lips that were so sweet. (Now I am really dating myself!) The sweet gene must have been passed down from my mother to me. Damn those genes!
Funny story about my mom; I was visiting her after her dinner and she wanted dessert but refused to indulge. “Oh, just have it, Mom,” I said. “Live it up! You’re 83, come on!”
She told me she wouldn’t because she didn’t want to stroke out and have me pushing her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. I saw that visual of me pushing her everywhere and I said, laughing, “Nope, no ice cream for you!”
I can’t imagine still struggling with food issues until I become 83. Gads.
When I first wrote about this, I let you in on my journey and now it’s time to fess up about my struggles and my weight gain. Have to tell the good with the bad, right?
What’s a girl to do?…get rid of all the white in my kitchen! Anyone want pretzels?
Lucy Llewellyn Byard is currently a columnist for the Record-Bee. To contact her, email lucywgtd@gmail.com
