Here is another in a series of articles I wrote for a local New Site!
Why we diet, why we try and why some of us succeed!
on a diet? then find something to build!
When I am on the ‘dieting’ wagon, I find it best to stay busy and keep my concentration on some project or another.
So, today, I built a 12 foot redwood bench… which , believe it or not, will come in handy and I’ll wonder why I didn’t make more of them.
That’s it for this blog… I need a shower!
Roger
before and after Jenny Craig
Most people don’t know that I was a star of stage and motion pictures. Actually, I didn’t either until I saw myself on the silver screen! I was far too close to the handsome fellow on the left in the beginning and … unfortunately, the dieting hasn’t done anything to offset my short legs or my ‘crown of marble’ ! 😉
However, allow me to indulge in giving a plug for Jenny Craig. Laura and I have been on ‘maintenance for nearly 4 years and Laura has never varied more than 2 or 3 pounds from her goal weight. I have — let’s just say, I have had bigger swings– but thanks to the routine, I always pull things back into line. So , you ask, why don’t people lose weight when they know the benefits of better health, elimination and reduction of harmful medications , reduce depression, and gain more confidence and energy are the result? Here are just some of the excuses I hear:
1) I never start diets on a Thursday ( or pick your day)
2) It’s all in the genes, I am supposed to be this size! Besides, everyone I know is just like me… a healthy large!
3) None of the programs work for MEeEeee !!!! ( the last word must be said in a whiny voice)
4) I have to give up all of my favorite things: lunches at the all-you-can-eat buffet, a bottle of wine and a few shots of liquor every night …and the quick stop off from work at the local cheesecake factory for a ‘ 5000 calorie snack’!
Actually, there are only true 2 thing that are true above: number four and the fact that most chubby people have chubby friends which keeps the vicious chubby cycle going. So what do you do, what can you do? Ask yourself how important it is to be slimmer? If it’s important, Jenny should work for you. If it’s not important to you… live with it and smile when you pay for two seats on the airlines… but know that there really is a better way. It’s not easy, but it worked for me.
Good Luck… and I really mean it,
Roger
the secret of life is butter
For those who know, I had a bit too much fun over the holidays. My daughters and I cooked and baked and celebrated the season to the point that I have had to … it’s called ‘dieting.’ Usually, this sort of activity makes me a tad bit grumpy, but I have found ways to amuse myself in exploring some of the recipes for things that I haven’t had time to make myself.
Desserts are wonderful things to research while dieting and I have two that — although similar in appearance — are distinctively different and wonderful in their own ways. The Greek Honey cake is marvelous with a cup of coffee as is the Egyptian Basboosa! Although they are similar in appearance, their construction is different. The Egyptians often use semolina, nuts and rosewater while the Greeks have honey and cinnamon. Both include ample amounts of butter! Isn’t butter the secret of life?
This brings me to the story of how we almost lost ‘butter’ and those foods that I have no interest in ever recreating : Fruitcake and Stollen (German Fruitcake). I am convinced that all the fruitcake that has ever been made is still circulating in the mail systems around the world constantly being received and re-mailed to the unsuspecting! However, fruitcake did have a positive spot in history. I mention this because in Europe until Pope Innocent VII decreed in 1490 what was called ‘the butterbrief”… butter could not be used. It was because of the Saxony Germans who wanted to use butter in their ‘Stollen’ that butter become ‘legal’.
Anyway, I am waiting until I can make a honey cake!
Roger