Even though I am on a quest to find lard, and obsessed with the idea of baking pies, I am still losing weight. I have dropped 11 lbs. now. How? I was inspired by Michael Pollan’s simple advice: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Now, that’s an uncomplicated philosophy I can live with. None of this South Beach/Weight Watchers/Atkins business for me. No counting points or weighing food, no special recipes or low carb prepackaged foods; just good food.

I’ve been eating a lot of plants. I’ve made more from scratch. I’ve invested more of my grocery dollars in the produce area and stuck to the perimeter of the grocery store, buying fresh foods and steering clear of anything, as Pollan says, “my grandmother would not recognize as food.” I am young enough, I think, that I consider my great-grandmother instead. Granny would love all the prepackaged stuff. My great-great grandmother, (Wait. I think that’s right. Maybe it was just my great-grandmother.) I was told, was a baker. Her name was Nelly. She had her own bakery in, what would have been the late 1800s. I think of her. Would she consider this food? What would she make of THIS stuff? Wouldn’t she be happy about my desire to create pies? Wouldn’t she be aghast at a woman of my age not having mastered this yet?

I’m walking more, but not very much. I binge walk (better than binge eating, I suppose) when I have time, going on a long walk on the weekends but not fitting it in during the week. I’m eating less, and trying not to skip meals, although lunch remains a challenge. Most of all, I’ve stopped using sugar. Before Lent this year, I would put heaping teaspoons of sugar in my coffee or tea and drink several cups every day. That adds up. I think this alone has made a big impact. I’ve also banned soda with sugar from the house. I will buy diet soda and we do drink it (we like the diet Dr. Pepper and A & W root beer) but I drink less of it, and more water. And tea with no sugar. I still drink coffee, and if I have to, I put Splenda in it.

So I’m not doing anything really dramatic. It’s a change, but it’s not painful. No one feels deprived, least of all me. I still bake, but always from scratch, and not as often. I have had cheeseburgers, frozen yogurt and one evil piece of store-bought cake at a friend’s baby shower. Other than that, I’ve been very disciplined; lots of vegetables, lots of fruit, skim milk, whole grains and lean meat.

I look ridiculous, though. My pants are all huge and hang off of me. I’m glad that it’s getting warmer because I have skirts and skorts a size smaller that I can wear. I celebrated by buying a couple of new dresses and when I wear them, I practically skip, I feel so good. You wouldn’t think 11 lbs. would make much of a difference but it does. I’m hoping to keep it off, and keep going.

Pass the plants, please.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.