Wednesday, August 10, 2011

To Each Her Own Diet...Sort Of...

I was encouraged to go to a weight loss support group and finally decided to go. It was an informative meeting in many ways- but when it came down to everyone talking about their particular menu choices, things got hotter than a butter-greased griddle- Especially when I told them what I normally ate!

"What did you have for breakfast?" I was asked. "Three eggs with ham or bacon, depending on what's in the fridge." was my reply. I was going to tell them that sometimes I have a wedge of cheddar cheese too (a thin one, but still) when one buddy of mine made a face.

'Three eggs?' she replied with a grimace worthy of the Grinch. 'You know that many eggs every day will kill you...right?' This from a woman who eats bacteria (aka yogurt) for breakfast and soybeans (probably genetically modified) as a main part of her diet. But she's losing weight eating it, so I said nothing.

The leader was a nurse, and said she was going to start me off by cutting out at least one egg yolk from my plate. What the heck can I do with a leftover egg yolk? I looked it up- you can make some really awesome pudding with egg yolks! But I got some dirty looks when I mentioned it. 'You need to stop eating sugar too,' one lady replied. I told them I'm keeping my yolk in my scrambled eggs then, thank you very much!

One lady said she stopped eating meat. another said she ate more veggies than anything else. All of these things were addressed with smiles and nods of approval. I however, despite the fact that I've lost twenty-one pounds by eating a protein-rich diet with veggies and yes, fats like butter, got looks from some of the other ladies as if I asked them to eat a live roach.

I told them that not all 'diets' work for everyone. Some people do better on vegetables, some on protein, some do great on grains; but you can't bust on people if it's working for them. Now if I was gaining weight, it would be a different story! I would defer to the people of greater knowledge and take that yolk out. But my blood work is good, and I'm healthy on the inside- I'm just not 'fit'.

I promised I would do more cadio- I go to a gym three times a week and do light weight training, but I really need to get the ticker pumping for more than five minutes. The response was nods around the table, some bearing the expression 'You better' on their faces. I'll probably walk to the next meeting, as well as everywhere else I can think of. And next time, I'm coming armed with information to the naysayers about processed foods and their genetically modified counterparts.

Don't play with the cow, ladies...you'll get the udders.

And it won't be skim milk, either!

1 comments:

Carolyn aka Silkquilter said...

LOL. Great post. I have an Aunt who is insistent that my sister and I adopt a no meat vegetarian diet. it works for her and helped cure her cancer (so she says). She is not taking into consideration that we have different genetics from our father's side of the family, most Norwegian. The Irish and Norwegians were some of the last people in civilization to adopt a grain based diet. This I know from the celiac research I found on the internet years ago. I know from personal experience that my hair and skin is in better condition with a higher meat protein diet than a grain protein diet. And, yes, always throw in as much vegies as possible. Also, I find that I am just not interested in all the work it takes to create menus of complete proteins from just vegetables. Good luck and stick to what works for you, but don't forget to try something new also! :)

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