Food Glorious Food

I was bringing my son home from football practice the other day and gave him his “treat of the day” (an established house rule of one sweet thing a day) in the car – a toffee. I asked him if he would like some music on, or prefer it quiet. He said “quiet please because then I can concentrate on my sweet”. He innately knows how to really enjoy food and appreciate his experience of taste. I wonder if we all started that way. This coincided with some training I received on helping people with weight loss (see current offerings if you are interested in this) so, in this newsletter, I offer some simple suggestions on how to enjoy your food more whilst maintaining a healthy weight.

Quick Quote
"A good meal ought to begin with hunger" ~ A French Proverb

Simple suggestions to enjoy food and maintain a healthy weight

1. Wear a blind fold, or close your eyes when you are eating – yes, you read that right! By taking out our sense of sight, it heightens our sense of taste and helps us focus on the taste and enjoy our food more. You don't have to wear a blindfold all the time, just try it once or twice. Get someone to feed you for fun!
2. Eat slower (and sitting down) – as above, it helps us focus on what we are eating so we can enjoy it more. Have you ever eaten on the run and realised that you have not enjoyed it or even realised you have eaten. It just happened. By sitting down, creating time (ideally 20 minutes per main meal), and consciously eating slower (put your cutlery down between mouthfuls) we can enjoy it more. In fact, a study as shown that eating too quickly can contribute directly to over-eating: study on eating too fast
3. Eat smaller portions – wearing a blind fold or closing your eyes when eating has been shown to help us eat the right amount for our body as we can perceive when we are full easier. Better still, cook less than you need and fill up on fruit afterwards. If you do cook too much and “don't want to waste it” then accept that putting it on your “waist” is not helping either. Put it in the fridge for tomorrow or compost it and recycle the nutrients.
4. Eat breakfast every day. Add some dried fruit, some chopped fresh fruit and a glass of juice and you've already eaten 2 of your 5 a day – bonus! (If you don't have time for breakfast, get up 10 minutes earlier - it will give you energy). Eating breakfast has also been shown to help with over-eating later in the day: eating breakfast-fact vs myth
5. Exercise and fresh air– I always think food tastes much better when you've had some exercise, especially if you have been outside. It also means you are less likely to put on weight of course! Try and exercise at least 3 times a week doing something you enjoy.
6. Carry round healthy snacks for you, and your kids if you have them, so that you are less tempted to buy junk when you are out and about. Convenient snacks to leave in your bag are dried fruits, seeds, nuts (not roasted or salted), oatcakes. Please tell me your favourites.
7. Don't deprive yourself – allow yourself one treat a day (a couple of squares of good quality chocolate or the occasional bag of baked crisps is ok, as is the odd glass of wine). I had one lady who lost lots of weight just using this one principle!
8. Be drink aware – A couple of glasses of wine is about the same as a mars bar. Add up the calories in the drinks you consume in a week, including all alcoholic and soft drinks. It can be surprising. This may be helpful: drink aware tools

I asked a friend of mine who had lost quite a lot of weight, how he had kept it off. He said “when my trousers get a bit tight, I don't buy the next size up, I eat less because it becomes uncomfortable. So the trick seems to be “listen” to your waist band.

If you have any suggestions or success stories, please share them

The Daffodil Principle

I read this story by Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards a while ago, but it has stayed with me so I decided to share it with you. A very powerful but simple principle...

"Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

"I will come next Tuesday, " I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car."
"How far will we have to drive?"
"Just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."
After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we going? This isn't the way to the garage!"
"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils."
"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."
"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that said, "Daffodil Garden."

We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn.

"It's just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home."

Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one."50,000 bulbs," it read.
The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

There it was, The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun ~ one bulb at a time ~ to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable) magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time ~ often just one baby-step at a time ~ and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

Apparently this story is true and the garden is below Running Springs, California, in the San Bernadino Mountains.

I would love to know what your daffodil garden looks like...