And the award for the hardest working metabolism in the
history of mankind goes to………..........
Anyone who knows me will be aware that I have quite possibly
one of the worst diets imaginable. I
don’t eat any vegetables or any fruit, in fact the closest thing to a vegetable I've ever
eaten is a French Fry! I cannot cook to save my life (apart from my beloved
beans on toast combo). All my meals are microwave
friendly and no doubt heavily processed. To add insult to injury I have a serious soft
drink addiction, at one point I was averaging a litre of Coke a day. And no, before you ask, I have not been
diagnosed with diabetes! How this is even possible remains a mystery to me too!
An even bigger mystery is the fact that despite the odds I have managed to
remain a size 10. I’ll be the first to
admit that it really isn't fair. There are some people that could gain weight just
by looking at what I eat! My metabolism really does deserve an award. But looks can certainly be deceiving. I may
appear to be a healthy enough individual to the average eye, however the
repercussions of my diet are beginning to take their toll.
So where do these bad eating habits of mine stem from?
Should I be blaming my parents for not enforcing a more balanced diet on me? Well
first of all, Mum & Dad are certainly not to blame here. I’m a stubborn adult, so you can only imagine
what I was like as a child. My parents repeatedly
threatened disciplinary action every time I neglected my greens. I still refused. I remember one instance where my dad told me that I wasn't allowed to leave the table until I had eaten everything on my
plate. I didn't bother pleading my case,
instead I saw it as a challenge. I sat
there with a smug look on my face, fully prepared to spend the rest of the
evening at the table. Eventually
frustration got the better of him and he threw the contents of my plate in the
bin. I had won this battle! It wouldn't be long before my parents gave up on even trying to
get me to eat healthier. I was a lost
cause, no one could save me but myself.
With regards to the side effects I touched on earlier, I
can’t help but notice several changes occurring to both the exterior and
interior of my body. The first notable change has to do with my energy-or lack
thereof. Once a competitive long
distance runner, now I can’t even run for a bus without gasping for air. I'm tired all the time, no matter how
much sleep I acquire. My love of movie
watching has been severely compromised by this constant state of fatigue. The girl that sat through Titanic fifteen
times at the cinema now struggles to stay awake for the entirety of any
film. Next thing you know I’ll be
falling asleep mid-sentence like Bart Simpson’s Grandpa. In a bid to explain my drowsy demeanour, my fitness
guru brother Matthew told me to think of my body as a car. In that respect I'm definitely a second hand,
1980 Toyota! If my body is a car, than the food I consume is no doubt the
fuel. With that in mind it’s no surprise
I feel so run-down all the time. I guess it’s a case of getting back what you
put in. If you feed your body with crap,
then you’re going to feel like crap & vice versa.
My physical appearance is also beginning to change. For years people have been telling me that
one day all my unhealthy habits would come back to bite me in the ass. I hate to admit it but they were right, only
the ass they were referring to is slightly bigger these days. My once steel-like metabolism is showing
serious signs of strain. For the first
time in my 31 years of life I've noticed a bit of extra meat on my bones. I now have love handles and a pot belly-or
pouch as I prefer to call it. I know I'm not overweight as of yet, however this certainly isn't the body shape I've become accustomed to.
So what now? Well I'm slightly ashamed of the fact that it
took a noticeable change in my appearance for me to finally show concern where
my health was concerned. My body has been sending me signs for years
that it was struggling, yet I ignored them and continued to indulge in a
lifestyle that can only be seen as detrimental. I'm always going to love greasy, fried food. I'm always going to crave all things chocolate. I don’t plan on denying myself
any of those things, life’s too short!
However it’s my attitude towards food I want to change, and not just to
lose the additional skin I seem to have acquired. I want to improve my overall health as
well. I'm sick of feeling sluggish. I'm sick of fighting the urge to nap at any
given opportunity. Food really is fuel
for our bodies, and it’s about time I stop attempting to run on empty, and by
empty I mean crap.
Yours Faithfully,
Fiona
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| Behold........my first ever salad! One small step for mankind..... |
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