I love to cook, I love great food, and I love to eat. A few years ago a combination of health issues and lack of time to exercise led me to tip the scales in a direction I didn’t like. I also just got braces at the age of thirty-six…so guess where my self-esteem was? Even when I went to the gym and ate right I always had problems losing weight, so I did some research to learn the best exercise and meal combinations that were reasonable and would work for me. I settled on the Eat Clean Diet, which really is a misnomer as it is a lifestyle rather than a diet.
In six months I dropped thirty-five pounds and gained a lot of muscle…just in time for my braces coming off and the arrival of spring. Yea!
Then came the holidays, the new Kitchenaid, the chef’s stove…and my eleven-year-old daughter’s passion for cooking, which replaced her love for ballet.
The philosophy behind theEat Clean Diet is that you will never want to eat bad food again because, after all the hard work you do to keep in shape, eating five chocolate-chip cookies just isn’t worth it.
But what do you do when your daughter makes her first batch of oatmeal cookies and presents a bunch to you on a plate with a glass of milk? Break her heart by saying, “No, thanks, I’ll just try one cookie, and I’ll have a glass of water instead?”
And then, a few days later, when she makes her first batch of brownies from scratch and presents a bunch to you on a plate with a glass of milk…then what?
And, as part of her “art” curriculum, the two of you take a cake decorating class which requires you to make a cake and icing every week. I can give my cake away, but of course my daughter wants the family to share in her creation, so….
Then comes apple coffee cake. And banana muffins. And pancakes.
I’ve read some reviews which claim theEat Clean Diet diet is pretty strict, but I disagree. The author, Tosca Reno, states that she does have a glass of wine or a dessert from time-to-time, but she keeps the portions and frequency to a minimum. I didn’t feel deprived at all when following the diet, and do believe, under “normal” circumstances (yeah, like anything in life is normal), it’s easy to do.
Obviously, Tosca Reno developed her plan without taking into consideration young family bakers with eager puppy-dog eyes.
So I try to convince my daughter to make some healthy treats and scale back on the cookies, cakes, breads, and such. Her reaction? If I had committed murder she would have been more forgiving. “Yeah, right, Mom. Here, try my chocolate-chip-cookie pizza.”
Then my daughter decides to take a break from dance, which immediately caused me to gain weight. Why? Because she used to dance four days a week, and while she was in class I went to the gym. Both the class and the gym are half an hour away. (We live in a rural area.) If my daughter is not taking classes, then why should I spend an hour round-trip and all that gas money to make two of my three girls wait in the child watch area while I exercise?
So now spring is approaching. Pretty soon it’s going to be too hot to turn on the oven.
I canceled the gym membership and bought myself a small upright exercise bike for rainy and snowy days; otherwise, I’m taking the dog on long walks.
And with more fresh fruit and vegetables coming into stores, my daughter is now looking at smoothies and fruit tarts and sorbets.
So, at least for the next six months I’m in good shape. (No pun intended.)
After that, when my daughter starts baking again, I’m going to tell her to pack it all up…and send it to Tosca Reno.
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