rose in bloom - What Did I Do Next?

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What did I do next? 




I threw out all the “diet” books. Yes, every last one of them. I'm serious. This gave me a lot of pleasure. I didn't take time to go through them just in case I thought I really wanted or needed to keep one or two. Out, out, out, the whole lot of them. In some funny way, doing that opened up a lot of other doors of appreciation. 

I found I could now read “typical” or everyday Recipe Books  (not diet books) through different eyes.  Curiously I began to collect a small selection of cookery books, written by well-known cooks and chefs from right around the world, that contained recipes which appealed to me and some that I knew I considered to be “comfort food”.   

I indulged in cookery books from the local newsagents, the local bookshops. I began to really think seriously about food, and how my body and my tastebuds reacted to those foods.  I began to create my own lists of favourites. Without the restriction of “good” food and “bad” food (of which there really are none, merely indulgences), I found something interesting was happening. I found the food I really liked was food the nutritionists were telling me were the foods that everyone who wants to be healthy should be eating! What a contradiction!   I discovered something else.  I began to really enjoy food for what it was, not just as a tummy filler.  I learned to savour the flavours.

Without the constraints put upon me by the people who write the Weight Loss Programmes and Diets, I found something else was occurring. My food intake quantities adjusted themselves. Because I was eating food I enjoyed, I found I didn't need as much. When for instance I indulged in something that I really liked (and which would never ever appear on any one's “can eat” list), my enjoyment was such that I felt fulfilled. I didn't need to repeat the exercise unless and until I really felt like it. This meant if I had a jam donut with my coffee, then it might be 3-4 weeks or even longer before I'd feel the need to indulge in that “treat” again. Truly. That's the way it happened. I found I was in control of my eating, without meaning to do so. I enjoyed the privilege of being able to say yes or no to something I would like to eat. With that control came other disciplines which I enjoyed. Food preferences and quantities underwent change.

I found too I was cooking differently as well. Fried foods no longer tempted me. Oh, well, I've got to be honest with you, I still enjoy tucking into “fish and chips” from the local shop, but only occasionally!  Cooking at home has followed some interesting routes, and I am still learning to enjoy flavours and seasonings with renewed excitement, even after all this time. I've found by experimenting with food and allowing myself to tickle my taste buds with tantalising and sensual aromas makes me feel good - to be frank with you they make me feel like a “woman”. Don't ask me why. But they do. Do you know what I think? I think food can be sexy, and can make you feel sexy. Some of these tales from yesteryear about herbs and spices and aphrodisiacs and all that sort of thing make sense. Why not?  




My objective? 

To turn around all my old preconceived ideas and to formulate ideas and habits that were based on common sense as well as ethics, as they applied to me, and to put them into action  


What I gained! 

An ever growing awareness of being able to do what I wanted to do, without having to feel guilty or being made feel guilty (especially by other people)



"Rose In Bloom" - © Copyright 2002-2020, Rosemary Parry-Brock, Australia


(Please bear in mind this booklet was first printed in the 1990s.  Compare that with today's attitudes.)
Copyright © R Parry-Brock, 2002 
Reprinted 2010
Reprinted 2012
Reprinted 2014
Reprinted 2017
Published on Blogger © Rosemary Parry-Brock, 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this concept
or publication may be reproduced; stored in 
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form 
or by any means electronic, mechanical, 
photocopying, printing, scanning, recording, 
CD, DVD, USB or otherwise, without the prior 
permission of the author.  



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