FOOD ! Let's get real.

A little change of pace here.  I thought I would talk about our food of today and why are we having such a hard time with weight .  First of all I am not a nutritionist.  I'm just your average women trying to make sense of the health problems we have today.  Everything I write is my opinion from the many books I have on the subject.  Food that is, healthy eating, and medicine for your soul. 

I swear I knew more, not realizing it, when I was 11 and 12 then I do now.  I  made a lot of better choices and never questioned myself like I do now.  I was not over weight not by a long shot.  I filled my plate with  small portions and only the food I knew I liked.  I never took more then I knew I could eat.  Never did I eat until I was busting or so miserable I had to unbutton my pants.   I mean come on, why do we do that ?  I haven't actually unbuttoned my pants at the table but I have stated after a meal I wanted to change into something more comfortable.  Yea right, more comfortable for my tummy which is in great discomfort.  I knew then without realizing what I was doing that food is very important for your body just not so important that you throw common sense out the window.  I remember my Aunts commenting that I ate like a bird.  Well maybe that was the way to go.  Now let me make this clear...NEVER did I starve myself.  I did not then nor have ever had any kind of eating disorder other then indulging too much.

What I have read is just that, it's really better to eat less, a lot less. 
I do have my theory on why some of us do over eat, especially at night.  We are lonely and with the struggles of today and what we have had to give up and know we can never have, when that plate of yummy food is in front of us NO ONE is going to tell us we can't finish the whole thing.  Let's face it who is going to stop you ?
We feel as we are eating that food, we are getting away with something.  We have it here and we are not going to pass it up, that would be like denying yourself some pleasure that you know you deserve.  So we are going to talk about this and maybe together we can figure this whole food thing out.  Are you game ?

One thing I do want to touch on is my Mom was a wonderful cook.  In her opinion it wasn't a meal if you didn't have meat and the best meal was with something fried.  YUM! YUM!
She made fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and corn (usually creamed).
Pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans (all our veg. were the can variety)
Hamburgers on buns w/mustard, ketchup, pickles, onion (if you want them).  Mom would put the bottom of the bun on top of the burger just before it was done and place the top of the bun on that then put a lid on it.  That way the bun was steamed and also some of the edge would get in the grease (yes, I said GREASE) and be crunchy and yummy.  With this meal some of the time she would make her own fries.  Oh My God, they were so good and sometime we would have chips.  This particular meal she would usually make on Saturday night as it was a quick meal for her.  Usually all of us had plans for the evening.  My brothers were on dates.  I usually met my friends at the show and my parents always had plans with family or friends, visiting and or playing cards.  Now on Sunday we always had a pot roast, if we stayed home.  Mom would add cut up potatoes, carrots (she always peeled them and sliced in half) and on top of  all this was a cabbage cut in fourths.  I can smell all of that cooking now.  We also had meatloaf and with that she would have baked potatoes always with lots of butter (never with sour cream) and usually green beans.  That's the two vegetables we mostly had and always out of a can.  I don't remember Mom ever having a garden she just was not an outdoor girl even though she was raised on a farm. 
We always had a meat and usually fried, chicken, pork chops, hamburger, liver and onions and sometimes fish.  Not from the store.  Our fish was from the city lake or one of my families ponds, usually cat fish and sometimes carp ( yes carp, I know they are full of bones but Mom had a way of frying them and  you just used your tongue a lot to feel for the bones). 
When Mom made us a sandwich she only used one slice of bread folded over.  That was a sandwich.  You were never encouraged to over eat or eat too much.  Yes she made homemade cookies.  In fact our cookies jar always had cookies in it.  If by chance it became empty believe me as fast as she could make a batch it was done.  We would never have more then two cookies at a time and usually only one.
It's so funny with all this cooking my Mom used lard.  She would go buy it from somewhere.  I don't really remember where I just remember her happy with pure white lard.  That is what she made her cookies from and of course frying.  I do remember crisco being on the shelf but that was only used when she was out of the pure white lard.  Never did she buy any of the cheap brands of shortening.  Not if you cared about your family.  I will say this, her one rule was the lard had to be at a certain temperature before you put the meat or what every you were cooking in it.  If not, she said that is when the grease soaks in your food and ruins it.  She was right of course because her food was good.
One thing we didn't do so much was snack.  You had your three meals a day and dessert.  Usually cake and pies and of course cookies.  If you were really hungry and dinner was an hour away you could have a cookie.  Only one as you might spoil your dinner.
I will have more to talk about.  Tootles