It’s A New Year…….

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So we ring in 2012 and yet again here I sit with my “personal life coaches”,  Oprah, Phil, Bob, Martha etc.    And yes by “personal” I mean famous and influential people who I am slightly infatuated with, who through their writings, TV Shows and Websites I find motivation for change and tools to unlock my inner passion and yadayada, become a whole new, transformed “best self”.  Generally speaking, I begin the New Year the same way every year and by about February 1st, lose most of my steam and my “best self” suddenly becomes a vision for the next year, when I might finally find more time for, well, besting myself as it were.  Yet this year I begin with a new sense of direction and motivation. Thanks to some much-needed vacation time spent primarily in jammies with a warm cup of coffee or cold cup of wine depending on the time of day, I was able to really re-evaluate my long-term goals and become re-inspired to pursue my dream of farming,homesteading, writing, cooking and creating as a full-time job.  I also learned, thanks to a handy quiz in the November issue of O (yup that sure is Oprah’s Magazine and no I was not exaggerating about my infatuation) that I need to be influential and a leader.  For those of you who know me best this should not come as a surprise as I thrive on being the center of attention.  After years of denial, I feel that I can finally say that with pride instead of pretending that it’s not true but then attempt to steal the spotlight just the same.  So that being said, I will also be some kind of  lobbyist or political personality striving to influence how our nation thinks about its food sources. Since magazine quizzes will NEVER steer you wrong, and because when I really do  imagine that future it feels good and seems to fit, I think  I will roll with it as the long-term goal that will help influence all the short-term, but long-lasting goals I will set for 2012.  And so here I sit with my Iphone Resolution App (yes, they even make an app for that full of fun little icons, reminders and motivational gems of wisdom), a list of New Year’s Resolutions,  advice filled writings  by my aforementioned “mentors”, and a new-found commitment to making a change.   There are of course the usual suspects: Weight Loss (I will be doing a 30 day no white or refined stuff; Bread, Rice, Potatoes..etc, so that should make for some fun blog posts full of snark, sugar deprived, angry comments so stay tuned), Exercise More (maybe actually use that free gym membership I so wonderfully get from my employer), Blog Daily (also should lead to some fun posts), Get and Stay Organized (also an app for that, although did not actually organize my filing cabinet as I had hoped, just gave me tips on how to do so), Create and Stick to a Budget, and Get More Sleep (off to a great start tonight, what with the fine folks at the NFL and Broadcast TV scheduling the Giants/Cowboys playoff berth deciding game for 8 PM on a Sunday..to you I say thanks for screwing me and my resolution over).   I also added Make Homemade Gifts, Go to Church/Be more Spiritual and my personal favorite: Pretend I am a Farmer in Real Life. Yes you read that right.  This resolution is born of my sharing my renewed drive with my husband and friend (who shall be known as Nathan Negative and Johnny Dream-Crusher for any writing related to this resolution) who believe that I do not fully understand the reality of my dream.  Apparently, since I don’t often (and by often I mean NEVER) clean the litter box or chicken coop and occasionally forget to put food in the dog’s dish, I will never make it as a farmer.   I submit that I CAN do ALL of those things, so in 2012 I will do them, write them and perhaps even photograph them.   So, tomorrow, I will wake up with Stevia in my coffee and a spring in my step as I get in that daily workout, focus and organize at my day job and come home to focus, organize and blog here.   I think 2012 has a lot to offer and for the first time since the birth of our daughter (who by the way has her first REAL birthday in 2012 which is a Leap Year for those of you not in the know) completely turned our world upside down and all around in a super great, but slightly disheveled way, I feel like I have the energy and focus to complete anything I set my mind too.   To all of you I say Happy New Year to all and to all A Good Night!!!

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Farmgirl Gets Thin

I am what you might call “pleasantly plump” .    This is something that I have coped with for the better part of my life.

My Before Picture

At some point you learn that your happiness is not linked to weight, you need to love yourself before you can lose weight, and yaddayaddayadda, you know the rest.    I have been successful at weight loss before by making exercise a priority, by counting points through Weight Watchers, drinking a lake’s worth of water, finding my inner chi with green tea and by eating a lot of 100 calorie snacks and frozen healthy choice dinners.   Back then I was single, worked a swing shift (which meant time for exercise in the morning without beating the sun to the punch line), and had no clue about the whole food and/or local food movement.   So, here I am 6 years, one husband, one child, one normal 9-5 job later, wanting nothing to do with ingredients I cannot pronounce or food that looks and tastes like cardboard.  I get the concept that local and organic do not always mean healthy.  An egg is an egg.   Butter is still full of fat.  Alas, the organic cow does not produce fat free milk.  However, if any of you fellow homesteaders and or farmers out there have found out how to raise a fat free cow, I will take it.    The moral of my story is that I often run into a great internal conflict between my weight loss goals and my localvore eating goals.  I know what you are about to say:  There are lots of healthy eating options in the local/organic world.   Yes, I make my own vegetable soup.   Yes, I eat apples and bananas (I know not local but they are one of my guilty pleasures).   Sometimes, though, gosh darn it, I want bacon.   I want a chocolate brownie that doesn’t have a horrible hair-raising aftertaste .   Have I also mentioned that I am gluten intolerant and thus lead a gluten free  lifestyle?   Yes, it is true, and I can tell you that low fat, gluten free and tasty do not often intersect.   So I find myself at this crossroads and asking what would my ancestors do?  Well, weight was not an issue.  Why you ask?  If they didn’t make it they didn’t eat it.  There was no supply of chips or cookies in the pantry.  Ice cream and butter had to be churned by hand.    Also, their daily routine mirrored the $100 dollar boot camp classes we pay for today.  There was not a lot of spare time for feeding your face with brownies while you were making clothes for your family to wear.  So my new focus for weight loss success will be a combination of my homesteading love and Weight Watcher’s point counting.    I will have a feed to my Weight Watcher’s log on this blog, which I will begin using as my daily confessional.  Some will be short and sweet and some long and tedious.  In the meantime here  is my Top Ten List of a  Modern Day Homesteaders Tips for Weight Loss:

10.  If it doesn’t require preparation or come directly from nature, you cannot put it in your mouth.  Convenience for  this farmgirl  means little to no self-control.

9. Become a GFree artisan.  There must be whole grain, low fat Gfree recipes out there.  Find them.  Make them.  Enjoy Them. Lose Weight.

8.  The obsession with being “crafty” and making everything yourself can be your escape.  One cannot cram a brownie sundae into your mouth while trying to craft handmade gifts and decorations for the holiday season.

7.  People managed to get around for thousands of years before the invention of the wheel.  You have two feet.  Use them.

6.  Enjoy the good stuff: in moderation.   There are plenty of options that will meet your organic/local needs without overdoing it.  A touch of maple syrup or honey goes a long way.   Dark Chocolate is God’s gift to the lifelong dieter. The Laughing Cow cheeses seem to have easily pronounced and limited ingredients.   If you have the points left over, Ice Cream and Wine should always be enjoyed.

5.  If you have your own chickens, you have a lot of eggs.   Egg whites can be your hero.    Egg yolks can be frozen and used later in a “good stuff” recipe from number 6.

4.  Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.  Make it worthwhile.  Visit number 6.

3.  Keep track.   In this age of excess if you don’t, you will overeat.   So, if you bite it, you write it.

2.  Portion control.  This may have been innate for our ancestors, but not so much for us.  Measure and weigh.

1.  If you are hungry eat.  When you are full stop.  The women of old did not have the luxery of eating in front of a TV or with the Iphone on their hip.  Pay attention to what your body is telling you.  It is your only real link to a simpler time.  As it turns out we have not physically evolved all the much.  Munching on Frito’s and playing words with friends does not a mindful food experience make.

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