My Menopause Blog

Sugarplums are about to start dancing the hoochie choochie on your face once the calendar page turns to December tomorrow. Today would be a good time to figure out how exactly you are going to get through Shortbread Season without adding more bulk to your meno-extended-butt? Like really - why add insult to injury?

I have two suggestions.

Last year, on December 1st, I committed to a month long moratorium on the following food combination. Butter - sugar - flour. Quite simply, if food contained all three of those ingredients, I would put myself on high alert and ‘move away from the substance’ as quickly as possible.

I will admit that despite my best efforts, I did ‘inhale’ at least once - twice maybe - no more than three times for sure. But I didn’t consume near the quantity of my fat making friends that I historically did AND the pants that I wore on November 30 still fit me January 1st.

Ho, ho, ho for me!

My second suggestion is untried.

An artist friend has systematically taken a digital photo of everything he has eaten for the last two years. Yes you read that correctly.

A few days ago I was looking for a picture of a nice looking cake and decided to wander through his photo stream to see if cake had been on his menu. Turns out that he’s quite a pie man. But it also gave me a revealing look at my pals gastronomic choices day in day out. Very quickly my inner mother kicked into gear with thoughts of “should eat more fruit and vegetables, less sauces, too much fried.”

And then it hit me - what a great way to literally watch your weight.

I’m betting it would take about a week of snapping to get the picture of where calories are coming from and what part of a balanced diet is missing. The only rub I can see is the bubble bursting denial part. Women do like lying to themselves in the food department.

I’m considering this experiment to help sort out my ‘not enough protein’ issue I fall prey to. I suspect that with the right intent the photo taking could help sort out many food related mysteries. And in all likelihood, just knowing that a recording is being made would be enough to keep a lid on the cookie jar.

Sue Richards

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