– by Zannie Rose
We are in the ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’
And it is time for me to acknowledge that I too am approaching the autumn of my life…
There have been signs over the past few years, where time has written her passing.
Skin creasing and not bouncing back, life appearing lack lustre and weight gain that cannot be ignored. I was beginning to feel less than beautiful, and was losing touch with the beauty of life. Looking too much to the past and not expecting much of the future.
I have been a vegetarian for many years and thought that life style would ensure good health, so I was surprised at my ever expanding figure. I joined a weight loss program that helped me lose weight as long as I followed it. It encouraged us to eat more vegetables, but if I am honest, all I was interested in was losing excess fat and not feeling deprived (rather than piling veggies onto the plate).
When the leader showed us what 2 pounds of fat looked like, I was horrified to think I was carrying that around with me, but even that did not help me to keep to the program when I left the group, and eventually I went back to old habits of eating with more weight gain that became ever more difficult to shift.
I got worried when I discovered that excess fat is held around our organs as well as on the hips, tummy and thighs. What had been a vanity issue now became a health issue.
Luckily I came across nutritionist Sarah Lantry, and she introduced me to green smoothies and helped me get a new way of looking at food. She loaned me the book The pH Miracle by Robert Young which I scanned. I was initially enthused and began to eat more green veggies and to make green smoothies. I got compliments about my skin, and a young woman asked me what I was doing as my skin looked so lovely.
After a while, the enthusiasm tailed off again, until I got my own copy and went through each chapter, underlining important points. It really brought home to me how valuable green veggies are to address issues that we face in the autumn of our lives.
It highlighted how the way previous eating habits had led to my body experiencing being ” o’erbrimmed (with ) clammy cells,” which had resulted in weight gain and my skin threatening to look like a wizened autumn apple if I didn’t change my eating habits, and more importantly, what I could do about it.
I was so grateful to have the opportunity to take part in the Green Smoothie Queen’s 21 Day Green Smoothie Detox program in the summer as I knew that I needed to be in a group with others who were excited and committed in order to keep my initial enthusiasm alive and to maintain momentum. How did that go? Well, that’s for another article.
What I do know is that now I do not look back wistfully to the springtime of my life; I am more focused on the mists and mellow fruitfulness of my beauty in this season of my life, and as Keats reminds me:
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,
By Zannie Rose 2010
References:
“Ode to Autumn” by John Keats
The pH Miracle by R Young ISBN 978-0-7515-3406-1
Sarah Lantry http://www.attitudetofood.com