Moderation is my new friend

By Virginia Winder

My sister's amazing Christmas cake

It’s the Christmas cake that’s the problem.

Or so I say.

I could’ve eaten it in moderation, of course, but I decided to try and rip into it, so it would be all gone by New Year’s Day.

It wasn’t. So now moderation has prevailed and I don’t want this luscious cherry-and-almond-filled cake to end. It was made by my sister with love using a damn fine recipe.

In other ways I do want to be finished. 

Because the truth is I’m the biggest I’ve ever been. I won’t embarrass myself by sharing the kilos with you, only to say that I want to shed – 40kg.

Last time, I wrote words like this I decided to train for a half-ironman. There will be nothing so drastic this time because that was just too extreme. My obsessive training contributed to a mid-year breakdown and discoveries that parts of my body’s architecture aren’t so well constructed. However, I did manage the swim leg in a team for the half ironman at Tauranga just days before my 50^th birthday.

Three years on, good eating habits and a regular exercise regime have fallen by the wayside.

Butter on toast is a downfall

These are my edible downfalls – banana and peanut butter milkshakes, Lewis Rd and Whittaker’s chocolate milk, chocolate (of all descriptions), toast and potatoes with lots of butter (not eaten together), oat crackers with Castello cheese, doughnuts from a new café, fish ‘n chips, sugar in coffee, fries and aioli and sour cream on Mexican food.

What I will not do is go on a diet. Ever. They fail because they aren’t sustainable. I will talk more about this on my journey to Vibrant Wellbeing.

It’s time however, to overhaul my eating habits, majorly.

Breakfast could be fresh fruit, or muesli, yoghurt and in-season fruit, although I have fallen in love with pomegranate. 

Muesli, yoghurt and fresh fruit

Snacks can be coffee and some protein – nuts or yoghurt.

Lunch can be anything without bread. Lots of protein, vegetables and grains. You see, I am planning to do a bread-free life as much as I’m able. That’s mainly to cut out the butter and the over-dose of carbohydrates. There will be exceptions (pita breads and an amazing woman's home-made sourdough), but not many.

The milkshakes and chocolate milk are easy to bypass as are the rest of my bad choices. The sugar in the coffee will be cut down to half, starting from now.

Dinner, well that’s up to the maestro – my husband Warren is the chef in our house and he does a fine job.But with our son leaving home soon, there will be lots of salmon and other fish on the menu. Hmm and scallops, prawns...

Exercise will be walking, swimming, cycling on the Coastal Walkway and pilates. I will be entering no races, except the one with myself to become active, fit for travelling and agile enough to walk in difficult places.

And I can do all these things, even with the Christmas cake on hand.

Moderation is my new friend.