Dear LPG

I wonder if I am too vain sometimes because my figure's looks are still very important to me even in my old age.  I am one of those people who doesn’t find getting on the scales a worrying thing to do, and I do it nearly every morning.   As I said, I don’t stress about it, but I can see the ounces go on and come off each day. 

Until recently, my usual response to the fluctuating figures on the scale’s digital readout panel gets me thinking back to what I ate the day before each scale balancing exercise and questioning my choices.  The problem is that my regret of the previous day’s oral intake is always retrospective because when I find myself in my kitchen, I somehow forget the consequences of the way I nearly always finish the mission that took me there with a hunt for something to put into my mouth.

Biscuits are a handy answer to my cravings and are often the quickest to reach for.  I have to say that, for a while now, diverting my hand toward that biscuit cupboard, transferring a couple of the round eatables and swinging my other index finger up to that light switch has become one continuous and subconscious part of my ‘leaving the kitchen’ routine and my snack choices often get worse than that.  Am I the only culprit, or have any readers ever noticed how easy it is to go for the packet?  I will nibble on one or two in my head, but before I know it, I reach for one more to find the packet empty.  Sadly, there are also many other things that my hands have learned to reach for before my discerning mind computes the consequences. 

In these days of austerity, I made a decision only to get the odd packet of biscuits for when visitors come and as long as I don’t make that initial incision into the packaging with my thumbnail, I think I have mastered that particular involuntary impulse, but there is so much kitchen temptation and, when the bathroom scales start showing the weight indicator varying in the wrong direction, I have to admit to a bit of self-disappointment. 

I now have to tell you some bad news, although there is good news too.  I got a bout of COVID-19 about a month ago, which left me not wanting to eat for three days, and although it was very inconvenient, my first post-pandemic step onto those bathroom scales showed significant improvement as a result.  It was only two pounds, but that was enough to leave me wanting to keep it off.  I went straight to Google in search of snacks, which will not take me back to see a mirror image of my former self and thought I should share what I found just in case there are any others with my little (or should I say big) problem…    

I am trying, and I have to admit that snacking is not the same as the greener choices I found online, but I am trying hard to leave the kitchen with something a little more sensible in my hand these days.  Perhaps the lack of comfort food on the internet lists is helping to put me off snacking altogether, but a little electronic reading has forced my conscience to become part of my kitchen exit routine.  

It might be a temporary fix, but I thought I would share the details in case taking a look might re-educate any other like-minded reader, whatever their age…  

FL, Bellingham.

FL shares a few healthier snacking suggestions…

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