Hello Thrivers,

Is it just me, or have we had the best cherry crop ever this summer? Get them while they’re still tasty: cherries, corn on the cob, and red grapes.

Ready?

Pearl One

If you think about it, it’s folded into our culture that “drowning our sorrows” is the norm and that the practice should be respected.

As you know, my dad passed three days ago stunning us all. So, have I been soothing with food?

No, I haven’t been using food to feel better. I’ve reached the point on the trek up the lose-weight-over-fifty mountain that when I’m sad, I no longer reach for food. I can finally understand – from an authentic place in my heart — that food does as much for grief as an ice cream cone does for an empty gas tank.

And given that I don’t turn to booze or drugs either, I’m watching myself closely to see how I do handle the sadness of my dad dying, so I can report back to you.

So far, I can see that I zone-out with a really good book (just finishing The Sympathizer; so, so good) along with staying busy. For example, yesterday I had a doctor’s appointment an hour from me and dealing with those fun hours used up most of the day.

But my key takeaway? One of the best salves in our arsenal is that I give myself plenty of room to cry. Crying during grief reminds me of being sick and throwing up. You know when you have a flu and you feel awful, but then you and feel better for a while? That’s how I think about crying in grief. I think that when the tears come out — and we don’t fight it — crying can be healing for us.

Cry, cry, and cry some more. It’s a weight loss superpower. It really is.

Dad, you knocked it out of the park; we’ll take it from here. ♥

Pearl Two

The Importance of Our Preferred Weight. Admittedly, I went a little wacko in losing weight because I purposely got down to a low number. Today I linger somewhere between a size 6 and 8 pant-size. I specifically took myself down to this weight because I wanted to see if it would be possible. Truth be told, if I’d only lost forty-five pounds, all would have been right in my world, but I wanted to lose ten more – and preserve the loss forever —  to see if these smart eating tools really work.

These tools really work.

All that to say, changing how we live successfully live in our food-porn world is, well, everything.

Anymore we’re not living in the 1960s or 1970s and dieting in hopes that our stomachs will look more like Twiggie’s or Cheryl Tieg’s.

We don’t bake in the sun anymore either. Times have changed.

The era of scale-numbers being foisted upon us from an outside entity belong to the last century; today’s woman chooses the weight best for her, and has learned the skills to make her preferred weight happen. ♥

Pearl Three

In August we’re doing a different challenge each week.

In the scheme of things, I believe 100-percent in transforming how we deal with food from top to bottom, but just to be totally confusing let me also say that I use “leapfrogging” to various events in my life to keep me stimulated on our losing-after-fifty trek. For example, say I have a cruise lined up for November and today it’s August 25. I’ll keep my early November cruise at the forefront of my mind as I make food decisions throughout September, October, and early November.

Leapfrogging is a helpful tool most obviously for huge events like trips, reunions, and weddings, but it also works for smaller events like lunch out with a friend, an appointment for a pedicure, or even plans to see a Broadway show.

So, here’s our challenge for the end of August. Journal-write about how you’d like to feel on Thanksgiving (the U.S. or Canada’s) and the December holidays. Will you be down five pounds, or are you working hard to preserve your current weight (so, so, so important)? When the holidays roll around what will you wear? What do you want to focus on when the holiday season arrives: tight clothes? Or making memories? Write about what future-you most wants when the holidays are before us.

And remember to write little “leapfroggy” events into your calendar like how do you want to feel when you next see your hair stylist? (I do this one every five weeks. My hair person always makes my hair look good so I want to feel good inside too.)

Leapfrogging is absolutely a thing that belongs in our smart eating tool bag. ♥

Pearl Four

Books love us and want us to be happy.

This story is hard to believe, but the events actually happened to the writer Kurt Vonnegut when he was a young serviceman. Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine can explain it better than I can when she wrote, “When Vonnegut was a young serviceman, he was captured in WWII by Nazi Germany and famously survived the 1945 aerial bombing of Dresden by hiding in the meat locker of a slaughterhouse—a harrowing experience that closely informed the plot of his masterful 1969 novel, Slaughterhouse-Five.”

If ever there were a five-star book dessert, this one lives on the top tier. ♥

Pearl Five

Make it happen, girl. Shock everyone.” ♥

Anonymous

Have a relaxing weekend, Everyone!

♥, Wendy

You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.

Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!!

I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥

Between Team Yum!! and Team Self-Control: who do you think will be the victor?

Hello my thriving friends!

At the risk of repeating myself, this is such a kind and sweet group of women.

You guys are a joy to write for. You seem to like what I write, and I love getting to know you and shining a spotlight on what’s real and up-to-date about losing after fifty.

Very win/win.

Keep telling me what most interests you. I try hard not to write “fluff” posts; you definitely influence what goes into this blog.

Let’s go!

Pearl One

It’s easy to point at our Amazon Prime culture as being the culprit behind our expecting life to be chop-chop “let’s move it, people”, but truth is: we’d been seeking the fountain of quick weight loss decades long before Door Dash, Uber and Fed Ex showed up in our lives.

Check out these seven fairy tales that our culture embraces as “fact.”

Myth 1: Working Out Works.

Every time I see a woman huffing and puffing down the sidewalk I want to stop the car, jump out and say, “You didn’t hear. Unless we’re training to be in the Navy SEALS we don’t lose weight chugging up and down the street.”

Remember how we once looked at spot reducing? That if we did 100 sit ups our tummy would flatten?

True, right?

Then somebody realized that if strong abs were surrounded by extra weight, the stronger ab muscles wouldn’t shine through the fat around our middle.

But please don’t get me wrong, so much wonder comes out of a regular workout.

For example the endorphins are almost a medication with no side effects, but a stronger heart (from cardio) and stronger muscles (from weight lifting) feel good too. And an active lifestyle is said to combat falling and breaking a bone, several cancers, diabetes, and heart problems. Not to mention helping us sleep better at night.

Plus, the more we work out the better time we’ll have when we traipse through Italy seeing her treasures, including being fit enough to play with grand kids or grand dog.  And we’ve learned from Jack LaLanne and Jane Fonda’s example that strong healthy bodies can help us live to be very old, happy ages.

Get sweaty everyday for thirty to forty minutes.

Myth 2: Self-Control and Motivation Is Our Only Hope.

Way back when, I wouldn’t have understood it if someone had told me that motivation offers false hope and won’t help us lose weight. (I would’ve thought, “well, what else is there?!”)

But today having preserved my loss for seventeen years, I can tell you unequivocally that motivation plays no role in losing and maintaining after fifty.

Motivation is like Endora from Bewitched, it pops up when it feels like it and that’s no way to craft a life. The only way to lose and maintain is to develop ironclad habits.

If you find yourself hoping for self-control or motivation, dip back into Atomic Habits by James Clear to remember how vital habits are on our weight loss odyssey.

Myth 3: Calories In, Calories Out!

(Sad trombone.) We all know how dumb this one is.

Myth 4: After Menopause, There’s No Way.

Our culture has long trumpeted the idea that women “over a certain age” are simply out of luck if they’re hoping for a large loss after age fifty with a plan to maintain (preserve) the loss forever.

But here’s the deal, in these modern times you and I have smart eating tools and updated knowledge at our fingertips that our moms and grandmas never came close to having. It hurts my heart to think about how they approached weight loss, and how – while they might’ve pulled off ten or twenty pounds for a wedding or reunion – they had no idea how to preserve the loss for a lifetime.

Chuck the yesteryear playbook; we’re writing new rules to what women “of a certain age” can accomplish.

Myth 5: Losing Weight is Easy.

Years ago — when I had my “moment of clarity” (habits first, then scale) — and began to lose in earnest, I never once thought, “hey! Losing weight is a total cake-mix!”

And preserving the loss is no picnic either.

The magazine and social media headlines might scream, “Lose Weight ASAP on the Eat Cake and Ice Cream diet”, we know the truth behind the headlines because we’ve lived the truth: losing weight and preserving for the long run takes dedication and a super cool, modern toolbox to navigate our food-porn culture.

Myth 6: Losing Weight is Impossible.

It’s funny, but the group that tells us to lose forty pounds before a surgery can be scheduled, are the same peeps who can’t really tell us how to lose, and certainly don’t know anything about how to create a forever-loss.

Myth 7: Losing Weight Has a Beginning and an End Point.

If we’re being honest, we’ll admit that we once saw losing weight – or smart eating — as something “we did” such as, “I can’t wait to go off this diet so that I can have pizza too.”

Today we now know that losing weight and preserving for a lifetime is about what we are.

We no longer lose weight for the summer, and gain it all back by the end of December.

We’re older, wiser and too tired to go along with the “weight loss is linear” myth that hogged all the limelight in the last century.

Weaving smart, strong food habits into the very fiber of our being, and transforming who we are – and how we handle food — is the only way to a successful forever-loss. ♥

Pearl Two

Join me on any typical morning.

It’s 7:15 a.m. and the alarm goes off. (I’m shooting for 6:30 a.m.).

I feed my very mean kitty, and put food out for the birds and squirrels.

I eat my toast with butter and then head for my writing desk – I do my best writing in the morning — and about two hours later the idea of eating something pops into my head. Yes, I had a substantial breakfast. No, it’s not time for lunch. And, yes, I still find myself thinking, “something tasty right now sounds like an amazing idea.” At that, I glance at my laptop’s clock and see that it’s only 10:45 a.m.

Hmm. Now what?

At that, my prefrontal brain tells my cavewoman, “Noon, just wait until noon. You can do it. You’ll be fine.”

And I do and I am. ♥

Pearl Three

A different challenge each Friday in August

If you’re not already, our challenge this week is to track what you eat and how you count it (calories? points?) for every single meal. Sometime I’ll share the messy stack of notepads I’ve used to track through the years.

If you’re a pro at tracking your food, plan instead to boil five eggs to eat on the run this coming week when you’re slammed with errands and work (don’t forget a light sprinkle of salt for the tastiest egg). ♥

Pearl Four

Books love us and want us to be happy!

Quietly Hostile: Essays is Samantha Irby’s newest book out in 2023. I don’t know how she does it, but Irby somehow makes the symptoms of Crohn’s disease extremely funny. I mean, we’re over fifty and as we age we all have something, but Irby is just forty-three years old and has been dealing with the symptoms of Crohn’s for decades.

Irby’s books detail the many times the disease did a number on her, her depression, bad dates, good dates, lots of socks (good, bad, and disgusting socks), and about a million other embarrassing moments that she skillfully spins into humor. She spills it all and calls her writing, “connection through commiseration.” 🙂

And yes, I feel deeply understood after reading an Irby book. And P.S. one story gets seriously gross when she’s talking about urine. My thought: skip that part.)

Pearl Five

With every act of self-care your authentic self gets stronger, and the critical, fearful mind gets weaker. Every act of self-care is a powerful declaration: I am on my side, I am on my side, each day I am more and more on my own side.”

Susan Weiss Berry

Have a great weekend everyone!

If you’ve enjoyed these Pearls it would be wonderful if you’d share with a loved one. Also, you can follow me on Facebook and Instagram. And — if you’d like to do a deeper dive into losing weight after age fifty — read the Inspired Eater: the Book. (I started calling it “the book” so it wouldn’t get confused with the blog.) Update: the book is now called the Inspired Eater: Fed Up!

♥, Wendy

P.S. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!

I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥

You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.

My favorite tote-bag.

My five-star booklist.

No fuss, no drama. Sometimes we just need to quietly remove ourselves from the situation when others are being rude.

Hi Thrivers!!

Holy cow, you guys. I’m on day twelve (as I type) of my no sugar challenge and I’m annoyed at how annoying going no-sugar is.

Now, of course there’s sugar in fruit and funny places like spaghetti sauce, but I’m staying well under the twenty-four grams of sugar a day that’s recommended. My main move is to steer completely clear of cake, candy, cookies, ice cream, donuts, brownies; the usual.

And it’s been annoying.

But as I like to say, “the first fourteen days are the most formidable.” So, I’ll let you know how I’m doing by day 16.

Pearl One

You and I forever have been told not to “beat ourselves up” about, say, baking red velvet brownies from scratch “for the family,” but then eating most of the pan myself, I mean, yourself.

But – really – what does “don’t beat yourself up” encompass? Because I think it’s much more than just critical self-talk.

It’s my thought that “beating ourselves up” can take several forms like allowing ourselves to continually ruminate on “shameful” moments from our past or memories from childhood of someone being cruel to us.

I combat the habit of ruminating about a sad or cringy memories by using a symbol – I’ve mentioned before that I think of a cathedral I once saw in Savannah — to pull me out of a not-helpful thought. It takes practice but you can shift out of a detrimental thinking pattern.

But we’re also “beating ourselves up” when we allow others to treat us badly and don’t immediately remove ourselves from the line of fire by walking away.

And to be super-clear, I’m not suggesting you throw a metaphorical rock at someone being rude/abusive and then walking away. I’m saying walk away with an internal attitude of, “no, this situation has gone too far and I’m taking a break.” (Try to keep in mind that when others are being awful to you, they might be fighting with you, but they’re actually arguing with old ghosts like their parents. Remember: it’s not about you – okay, maybe a kernel is about you — mainly your family member is fighting with a yesteryear loved one.)

And, of course, we have the traditional use of “don’t beat yourself up” that means don’t use attacking self-talk when something funky happens in life. Do I sometimes look at the scale and think, “what the hell?” Absolutely I do. I have a negative thought for literally two seconds or so and then shift into, “let’s be curious, let’s be determined, let’s be loving.”

I’ve worked hard to stay chill and not think, “I’ll always be big, god dang it, why is this so hard?! Why can’t I do this?!” Habituate yourself into talking kindly to you. Why? Because there’s zero evidence that beating up on ourselves helps us in anything, ever.

Authors don’t beat themselves up as they write a book. My son didn’t beat himself up while taking ten years of piano lessons. And I didn’t preserve my loss for seventeen years by beating myself up as each day went by.

Whether we’re beating ourselves up by ruminating on old hurts, letting someone else verbally attack us, or using highly critical self-talk, it’s time to internalize the truth that none of this helps us conquer our goals.

The only way to move into the future with confidence is to take a deep breath and tell yourself, “Wendy believes I can do this, I guess I can do this. I’ll work to habituate a loving internal voice and insist on respectful external conversations with loved ones. Sounds tough, but I’m tougher. Yes, in fact, I think I can do this.” ♥

Pearl Two

This genius idea comes from Thriver and writer of a gorgeous blog called Mantel and Table. Thank you, Barbara, for sharing your beautiful creativity with the planet!

From Barbara:

“I have either four or five ingredients in my summer salad formula. Four, if I’m not adding a protein; five, if I am. When I go to the store, I just buy my favorites in each ingredient category. Then when I’m ready for a salad, I add one of each category, and I’ve got a fabulous summer salad!

The ingredient categories I like best are these (Wendy’s comments in parenthesis):

• Salad greens – (like butter lettuce or spinach)

• Cheese – (feta is a great one)

• Nuts – (such as pecans or almonds)

• Fruits – (chopped apple or sliced strawberry)

• Protein – (I often use Trader Joe’s vegan chicken; found in cold case with yogurts.)

The point is to have a simple formula so you don’t have to think about it too much – just make your delicious salad and leave more time to sit down and enjoy it!”

I love this idea so much! Thank you again Barbara. I plan to forever take this formula with me when I shop. ♥

Pearl Three

A different challenge each Friday in August

Today’s challenge: Build a salad and eat it for lunch at least three times this week. I hope you’ll write to me and share what salad was on your plate each day. Seriously I want to hear from you! ♥

Pearl Four

Books love us and want us to be happy

As I type, we’re in August which makes me think that I should be recommending fun, bubbly books. Friends, failure! (I’ll do better next summer, I promise.)

For now, check out this marvel of a story that won the Pulitzer in 2016 (which is one of many that the author’s been awarded). He teaches at UCLA and is one of those people who seem super-human from another planet.

As I’ve mentioned a thousand times, I love books that tell an awesome story, begin with a bang, and also expands my mind (teaches me something good). The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen brings it.

Many call the opening sentence “the best they’ve read in years.” The book starts in Vietnam and moves to Los Angeles in the U.S.

I’m only half-way through, but so far I’d call this a must-read and deserving of book-dessert status. ♥

Pearl Five

“It’s not about perfection, it’s about how quick you are to recover.” ♥

— James Clear

If you’ve enjoyed these Pearls it would be awesome if you’d share with a loved one. Also, you can follow me on Facebook and Instagram. And the Inspired Eater: the Book is half off all week until 8/10 for our wonderful group.

Have a great weekend everyone!

♥, Wendy

P.S. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!

You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.

My favorite tote-bag.

My five-star booklist

Hello Thrivers!!

It is so exciting to hear about your successes! I’m also hearing how frustrated you are once you’re in the preserving-the-loss mode. This is where the new change takes place. Pearl One gets into the details about preserving your very precious loss for the long-run.

No longer will preserving our loss get short-shrift as maintenance got back-in-the-day. Preserving our loss is now taking center stage.

Pearl One

Let’s keep talking about forever preserving your original loss. I’m learning that some Thrivers reach their preferred weight, but can’t seem to stay in the weight-window they picked for themselves.

Some people lose too much weight to the great concern of people around them, and others struggle with gaining.

Life has changed and we’re no longer doing the old didn’t-really-work-anyhow maintenance thing. Let’s look at preserving your original loss as if you’ve been given a large, beautifully cut diamond to take great care of. That’s how precious your weight-loss is.

The main thing to do in the first years of preserving your original loss is to stay on your eating plan and deviating occasionally, add to it the REP and work on strengthening your habits.

The overriding self-talk is, “we don’t eat like that anymore.” And then show your brain how serious you are: pour salt over the calories or similar. Your brain is always watching what you’re doing and if you consistently give it the message, “I’m not playing around anymore. It’s not going to be easy, but I am turning away from junk-food and instead reading a book, walking the dog, or planning a future day-trip.”

I will always add: if you’re pining for junk-food, it means that you’re hungry for food-food. Also women over 50 sometimes feel really tired when they’re hungry. I still tell myself daily, “Reach for real food.”

Remind yourself daily that there are no short cuts to success and that “Nobody said it would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it.” Thank you Mae West for this quote-nugget.

Bottom Line

Feed your mind well. Find the quotes that speak to you and sprinkle them throughout your life. Even better: memorize the quotes. This micro-step has helped me so much through the years.

Work to strengthen your habits. You want to be handed a beautiful box of donuts and say, “Yeah, I don’t do donuts anymore, but thanks for the thought.” (Hint: you can have a donut in about three to five years of preserving).

When preserving your loss, don’t let yourself move from the sandbox at the park to the freeway in one fell swoop. Take yourself in stages. Getting too thin? Whole-milk cottage cheese, not junk-food or large portions of fettuccine. Gaining? Re-revisit your habits and write in your journal about what’s working and what’s not.

And plan, plan, plan how you’ll step more firmly onto the Smart Eating Path.

It always comes back to “don’t get cranky, get curious.” ♥

Pearl Two

Have I told you guys about the first junk-food? Back in 1883 at the World’s Fair in Chicago, Cracker Jack made its debut on the national stage. (Candy existed decades earlier and honey has been around forever, but Cracker Jack was the first mass-produced junk food.)

Nobody could possibly have foreseen that the simple snack would develop into a world-gone-wild junk-food landscape. Our moms and grandmas didn’t stand a chance at the tsunami of calories that flooded their world because the monster-wave did not come with instructions.

In response to our “Twinkie-lifestyle” the diet-cartel rode up on a white horse to save us from what I call the perfect storm: 1) fast-food 2) Grocery stores packed in junk-food and 3) restaurants that serve humongous-portion sizes of low-nutrition food.

Thing is, we didn’t need to be saved; what we’ve needed all along are real tools that’ll take us where we want to go.

What’s my point? That you and I — and our moms and grandmas – are the ones who’ve consistently accepted the blame when a diet “doesn’t work.” And after being consistently blamed for so long, we then develop a deep sense of shame.

We think, “Why can’t I do this?” “I regained the 50-pounds. What is wrong with me?!” “I’m to blame, I do overeat, it is my fault.”

You guys, this is how domestic-violence survivors talk. They say, “Well, if I hadn’t done blank, he wouldn’t have gotten so mad.” Until they see the reality of their situation, they take the blame over and over.

The reality of our situation is that we live in a food-porn culture. Until the junk-food phenomena goes the way of the cigarette (it’s a little different with junk-food, but it could be done) we need to stay dubious about the diet-cartel’s “help” and their money-making shenanigans.

My thought: let’s use the diet-cartel’s products as tools to help us trek up the “losing after 50 mountain.” But let’s stop seeing these companies as our rescuer. Their product is merely a tool that we might choose to use or not depending on our need at the moment. ♥

Pearl Three

Sequencing is taken directly from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The purpose of sequences is to help us move from reacting to circumstances to responding. I encourage you to do a sequence a day in your journal. Powerful stuff.

Default-Sequence

I’m writing from a dear friend’s point of view:

• Situation (be very concrete): I weigh 250-pounds, I stand 5’5.
• Thought: I hate being this large and am beyond frustrated and angry with diets.
• Feeling: Furious at the whole damn thing of trying to lose, regain etc.
• Action: I talk a lot about how nothing seems to work.
• Result: I’d like to lose about a hundred pounds, but never do.

Chosen Thoughtful Sequence (a bridge)

• Situation (be very concrete): I weigh 250-pounds, I stand 5’5.
• Chosen thought: Times are changing. Maybe new, cutting-edge ideas are appearing in weight loss. Hmm. We’ll see.
• Feeling: Very wary, but with a sliver of hope.
• Action: Reads the latest and greatest of weight-loss in 2024.
• Result: After having some success on the intermittent diet, but I’d like to improve my habits around food, so I started to read the Inspired Eater blog and begin to work on my mind-set. ♥

Pearl Four

I just finished a book-dessert of the highest caliber. If you like an absorbing story line about a female friendship set in modern time history then you’ll love The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. Like The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini did for Afghanistan, Lion Women is now doing for Iran (just came out in July 2024). One of my favorite things in life is to learn about other cultures and their history while reading a gripping story line. ♥

Pearl Five

There are moments of frustration in life. You must build good relations to support you in these moments. You must also learn to encourage yourself and decide to stay encouraged in life.” ♥

Lailah Gifty Akita

i love this quote. Decide to stay encouraged. This thought is what I’m working to embed into my mind.

I’d love a comment below on how you’re doing while living on the Smart Eating Lifestyle.

Make it a wonderful week!

♥, Wendy

You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.

Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!!

I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥

Especially when we’re well over fifty we can say,

“You know what? Time for something new and amazing just for me.”

Pearl One

I want you to know about the most powerful mind-shift I clung to when I began my smart eating trek in earnest and continue to rely on as I preserve my loss.

“I won’t live like this anymore.”

That’s it. Nothing fancy. Nothing “aha-ish.” Just the plain truth: I was sick and tired of constantly dealing with the battle between me, overeating, and clothes cutting off my ability to breathe.

My really abysmal eating habits had been winning for decades.

When I finally decided that “I won’t live like this anymore” the goodness hit the fan, and I was on a roll.

Even today, I use this phrase almost daily still because it immediately reminds me that living an overeating lifestyle guarantees nothing but annoyance, emotional pain, and a constant urge to beat myself up (which, btw, doesn’t help anything).

“I won’t live like this anymore.” Tell yourself this phrase two or three times a day. Write it on stickies and put them wherever only you will see them. And write in your journal about what the phrase means to you.

In other words, don’t just read these words, the magic happens when you engage with the deeper wisdom behind “I won’t live like this anymore.”

Because once you do, you won’t. ♥

Pearl Two

As you know, I’m not a nutritionist, dietician, doctor or even a barista, but when I find smart food that makes our life a smidge easier, I share.

A thriver sent in this fantastic recipe.

Hi Wendy,

I just wanted to share my newest “muffin” creation with you. They are scrambled eggs in muffin form. And I baked them in my toaster oven. I used 4 eggs and got 6 “muffins.”

In addition to salt and pepper, I added a little cheddar cheese and bacon bits. But you could add onions, peppers, or whatever strikes your fancy. I plan to freeze them, then get one out when I want an egg. — Signed, M.

Wendy included: I used six eggs for six cups. Spray a 6-cup capacity muffin tin with nonstick oil spray or use the silicone cups I use. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and onion. Add egg mixture halfway up into each muffin cup.

Include your preferred topping combinations into the cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until set. Let cool.

Yum.

Thank you, M!! Keep them coming! ♥

Pearl Three

A different challenge each Friday in August!

Our challenge: be honest. Do you actually go to bed with a great book early every evening? Or do you agree that it’s a fabulous idea, but haven’t established the habit for yourself?

If you’re in the middle of watching an absorbing streaming show, I get it. Finish your show and avoid getting hooked on another one.

I’m not against a streaming-dessert as long as the screen is in your bedroom and away from the kitchen. Sitting in your living room to watch TV is a sure-fire way to fall off the Smart Eating Path and overeat.

Your goal is to disrupt the pattern or habit. And I’ve found the most success by taking a phenomenal book (cannot be dry and boring) to my bedroom every evening around 8 p.m.

I know. It’s sounds early, but here’s what I’m convinced of: after a long day we’re at our lowest mood in the evenings when it’s way too easy to think, oh what the hell? and descend on the cookies, cake, and ice cream.

So instead of “white-knuckling” it and forcing yourself to give up the evening calories – which we know doesn’t really work in the long-run anyhow – swap the negative eating for positive reading.

When we take something away from ourselves (like evening sugar), it’s important to give ourselves something in return like a spectacular book.

And I say books because if you give yourself, for example, a luxurious hot bath-dessert, the bath alone isn’t likely to lure you to your bedroom at 8 p.m. every single night for years on-end.

So do your nighttime routine: at 8 p.m. brush your teeth, jump into your jams and read your book-dessert for the next hour and a half. You’ll catch up on sleep and deep-six those evening calories. ♥

Pearl Four

My first inclination is to just say, “read this!” and not give you the plot because you might not really care about the story-line, but a masterful author can do it all even spin whitewashing a fence into a critical part of character-development, so keep the fence in mind as I give you the details. The Heart’s Invisible Furies is about a young Irish girl who’s thrown out of her community because she’s pregnant. The first chapter will grab you, no doubt, but just know that while the first chapter is super compelling it doesn’t contain the dry wit that the following chapters have. And this author John Boynce can write the blank out of dry wit, tragedy, everything. This dude can write.

I’m only half-way through this large book, but it’s such a great story that I stayed up (too) late last night reading. And if you love learning a bit of history as you read you’re in luck because the story takes us from the cultural morays of 1945 Ireland and into (much improved, thankfully) modern times. People magazine wrote, “By turns whimsical and heartbreaking, Boyne’s sprawling novel treads Dickensian territory across seven decades of Irish history, ending with a redemption for both a country and a native son.”

The book also won important awards and was on several “best of” lists when it came out in 2017.

My review: a five-star book-dessert. ♥

Pearl Five

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

Michael Jordan

Have a great weekend everyone!

♥, Wendy

P.S. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!

I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.

Similar to my favorite cold-tote and one with an adjustable handle

The best book-desserts on the planet

Flourishing after age fifty is a real thing. Owning your “flourish” allows you
to feel like you belong with the billions of us trekking the Smart Eating Path. 

Pearl One

You’ve tried a million times to lose weight, and are highly skeptical that the micro-steps I share will actually produce results?

I get it.

But consider this: we’re late bloomers. Tell yourself, “Some bloom in their younger years; I happen to be blooming in my second half of life.”

All kinds of blooming applauded!

In decades past, we didn’t know that we didn’t know (about how to lose after age fifty for the long haul).

And for whatever reason, I stumbled upon the map.

But the map doesn’t belong to me.

So — as you continue to bloom — I want you to have and know this map too. And then, spread the word. ♥

Pearl Two

Last month a home-bound friend and I wanted to get together for lunch, but she wasn’t ready to go out to eat. So, it was left to me to bring restaurant meals for us both.

What did she feel like? Mexican? Pizza? Thai? Chinese?

She didn’t really care; I should just get whatever I wanted.

Oh, great. I really don’t love trying to deduce what someone else might like.

But, knowing that Mexican or pizza are not the smartest food choices, I narrowed my options down to: Thai or Chinese?

At that, I turned to Google asking “which type of food is the best for those trying to keep it healthy”?

You know, I totally assumed that I’d find a rather namby-pamby “both cuisines are wonderful in their own special way” type of response.

But that is NOT what I learned!!

I was so surprised to discover that Thai is far and away preferable health-wise to those of us helicoptering our health.

Why Thai?

There are several key differences between Thai and Chinese, like the following:

(1) Thai food isn’t made with heavy sauces, but with light delicate herbs and spices.

(2) Thai dishes are packed in non-starchy veggies like carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts, onions and the like.

(3) Many dishes substitute coconut milk instead of heavy cream for great flavor.

(4) Thai has brown rice as an option which is what I always order.

(5) Rather than fried spring rolls, order “summer rolls” at Thai that clock in around 110 calories each, aren’t fried, and are stuffed with healthy veggies.

My Two Favorite Orders

I have two go-tos that I always order:

• Thai “yum, yum” salad made with tofu. (The word “yum” in Thai means “mixed” or “tossed together.” But in any language this salad rocks!)
• Green curry. I order mine with tofu as the protein and request extra vegetables. (I mean, so good!) ♥

Pearl Three

Back in the day, Saturday morning cartoon commercials were sophisticated thanks to the Mad Men who aimed their laser directly at kids who were too young to see the dangers of highly sugared cereals behind Tony the Tigers, Franken Berrys, and the count Choculas.

Shelby (my sister) and I — thoroughly brainwashed thanks to those ads – couldn’t help but notice that “the other kids got to be ‘coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs’, why not us?!”

So, my mom relented. (Phew, we thought, finally.)

Every December she he wrapped mini-boxes of sugared cereal and stuffed them into our Christmas stockings.

And it wasn’t just sugary cereal my mom disapproved of. We weren’t allowed to have Tang, Kool-Aid, Hostess-anything, Jif peanut butter and so on. (Don’t get me wrong, my mom wasn’t a health nut. She bought all of the Hostess cupcakes and Ho Hos she and my dad partied after we’d gone to bed.)

Then when fast-food began mushrooming across the land, true-to-form my mom wasn’t biting and rarely allowed us to partake.

The woman was psycho.

All that said I want you to know about the book titled: Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss. You’ll be stunned at how sneaky and (frankly) immoral the people behind the junk food explosion really are.

Salt, Sugar, Fat isn’t a book-dessert read; it’s just not juicy enough. But once I skimmed the boring first part, this book became hard to put down.

It’s a keeper and here’s why: reading just a page or a day and highlighting your favorite passages will allow your smart eating life to soar.

It’s that good.

And that annoying. Just a few pages into Moss’s book and I was checking the sugar ingredient on everything I thought was innocent like spaghetti sauce, bread, even my favorite whole-wheat bagels.

Salt, Sugar, Fat should be called titled, How Big Food Tricked Us Into Eating Chemicals as a way of Life. ♥

Pearl Four

I’ve shared this book before, but if you haven’t had the pleasure: lucky you because a wonderful story is coming your way! Min Jin Lee’s first book, Pachinko, snagged the Pulitzer’s Fiction Runner Up in 2018 and is proof that aliens live among us (meaning the advanced level of writing is beyond comprehension). Her second book Free Food for Millionaires is a phenomenal read too! ♥

Pearl Five

Don’t wait your turn. Bet on yourself and have the confidence to stand up and say, ‘My time is now.'” ♥

— Robert F. Smith

Have a wonderful weekend all! And I’d love a follow on the Inspired Eater Facebook page and Instagram!

♥, Wendy

P.S. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!

You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.

My favorite cold-tote

The best book-desserts on the planet

Many high caloric foods have dropped off my radar entirely, except for this one little ingredient.

Hello Everyone!

I’m coming to you from oven-central. I know. It’s hot almost everywhere; hope you’re staying cool. ♥

Pearl One

I can’t stop thinking about a question a reader asked me ages ago, “doesn’t it get easier? Does keeping the weight off become an automatic habit or will I forever be battling my cravings?”

Flippantly I replied, “you’ll always want the raspberry pastry.”

But over the last few months, her question keeps tapping me on the shoulder, and when it does I ask myself, “after these seventeen years of preserving my original loss, is it easier? Did I give “C” the right answer?”

So, after a lot of thought, my final answer is that yes, it does get easier.

I can forgo fast-food and junk-food 24/7, no problem at all. I’m also great at dealing with the endless porn-food in the grocery store aisles largely because I never shop hungry.

And you should know that – back in the day, I could eat a whole Pringles can by myself. No trouble whatsoever. It took the magic of time, but once I’d fully embedded the habit to never eat cracker/chip type snacks, it’s become very easy to bypass them.

It Wasn’t Overnight

Looking back, I lost interest in crunchy/salty artificial “food” in stages like at first it was somewhat difficult to say no to the chip then it became a bit easier and so forth until I got to the point where I have absolutely no lingering, “oh, I’d love a whole box of Cheez-Its right now.”

But here’s what I do still have issues with: anything made with sugar. And since I have zero intention of gaining the weight back, I monitor my sugar intake carefully.

How I Helicopter the Sugar

Habit Alert! As with any entrenched craving, I keep myself relatively full so that I don’t get hungry and commence to lobbying myself for an ice cream sundae (homemade or Dairy Queen; either suits).

When The Scarfer (my husband) brings home a pink box from the bakery filled with fancy cookies, yes, I still yearn to try one. At that, I have an automatic question I ask myself to put the cookies in their rightful place: do I want a double-fudge chocolate shortbread cookie or do I want to be a size 8? This question gets me out of the danger zone immediately.

But, again, it took time for this muscle of asking the right question to develop.

To combat the sugar-urge, I also eat fruit to provide the sweet vibe I’m looking for. My favorites are strawberries, grapes, watermelon and cherries. In my world, there is nothing better – outside of our fur-kids – than laying down with a great book and a bowl of grapes or cherries on my tummy. In the olden days I’d crunch through Oreo after Oreo as I read a book; but not anymore. I’m very happy to report that I completely detoxed from Oreos and have replaced them with fruit.

Going Cold-Turkey

These days, I want to not want sugar, the same way that I don’t want chips or french fries. I want to be done with sugar (other than fruit). So that said I’m implementing an action-plan right now (mid-July) to stop my extraneous sugar habit. A reader reported that she reads food labels and allows herself twenty-four grams of sugar a day (because sugar shows up in places you wouldn’t expect like bread). Note to reader: As you know, I’ve given up all evening sugar and haven’t relapsed. The evening sugar is definitely gone — detailed here — but I still partake a little here or there during the day and that’s the type of sugar I want to put an end to.)

As I ditch the sugar, I’ll keep notes and let you know exactly how this challenge is going. I’ll share the times I goof up and the times I got it right. My promise to you is that I will not give you the rosy picture. I will share every bit of the trek.

Wish me luck. ♥

Pearl Two

Have you read When You Give a Mouse a Cookie? This darling five-star children’s book details the chain of events that unfolds when a hungry mouse shows up at a little kid’s home and requests a cookie, and then needs a glass of milk, then looks in the mirror to check out his milk-mustache, and upon seeing his scraggly hair requests a pair of scissors to trim his bangs and so on and so forth.

You and I are living When You Give a Mouse a Cookie every day of our lives. We just haven’t known that we’re both the mouse and the little kid.

Here’s what I mean.

Say you eat beautifully at breakfast and lunch, and only “ruin everything” (drama-alert!) around three in the afternoon.

A micro-chain of events leads you to the Snickers bar at mid-day.

In your journal, deconstruct how you end up at the candy bar.

Write about:

• what you eat for lunch.
• what small snack you have at 2 p.m.
• how you’re feeling (both emotionally and physically) at 2:30 p.m.
• how you’re feeling (again, both emotionally and physically) at 2:45 p.m.
• how you’re feeling at the hour you usually lunge for the chocolate.

Write your sequence of events that lead to afternoon junk eating for six or seven days and become an expert on why/how you’re caving into candy around 3ish every day. (Get to know your sequence so well that you could give a TED Talk on the subject. No, I’m not kidding.)

There can be both highly personal reasons why you specifically want sugar in the mid-afternoon (such as when you were a kid, your mom returned home from work in a terrible mood at 3 p.m.), but at some level my guess is that you’re also merely hungry.

Journal-write about emotional pain from your past, but at the same time, keep yourself relatively full during the toughest windows of your day.

Because learning how to shut down your particular mouse and cookie — the immediate trigger — is the hack to creating so much goodness in our lives. ♥

Pearl Three

Topic for July: how to keep steering yourself back onto the Smart Eating Path.

I live in Atlanta and it’s super hot in July. My sister lives in Arizona where its a billion degrees beyond hot.

We call Atlanta’s heat, “humid.”

Shelbie calls Tucson’s heat, “dry.”

My grandma referred to the heat she lived in as “muggy.”

If I tell you that it’s “blazing” or “freezing” outside, you immediately get the picture.

Naming things makes them real and helps us talk about about them without calling concepts or items “the thingy.” We can’t call everything “a thingy” we need to give “the thing” a real name.

Which leads to my point, we don’t have enough words for smart eating, but that’s about to change.

Today, we’re talking “intentional eating.”

When I’ve strayed off the Smart Eating Path and have become intimately involved with Publix’s ice cream aisle, one of the ways I rein myself in is with smart self-talk; I ask myself, “are you ready to get back to intentional-eating or do you want to continue ravaging the kitchen?”

Asking myself this question is powerful because it floods my brain with all that “intentional-eating” encompasses which to me includes: having my smart foods on hand in the kitchen, going everywhere with my cold-tote packed in smart snacks, stopping food at 6 p.m. and going to bed around 8 p.m. with a delicious book-dessert.

Intentional-eating also includes the very effective “drip, drip, drip” method I featured here in Pearl Three of this post.

Your Takeaway

Write what intentional eating means to you. Edit the list and write some more.

The next time you’ve overeaten or binged, and are ready to hop back onto the Smart Eating Path, pull out your intentional eating list and steer yourself back on course. ♥

Pearl Four

Books love us and want us to be happy.

Richard Powers, won a Pulitzer Prize for The Overstory, but I “met” him reading his 2021 book: Bewilderment. An Oprah Book Club selection, Bewilderment delivered one of my most favorite things: a first chapter that draws me into the story immediately. Too many amazing reads start slow, so I often remind myself to be patient and chill. Bewilderment‘s story is about a nine-year-old boy and his astrobiologist dad (studies the possibility of life on other planets).

I was feeling blue when I picked up Bewilderment, but finished the book feeling positive and perky. Also, Bewilderment is slim meaning you can read it in a weekend. I give it a solid four-stars, and have already ordered The Overstory at the library. ♥

Pearl Five

Stay away from those people who try to disparage your ambitions. Small minds will always do that, but great minds will give you a feeling that you can become great too.” ♥

Mark Twain

Sounds harsh, but it’s important to say good-bye to the “that’ll never work, it never did before” crowd. Let them dump their Eeyore-thoughts elsewhere.

Protect yourself by staying mum re: your burgeoning smart eating habits.

Have a good one and see you on Tuesday!

♥, Wendy

P.S. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!

You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.

My favorite cold-tote

The best book-desserts on the planet