The Secret to Weight Loss-Farmer Style

Did I reel you in? Are you intrigued? Am I the next Dr. Mehmet Oz?

Nope.

I am just opinionated, if you haven't noticed, and since becoming a full time farm wife, I have been listening to my fellow moms, friends, and media with new ears. I have been reading my running and parenting magazines with new eyes, and have been trying to keep my mouth shut when some one comes out with a new "trick" of eating right.

High fructose corn syrup (aka sugar made from corn), red meat, flour, and the like have become bad words in our eating conversations. Why is that? Why are foods such as a pot roast and flour used to bake bread, staples such as flour and hamburger, which are in most of the recipes my 96 year old grandmother uses (she is the lady who has no allergies, no major health issues, and no lengthy hospital stays, sans a hip replacement when she was 92) considered bad?

Since the bulk of our operation consists of corn and cows, I truly take offense when some one proclaims that they are giving up all corn products and red meat. Seriously? You're going to spend hours upon hours in the grocery stores reading labels to cut out something that generates a bulk of your economy, if you're a Midwesterner? I’m all for being educated in regards to what you eat, but who has the time to do that? I’m just trying to figure out how to keep the kids from jumping out of the cart! I know there are extenuating circumstances. I have two sweet nieces and a dear friend's daughter who have terrible food-related allergies, and their moms had to become really educated on what their children could and could not eat because of their own health and safety. I'm not talking about these cases. I'm talking about women who have had babies, gained a few pounds and want a quick fix. I’m talking about dudes who love pizza and watching football, but not playing it. I'm talking about a huge percentage of Americans who want to eat, but not move.

I am no fitness expert, nor am I nutritionist, but I enjoyed college and its pizza and beer. I have had three children, gained weight, and subsequently lost it, and then some, but there's no secret. I ate a variety of food, enjoyed a cocktail and dessert, but I MOVED. I'm not suggesting that all of you become runners, but if you want your cake and eat it to, it's as simple as this: eat a little and move a lot.

That is truly the farmer style of weight loss. My loving husband is case in point: he loses the "Harvest 15," as we call it, because during that time, he's focusing less on snacking, eating for survival (and what his slightly bossy, health conscious wife makes him), and constantly moving. He's not a gym rat or a runner, but just his constant getting in and out of the tractor, running between the bin and the semi that's unloading, and never being still during that time allows him to eat what he wants, when he has time, and lose weight.

There's a professor who proved this point by his steady diet of Twinkies and Nutty Bars and powdered donuts, losing 27 pounds on this diet that would leave Dr. Oz aghast. This is not what I'm suggesting you do if you want to shed holiday pounds, but I am asking you to consider your sources before you go and cut out foods that are grown locally, even though may be processed or finished out a ways away.

As for me, I'm currently "enjoying" (not really, I HATE that part, despise not running, and know that no one cares but me, but STILL!) gaining weight for the sake of our new addition. However, come the birth of the child, I'll be back on my track of trying to eat a wide variety of foods, all while moving constantly. Which won't be too hard when I have four little ones to chase!