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My mom phoned me yesterday, extremely excited!
“You must see this!” she exclaimed. “Rieks (her youngest sister) and Rod (Rieks’s husband) have lost so much weight with this Banting diet! And it’s all the things you like, too!”
Truth be told, I’ve never really been interested in Banting. To me, it seemed like an unhealthy fad. But when she brought me the food lists, today, I sat up and took notice. See, there are enough fruits and vegetables in there to let me eat everything I love without the guilt. Obviously, I am not going to eat to excess, but even then, I’ll probably lose weight, anyway.
I’ve never been much of a starchy person either, so the lack of pasta, potatoes, rice, and wheat flour won’t kill me.
I will, however, probably die without sweets! But that’s another story.
What I had seen that made me take the Banting idea seriously, is that it would involve eating clean, and not only that but Banting would mean that I need to make food the way Great-great-grandma prepared her pantry, with very little sugar, but with lots and lots of other flavors added. In short, I would probably have to empty my pantry of 80% of its current content (which includes a few bags’ worth of super processed food!).
The plus side is that I would have to make much more effort with my urban homesteading/backyard farming projects, which include canning and pickling, food preparation, cooking from scratch, brining and smoking meat and fish, vegetable and fruit gardening, and building stuff. It’s about sourcing eggs and milk from the farmers themselves and making cheese and yogurt. And it’s about rendering lard and tallow and canning it for future use.
I am so glad that I read the books, watched hours upon hours of how-to videos, and even took courses in doing all of the above because now I won’t be stuck without kitchen staples such as tomato paste and mayonnaise! I will, however, have a healthier, more gut-friendly, food stockpile that will let me lose weight while still enjoying extremely delicious food! That sounds good in any language.
