So when I was about 9
Same age as my youngest daughter.
There was a girl who lived in my street.
Called Smelly Kelly.
Now she wasn’t smelly at all – it just rhymed.
And I was 9 and quite obnoxious, to be honest.
Sometimes her mum would invite me to
‘stay to tea’.
We didn’t call it tea at our house.
It was dinner.
Anyway – I usually said no, but a couple of times I did stay because I thought I would like what we were having.
But then when I saw the plate of food, with things like carrots and peas (it was the 80s – those were the vegetables) I pretended to be ill and went home.
Because I COULDN’T eat that stuff
Not WOULDN’T.
Literally couldn’t.
Would have gagged, and was scared of that. The smell of unfamiliar food was repulsive.
I remember being taken to the doctor for being ‘skinny’, I wasn’t ill – I was just fussy. Looking back – almost phobic.
And then I had my life and trained in dance, and fitness and had to look after competition dancers and people getting fit and then I did further training in nutrition.
Which is the impressive sounding bit.
The more Channel 5 version is: I got pregnant at 17 had a baby at 18, we didn’t have a pot to p^ss in and we couldn’t afford takeaways.
And that was actually the first time I got to know vegetables. Because those are cheaper than ready meals.
Cooking stuff.
From cookbooks from the library or charity shops… As I am getting on…there wasn’t Delia Online. (there wasn’t anything online except washing)
And when the mortgage interest rates are 17.5% and proportionately not a great deal of coming in…and a baby… will focus the mind, and make sure you use everything on offer in Tesco, and you don’t throw anything away uneaten in the fridge.
Last night a very brave lady posted in the W&G FB group. She was brave and I am so grateful. We had taken ladies through a Detox and healthy eating plan in November and then a lot of the same ones in January.
And some of them are SERIOUSLY knowledgeable now. They’ve made crazy big changes.
And so Claire and I get all excited and talk about Chia, and Flax, and the latest Wholefood/Clean Eating restaurant.
All the while forgetting about the fact that when I was on the verge of tears at Smelly Kelly’s dining table…. this stuff would have been from another planet.
My life took the course it did.
But a different decision here or there would have had me still eating really really badly.
The women in my family have a tendency for overweight, and I have no doubt I would have been destined to join them.
I forgot what it was like.
That panicky, repulsed, gagging feeling faced with unfamiliar food. And the brave lady last night made me remember
(this one’s from me – Claire grew up in a household that had great food)
Anyway, the lady bravely said that the things we were talking about in the group seemed SO far away from what she knew and she had the same reaction to changing how she ate as the way I felt at Smelly Kelly’s house…
and I had got so excited with the transformations that people had made. That I forgot to explain the basics of how to get started.
And 5 more said they were relieved that she said that as they felt the same.
And yet another lady today told me tearfully that that was why she hadn’t signed up for The Project (our signature program)
She was scared of what she might be asked to eat.
This the major point I missed.
You start where you are.
You get your mind in a good place.
You GRADUALLY change things from where you are to where you want to be.
That is the point.
Where you WANT to be. Once we show you, and help you, and break down for you the effective ways to start to love good food.
And enjoying exercise.
Getting you to look forward to it.
There is no making anyone do anything.
Just educating you and helping you overcome things
We can show you how to sort this.
Click the picture for our (webinar replay) training For Busy Frazzled Mums