It is jolly easy to put on weight – in my younger days I could eat absolutely anything I fancied and not worry about weight. It used to drive my friends up the wall because they assumed they were just unlucky. The truth of the matter was that I did have an extraordinarily fast metabolism and that of course did use up the calories quicker. But also, our family did not routinely eat a lot of fat making foods. We did not eat between meals either – it was not normal practice for us to sit chomping on bags of crisps, biscuits or chocolate between meals and, almost as an added bonus, we lived a long way from any of our pals, so it was either cycle or walk everywhere. We never thought about going out to a Mac for lunch – firstly, there was no Mac then, but there was Wimpy. These coffee bars were not encouraged by our parents – fearing outside influences would have a detrimental effect on our well being. And absolutely right our parents turned out to be!
I do try to eat very sensibly now. Lots of vegetables and salad goods; I ease up on the potatoes and tend to use cauliflower and broccoli a lot instead. Obviously they do not convert to chips or jacket potatoes, but as a base for any meal, I get on well with both and there are far less carbohydrates and calories in them. I find I need a solid incentive to eat eggs for a meal – but I ensure I have plenty of pickles and other condiments available to liven up a meal. I still stick fairly rigidly to oats at breakfast time with chopped up prunes. It is quick and fills me very reliably so I can go through to lunch well enough. Lunch is then usually eggs with whatever comes to hand. Dinner is a more interesting affair, I like to cook easy to prepare dishes so nothing very adventurous but filling nourishment. Anything heavy makes it difficult to sleep and piles on those pesky pounds!