Luxury Problems

weightlossI have a big-time luxury problem! You see instead of “spring cleaning”, we do “fall cleaning”. Most of the spring is devoted to getting the garden in shape. If the house suffers, it’s not like we spend much time inside between March and October. We are, however indoor, a lot, between November and February. So it is either clean up or sit and look at clutter all winter. I, personally, hate clutter!

One of my life “rules” is about changing closets with the season. Each spring and fall I sort and discard clothes:  if I haven’t worn it, it goes! This year I added the caveat that if it didn’t fit it had to go as well. Recently, David and I spend a lot of time looking like we are wearing someone else’s clothes. They are way big and don’t come close to fitting. A lot of them were marginal last year but this year they are just flat out ridiculous! So out with all the XL and a lot of the L size clothes.

Five trash sacks later we made the trip to Goodwill. I found all those bags a little depressing, I mean that is a lot of clothing to part with! So when I got home I sat down and figured out that both of us have lost 20% of our body weight in the last year and a half. That made me feel a lot better! Then I figured that we had each lost 8+ inches around our waists. No wonder the clothes don’t fit!

It is a little baffling that just eating Whole Food Plant-Based foods garnered these results. We never set out to lose weight or be on a diet. We set out to eat whole foods by eliminating processed foods from our daily menus and eating more whole foods like whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds. Eliminating the processed foods and eating mostly from our garden meant that we transitioned to plant-based food pretty naturally. One thing lead to another and eventually we eliminated animal based foods like meat (for David), eggs and dairy.

Amazing things have happened to both our bodies and our minds. The clothing/weight thing is just one little indication. Over time we are more balanced, sleep better, have less aches and pains, more energy and most of our chronic disease problems have simply disappeared.

I used to hang on to a few things because I never knew what my size would be next year. This year I was not at all worried about ditching them. It is highly doubtful that they would ever fit us again. Which means that unlike a diet, which is by nature a temporary state of affairs, we have adopted a whole new lifestyle.  One that we really love and is now part of our life plan.

So yeah, the whole thing about having to buy new clothes really is a luxury problem!

About Genene Cote

Genene Coté -- Nutrition Advocate, Counselor and Coach who is also a Whole Food Plant Based Eater (vegetarian/vegan), cook and gardener.
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