A woman goes into a restaurant to have lunch… she’s maybe five feet tall and it’s work to say she’s even a size two. This dainty little thing is seated at the counter where she proceeds to order three cheese burgers, two dinner salads with dressing on the side, a fruit plate, and she washes it down with two cokes and ice cream. (Heart attack tomorrow, I’m thinking.) A couple of weeks later she comes into the same restaurant where I am dining and again she orders big time: a steak dinner with fries, again two dinner salads, and a two-scoop ice cream sundae. As she was eating all of this I watched… I mean I tried to be discreet… couldn’t stop myself… One thing kept coming into my mind… “Oink!” And she was still this tiny little thing!

It was clear that she loved to eat! She enjoyed every bite of everything she put into her mouth. (And a clean plate? Oh my grandmothers would have been proud of her!) This young woman was one of those amazingly fortunate people who has a very fast metabolism.

I can understand a metabolism that fast. My granddad use to eat a serving bowl size of cornflakes, two fried eggs with three pieces of Canadian bacon, two pieces of toast with butter and jam, half a grape fruit and two cups of coffee every single morning of his adult life. He was 6’6″ tall and was so thin his nickname was “Slim” Harris.

Did I eat like that? My life was different. As a singer and performer for many years, I learned to be disciplined in all aspects of life so that I was the best performer I could be. I had a coach who always asked for more than I felt I could give and that included what I did and did not put into my mouth. No chips. No pizza. No cheese. Very little dairy at all… Which meant rarely if ever could I have ice cream. As a result, to this day I can’t eat tons of food like some might do. I get to a point and hear this voice in my head say, “Stop, you’re done.”

But food is so wonderful, isn’t it? And when pregnant, I ate! No rules. Plus, everyone wanted to feed me! (“Here, have some pie!” “Have you eaten any fruit today?” “How ’bout a burger?” “Here, have some pie!” “Want a milkshake?” “Did you have any pie today?”) By the time I gave birth to the baby… and the nursing began… the same person who was saying, “Here, have some pie” is now singing out, “How ’bout a beer, it’s good for your milk!” As a new mother, one wants to do the right thing… but you have all this weight to lose and people are feeding you nothing but calories! My mother came to help when each baby was born… here was her pudgy daughter nursing a baby, drinking the beer everyone was handing her, and Mom told everyone that after she gave birth to each of her children, she always weighed 15 pounds less than when she got pregnant! Sigh… (“Thanks for sharing.”)

So how did I lose the weight? With the four bros who ate everything that wasn’t attached to the kitchen floor, there was nothing left for me to eat! Ergo, I lost! I got to the place where I never took phone calls during a meal… if I was gone longer than a minute, I could hear from the next room, “Hey, you want that? I’ll take the potato… Can I have the meat, ’cause you had it the last time.” So yes, I lost most of the baby fat.

Now I am back to eating the smaller meals on my own again. (And drinking all of that water.) I work out every day, and swim twice a week. I do all of that so I can have my three favorite things: very rare beef, rum, and popcorn.

Here are my thoughts about food:
Eat your favorite foods no matter what!
Eat them slowly.
Take time to taste each bite.
Really taste and enjoy it.
Enjoy the fun of chewing it and feeling the texture of it in your mouth.
Enjoy the different contrasting flavors.
Take your time, take your time, take your time.
If it goes too fast, what’s the point?

May all your meals be deliciously slow and satisfying both in your mouth and on your body!

Best… Carolyn Thomas Temple