Papaya Banana Breakfast Bowl

Hazel

I am 57. I was raised on a dairy farm. We ate almost all homemade foods when I was growing up. We grew a large garden and we worked hard canning and freezing the produce to last a whole year. My folks raised cows, chickens, and pigs, so we had our own meat, milk, and sometimes eggs. I Thought we ate really healthy. I grew up, and unfortunately I grew out a little bit too. I developed arthritis in my knees, wrists, and really all over. That is due to many issues, but excess weight didn't help my knees any. I began to have chest pains, and of course I also had some allergies. I decided it was time to take 50 pounds off. At 5'4" I should have weighed around 125 or so. I weighed 176. Not obese, but overweight enough to feel miserable with it. I started eating 250 calories, 5 times a day, 3 hours apart. My diet wasn't that great, but my weight was coming off. Mind you, when you start reducing calories, you eat better just because you want the calories to count and you want the most out of those calories. I wasn't picking all plant based foods or even all whole foods at that time. It was convenient to grab 1 100 calorie pudding snack or a 150 calorie snack bar. I soon realized that many of the foods I was still taking in were not healthy foods even though they were helping me lose weight. I began to be more health conscious. Unfortunately, while searching for the right way I gained back 25 pounds of the 50 I had taken off. I found many ways to prepare foods that were healthy and delicious. As I have struggled to find a way that works, is nutritional, and desirable too, I have found much pleasure in sharing these little tricks with others in hopes that others will be able to reap the benefits of good wholesome healthy nutritional foods that enrich our lives and our bodies from the inside out. I am so thankful for the opportunity to do this. Some of the foods I have put together came completely from my own recipe box. Others came from looking around and improvising, taking out the sugar, and replacing it with a natural plant based food. etc. Hope you enjoy.