Your Grandma’s Diet
Ellen Gorrell (Our grandma with our dad.)
How did your grandmother diet? I remember one of my grandmothers would eat cucumbers and ranch dressing for dinner until she lost what she wanted. My other grandmother had a list of “food exchanges” which even now are mystifying to me.
My first diet successful/weight loss program involved gettting jilted by my boyfriend so I couldn’t eat. It was really effective. Then I went on the mononucleosis diet. I was SO trim, hospitalized, and miserable but dang I was skinny.
Can you remember how your mom, grandma, maybe your cool aunt lost weight?
In case you need to jog your memory take a look this site.. it takes me back. So what diet did your grandma do?
My grandmothers were fabulous chubby women, but didn’t overeat. I remember one of Aunts making us kids pancakes. She finally sat down and at one pancake with one tablespoon of corn syrup. For lunch, she would have iceberg lettuce, one whole tomato and dressing was lemon juice. Dinner was another lunch salad. We wouldn’t eat white bread at her house (I really never ate white bread in my own house). She showed us kids what happens in owns bodies when you eat white bread. She took a slice of bread, squeeze it and then place the squeeze slice of bread under running cold water. It expanded. We kids were like,WOW. She scared us into not eating white bread. My Aunt, Maria, was always on a nutty diet, but she is skinny.
Excellent memories. I especially like the bread example. I may do it for myself right now!
Rebecca
I know my Moms idea of dieting was eating 500 calories or less each day- sounds more like anorexia than dieting huh? She is still thin- but thank goodness – eats much healthier.
Thank you so much. That was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
I’m a total wide ass now, so no one really accepts my diet advice. That said, like you, I had wild success with heart ache. My grandparents were all Dust Bowl okies so I think poverty really helped their waistlines.
My cool uncle decided that instead of having a loaf of Italian bread with his pasta, he’d have one slice (he lost 26 pounds).
My grandmother would jump on her 1970s stationary bike and watch all her soap operas. Most of her menu was identical every day. Donut and coffee for breakfast, tuna sandwich for lunch and a sensible dinner.
But as a collective whole, my family sucks at losing weight. They tend to get larger…
My Mom barely gained 12 pounds from when she was married to the day she died. Problem was, she helped control her appetite by chain smoking. Other problem was, those 12 pounds all sat right at her midsection.
She typically attacked weight loss by portion control which sounds right on but what she would do is still eat too much only it would all be broken up into teensy tiny appetizer sized bites. Whenever I watch Cher making dinner in the movie “Mermaids” I look at what she fixes and think “Mom!”.
My grandparents didn’t diet, they lived on the farm and ate and enjoyed a lot of cream and butter and home cooking. However I remember my mom doing the cabbage soupy thing, eek! Talk about being hungry constantly. I tried it once. only once. Great post!
My grandma used to make me butter sandwiches. They were so good. She ended up dying from heart disease…go figure. I have cut butter sandwiches out of my diet.