At the age of 14 my parents owned a Becker’s Milk store. I’m pretty sure it was then that my mom introduced me to yogurt. Blueberry yogurt!!! It didn’t come fat free or artificially sweetened back then. I remember it was delicious and because it was healthy it became my diet food of choice. I remember eating nothing but yogurt for lunch in high school. Well I’m sure I ate other things but yogurt was a staple for many years.

It was also around this time that I started drinking diet pop. I thought it was the best invention ever. I don’t think I’ve ever had regular pop since, except maybe ginger ale or tonic water. I didn’t care about the health warnings about artificial sweeteners. If they helped me loose weight that was more important. Today I avoid them as much as I can.

The third food I discovered and used frequently when I dieted as a teenager was Swedish rye crisp crackers. It didn’t always occur to me that putting butter on them defeated the purpose.

I didn’t really lose weight during high school but I pretty much stayed at the same weight for about 5 years. Dinners and snacking in the evenings have always been my downfall. I think I’ve mentioned before that my parents were pretty good cooks and supper was always my favourite meal even when I or my sisters were responsible for cooking it.

I also had a friend whose mom made the best after school snacks. I loved going to her place on the way home from school and having a Nanaimo bar or two. It’s funny the things one remembers.

So food was my best friend and my enemy. I ate because I loved the taste of food and I felt loved and accepted by my Dad who loved to feed us. It was only when my Mom suggested that I needed to lose some weight that food became my enemy. It was like going through a revolving door. It never led anywhere and yet I continued to go around in circles.

The only times I was able to escape from this revolving cycle happened whenever I fell in love……to be continued.