I went to an auction of the perishable produce that had been exhibited at the Kununurra Show.   I was looking for a good nutrition, food stock up, for the long journey ahead, as there would be few healthy food supplies to be bought during the Kimberley crossing .  

At the auction I placed my bids on the mixed boxes of fruit and vegetables, winning a huge box full for $40.    I got a shock when the box was placed in my arms, I realized it was enormous and weighed more than our 21 kilo generator and I had a long way to carry it back to our camp.   

It was a struggle to carry it, I was longing to find anything around hip high, dustbins, benches, what ever, to prop the box on briefly and all the adults around me seemed to be 20 years my senior or unfit looking so I thought twice about looking at them with pleading eyes, begging for help.   I knew if I put the box down I would never be able to pick that weight up again, so I willed myself to go on, thinking this effort I was making was a positive, weight bearing, weight lifting and bone strengthening exercise.     Several times I thought I would have to put the box down and give away one of the two pumpkins in it and several of the melons so the weight would be more manageable, but I wanted my food and I can be very determined and I 'made it’ back to camp with my auction win, intact.

 My arms were so strained by the time I got back, I never expected those pumpkins would have weighed so much. Needless to say, pumpkin or pumpkin was the staple diet, during our Kimberley crossing.  Pumpkin and legume, vegetable, stew.  Pumpkin, vegetable and legume soup served with a dollop of low fat unsweetened natural yoghurt, pumpkin and vegetable stir fry served with chilli salmon, lemon pepper salmon or smoked salmon, pumpkins and vegetables served with eggs on multi grain toast then pumpkin vegetable and almond, stir fry were the main meals and pumpkin and a slice of low fat tasty cheese or a few almonds for a snack.

“For every action there is an equally strong reaction” I just read in the quantum physics book, ‘Ripples on a Cosmic Sea’ so it is more than just the flippant statement we make when excessive activity and overdoing things results in extended rest or binge eating becomes a reaction to deprivation dieting. So there I was, for the first time in a while, totally disinterested in being active and pure pumpkin padding of the belly appears to be the result, or have all my jeans shrunk? 

I was so disappointed in myself yesterday morning, because the 1st of August, just over a week away, is my birthday and I had hoped to feel I had given myself the gift of being a little trimmer and slimmer as my own gift to myself and my clean pair of jeans with the recently taken in waist line...would not do up at all.  There I was...feeling pumpkin plump.

Reacting is exactly what I don't want to do.  Yo Yo weight loss and weight gain is part of the old me, not a place I want to go to again.  Time to breathe deeply and remember to follow a planned course of healthy life style, not extremes of excessive behaviour or reactions.

I expressed my disappointment in my own behaviour and the result of it, the obvious weight gain, to my husband Reg. I told him how disappointed I was with myself, that I had gotten off track to the goal I wanted and had been overeating and under exercising and my jeans would not do up.  Normally he cannot 'handle', me venting, and I have to remember I am a carer and cannot share things that upset or disappoint me with Reg who has frontal lobe dementia, as it does make his condition worse. That's hard for me and is partly why I need to blog and develop a support group on line, so my emotional needs are met and I can continue to be the carer my man needs  me to be.

Anyhow, yesterday I was able to express how I was feeling and my man was able to listen. He was able to be 'the strong one', for me and respond in the way I needed, it was a magic moment for me.  I see how well my man was yesterday, and today and once again this shows me how our gray nomad, live for today in perpetual springtime, eating healthy, enjoying the moment and being active, most of the time, is proving to be incredibly beneficial for both of us and is giving us both the ability to push back out of mind, the existence of chronic health issues that were supposed to rapidly progress, not seemingly disappear for long periods of time.  

Reg is today, healthier and happier than I have seen him in years and his ability to show empathy to me when I expressed disappointment in myself, and for him to have put a comforting arm around me when I needed it, I think only someone who is a carer, for someone who has lost some of their frontal lobe, brain function would understand how wonderful that felt for me and what a sign of good health and recovery of brain function it was for my man.

I went from feeling disappointed at my temporary weight gain, to rejoicing that I have my husband, the man I love, back in all ways, not just showing increased physical good health, but with increased memory and what is termed 'executive and cognitive function'.  With these abilities increased he is enjoying pottering around in the camp kitchen and remember places from past visits to the Pilbara, and he can give me the driver, good navigational directions plus little yet very important things like remembering to keep his head back so I can see out the passenger side window when I turn corners. On top of all these signs of good health he 'is there for me', as my friend and companion again and I am rejoicing and showing him how much I love him and love this communication support he is showing and being so thankful for this moment we are sharing.

Sitting side by side for hours with your husband, while you both read and occasionally chat about the books you are reading, sure does not help weight release efforts when coupled with overeating pumpkin. That life style we enjoyed during the Kimberly crossing sure did my man a power of good and no lasting harm has been done to me and my long term slimming goals, If I take stock of the situation and see that over exertion resulted in a could not be bothered to exercise excessive reaction that I will be aiming to avoid in future.  

Observation of behaviours that do not support my achieving goals I want then putting in place corrections, ways I can strive to avoid the same pit falls, is my healthy way to slimming these days, so I will strive not to be so greedy next time and I will bid on a smaller box or arrange to have a helper with me if I head off for the fun of bidding for a bargain mixed fruit and vegetable box at an auction again.

Lifting my sight from self absorption and thoughts from my plump pumpkin pot, to my man who is enjoying such great health today and thinking now in terms of nutrition and it's heath benefits, I think pumpkins will be on our menu more often, though not to the saturation of the past week.   

 

Pumpkin Nutrition

The bright orange colour of pumpkin is a dead giveaway that pumpkin is loaded with an important antioxidant, beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is one of the plant carotenoids converted to vitamin A in the body. In the conversion to vitamin A, beta carotene performs many important functions in overall health.

Current research indicates that a diet rich in foods containing beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and offers protection against heart disease. Beta-carotene offers protection against other diseases as well as some degenerative aspects of ageing.

 

Pumpkin Nutrition Facts

(1 cup cooked, boiled, drained, without salt)

Calories 49

(not too bad, looks like it was inactivity, more than pumpkin eating that gave me the ‘pumpkin pot belly LOL)

Protein 2 grams

Carbohydrate 12 grams

Dietary Fibre 3 grams

Calcium 37 mg

Iron 1.4 mg

Magnesium 22 mg

Potassium 564 mg