Bloated Bulging Belly

I've got a Bloated, Bulging Belly. It's getting bigger and bigger. No matter what I do... how much I change my diet or exercise. My belly still bulges. It's an epidemic. I've caught some strange disease. I know it.

Fast food... forget it. Micki D's, KFChicken Lickin or Taco (no hundred $) Bell, can't eat it. Haven't visited a fast food joint, oh since the early-90s. Used to love an Egg McMuffin, and hash browns; original recipe meal, coleslaw and mashed potatoes or a chicken taco. It's different now. Not just don't want, can't bring myself too. Strange.

Eat out elsewhere from time to time. Abandon half the food. More often then not leave billowing. Beginning to bloat like a great balloon. A parade float. Blowing up, bigger and bigger until I feel like I'll just float away. Quick somebody grab my feet! Can't wear a belt. I depart the house with baggy pants, eat, then literally have to peel my pants off. Sigh!!! I'm resigned to wearing elastic waistbands. My grandmother wore elastic, for cripes sakes.

This got me wondering about food generally. Stopped buying Sara Lee, Banquet, Doritos, and Oreos. Read labels. Buy food with less stuff in it. Less is more. Should be good for you. Noticing... feel better at home, no bloating. Eliminated transfat, chemicals and preservatives. Stopped drinking Coke and am cooking more from scratch, mostly veggie dishes, light on the meat. Became ovo-lacto vegetarian for 5 years, but still excess poundage. Wondering.... what's the deal Lucille?

So I'm still a little plump. Ok I look preggers. My belly almost reaches my boobs. But hey I'm alive right? Gotta celebrate! Live! Enjoy life! Instead of dread and diet. I began buying full fat, cream top yogurt, real sweet cream butter and whole milk cheeses. For the taste of it. No Atkin's Diet for me. Complete, balanced meals with full fat. What a luxury. It was so satisfying I ate less. But the Bloated Bulging Belly remained.

One day my neighbor brought me a gallon of Horizon organic milk. He said, "Thought you'd like to try this, it doesn't have rBGHs or antibiotics." I said, "rBG what?" He replied, "Hormones so cows make more milk. Most dairy products have them." "Huh. Thanks." I grunted. Hormo nees! Like I care. I poured a cup. It tasted just like I remember getting from the glass bottle at my Gran Gran's house as a child. Sweet, rich and creamy. Got rid of my evaporated canned milk and began using Horizon for my tea, coffee and cooking too.

It tasted so good I even had a hot milk before bed. Never thought I would EVER do THAT! My artist friend commented, "Hot milk at night? My Bubbie did that. You getting OOOLLLDDD. Oy!" We laughed. I poured a little milk for him and said, "Don't knock it till you try it buddy. No Hormo nees. It's organic." He pushed his palm toward me adamantly and said, "Don't wanna'! Won't drink it, can't make me! No organic! Never! Too expensive! Besides I like testosterone baby." I say, "rrr bee gee Hormo nees." He replies, "gee what?" I say, "Growth." He retorts, "Growth is gooood." Patting my bulging belly I say, "No more, got enough." We roll our eyes and laugh at each other.

Changed my butter, cream cheese and yogurt to organic too. I noticed in a couple of months that my bulging belly began to not bulge quite so much. Could cow hormonees effect humans like that? Nah, couldn't be. Called a gardener friend, told her about my pondering. About a month later she called me saying, "Connect the dots... holds true for me too! Ate 40 Tillamook individual yogurts this month. Gained 14 pounds. Last month I ate much more plain full fat Mountain High and actually lost weight. If it's not the hormones it's something else." She looked at the label on a Tillamook yogurt she was eating, it contained modified corn starch and pectin among other things. Mountain High isn't certified organic but it only contains milk and cultures. Could the other ingredients also have something to do with it too? Naaa...

EPIPHANY - No hormones = less bulge. Plus, organic milk tastes better too. Whoo Hoo!

Seems Dr. Weil agrees with me too. In his newsletter sent 6-11-08 he says: "Organic Cattle Make Better Milk - new study indicates that organic farmers who let their cows graze as nature intended are on the right track, as their cows produce better quality milk. The results are in the current online issue of the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture."

I'm bobbing my head, clappin' my hands, chantin', "

Don't give me no pop, no pop
Don't give me no lem on ade
Just give me that milk,
moo, moo, moo, moo
Organic milk
moo, moo, moo, moo

I tried other organic products. I'm on a roll. A can of beans. Jar of jelly. Some soup. A frozen thing. Sometimes they were great, sometimes not so good. Par for the course. Buy what's good. Say by-by to rest. When mood strikes, try something new. But still balk at the cost of organic produce. Have always bought local when available. I'm happy, my shrinking belly is happy and the earth is better for it too.