Unlike Paula Deen (whom I admire immensely), I didn’t have to be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes to change my eating lifestyle and also to change the recipes I was offering to the visitors of my cooking blog, TaylorTastes.com. In 2022 while hospitalized for Afib (Atrial Fibrillation) I received a serious ultimatum from my Cardiologist and my Internist at the same time in my hospital room informing me that I was one fraction of a point away from being pre-diabetic and already, with my BMI, was a candidate for congestive heart failure. That really got my attention and that’s all it took for me to initiate the changeover to a new healthy lifestyle and I knew I wanted to share the importance of such a change with others.
Since that meeting with the doctors, I have dropped over 50 pounds and still want to lose another 10 or 15. I am only a few pounds from being out of the “obese” BMI range and my goal is to get several pounds into the “overweight” BMI range and then maintain that weight. It goes without saying that when you lose a lot of weight, it is that much harder to maintain the weight loss. I’ve already learned when a person drastically changes his/her eating lifestyle, it doesn’t mean never being able to eat what used to be your favorite foods … like pizza, fried catfish & hushpuppies, beef tenderloin steak & potatoes, etc., etc. I still am able to enjoy the occasional pizza dinner but it is now only once a month instead of twice a week and the portions are now halved … regardless, it is still an enjoyable meal for me!
The new focus for TaylorTastes … HEALTHY RECIPES that are tasty and nutritious! Some of my older, ‘less healthy’ recipes will remain on the website but I plan to include nutritional information for ALL published recipes. So, if you are eying one of ‘those’ recipes and decide you want to prepare it for tomorrow’s dinner, please look at the nutritional info and ask yourself if you really want to have a main dish that has 2800 calories and 1900 grams of sodium (salt) … if the answer is YES, then go ahead and cook it but keep your portions reasonable and then eat light for the next day or so. I may occasionally post a new recipe that pushes the boundaries of being ‘healthy’ and the same principal applies to these … read the nutritional information and proceed accordingly.
My plan is to experiment with some recipe makeovers, copycat recipes and recipe revisions (as well as continuing to post new recipes) in an effort to provide healthier, more nutritious meals. Bobby Deen (Paula Deen’s son) was the inspiration for this plan with his book, From Mama’s Table to Mine and his TV show, Not My Mama’s Meals.