Memories of Dieting: I Once Weighed Over 80 Kilograms

At the time in my life when my body was at its largest,
my weight exceeded 80 kilograms.

Oh my, back then,
I was surprised myself,
thinking, 'Can a human really get this big?'

And surprisingly,
I had absolutely no awareness that I was overweight.

I was pregnant,
so I thought it was inevitable that my weight would increase,
and I assumed I would return to my original weight as soon as I gave birth.

But you know, when you get that heavy,
the hospital tells you at every checkup to make sure you don't gain any more weight,
so for the last few months,
I endured my hunger by munching on cucumbers.

While munching on cucumbers,
I would think, 'I'm so hungry,'
and I held back, telling myself I couldn't eat because it would make me gain weight, but...

I still gained weight.

I gain weight just by drinking water,
I gain weight just by breathing,
I gain weight just by being alive,
...and so, I finally ended up exceeding 80 kilograms.

But well,
I thought things would work out once I gave birth,
but it didn't work out that easily.

Before I could return to my original weight,
I was pregnant with my second child.

And just like that, I exceeded 80 kilograms again!!
Oh, my...

I thought that was really bad,
and just as I started studying various things about diet and exercise,
I unexpectedly developed adult-onset atopic dermatitis,
which meant there were many things I couldn't eat,
(it has completely healed now).

Then, over the next year or two,
I lost nearly 30 kilograms.

My, my life is just like a balloon, inflating and deflating.

The reason I am writing this is because,
since I have had a period in my life where I seriously faced dieting,
I have very strong feelings about
living a healthy life every day,
and as a home cooking researcher,
I wanted to say that I have a lot I want to share.

About 10 years ago,
I was given the opportunity to write a diet book,
and I also had the chance to be taught many things by specialized doctors,
which was truly something I am grateful for.

Because of that,
I was given the opportunity to think about a diet for living healthily,
rather than just a diet for losing weight.

While I am publishing recipes on note every day,
I am hoping that I can share what I have experienced and learned so far
as concrete recipes.

By the way,
the tofu coleslaw recipe I added to note today

is actually something
I came up with based on the salad
my son was eating when he was on a diet.

At the time, low-carb diets were trending,
and my son was also restricting his carbohydrate intake.
He could manage a low-carb diet when eating at home,
but he found that lunch,
which he had to eat out, was difficult to keep low-carb.

You see, when you eat out,
it's hard to just eat the side dishes and leave the rice behind.
Especially with convenient options like rice bowls, sandwiches, and noodles...
they are all off-limits.

So, what my son came up with for lunch was
taking a bag of shredded cabbage from a convenience store,
adding tofu to it and mixing it (tossing it right into the bag!),
and topping it with dressing from the salad section.

This is incredibly innovative,
and I thought it was a pretty good idea.

However, it became tough to eat every day,
so he stopped doing it pretty quickly...

I, on the other hand, cheekily and gratefully adopted that idea
and turned it into a recipe for Tofu Coleslaw.

This dish has quite a lot of volume thanks to the cabbage and tofu,
and because you have to chew the cabbage, it makes you feel full,
it has perfect nutritional balance,
and it's good for your gut health.

It's actually quite good.

So, I thought about how to properly season it,
and ended up perfecting it as a salad recipe that you can enjoy to the very last bite.

(By the way,
I don't do low-carb diets,
so I think it's perfectly fine to eat this alongside rice, bread, or noodles.)

While I was finishing up this Tofu Coleslaw recipe
as a note page,

I started thinking again about what it is
that I really want to convey.

And what I realized once more was

to cook with joy,
to cook with excitement,
to eat delicious food,
and to live each day with a positive outlook.

I realized I wanted to share not just the recipes,
but also what lies beyond the recipes.

Gaining weight, losing weight,
developing allergies,
being unable to eat certain things,
and then being able to eat them again—

each and every one of these experiences
supports my recipes.

That is why I believe I am trying so hard to convey
what lies beyond the recipes
by writing about these rambling thoughts,
rather than just writing down recipes.

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Tofu Coleslaw ←Click here!