(Newswire.net — April 18, 2013) CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA — Foodies all over the United States and even across the world would know Paula Deen as the Queen of Southern Food. Ms. Deen’s cookbooks are some of the bestselling cookbooks ever written, and the recipes celebrating her brand of comfort food has graced many a table all over the country.
But even Ms. Deen was quick to admit that while her earlier recipes were good, enjoying too much of them is not exactly a good thing. After her doctors diagnosed her with diabetes, Ms. Deen went on a fast track to losing weight, changing the way she eats and including at least 30 minutes of exercise daily. Now, the 66-year-old food maven has shed off more than 40 pounds and has traded her size-18 pants for a size 12.
Ms. Deen is not the only one who shed off the pounds in her weight loss journey. Her household has collectively lost around 200 lbs. Her husband Michael Groover alone got rid of 100 lbs off his body. Her sons, culinary personalities Bobby and Jimmy Deen, also got on the weight loss bandwagon and melted away 30 and 45 lbs respectively. Ms. Deen documents her journey in her new cookbook, The New Testament, which will be coming out fall 2013.
“Paula Deen is an inspiration to us,” says Noline Landon, spokesperson of ToneYourBelly.com, an online resource for weight loss that caters to seniors. “Ms. Deen has proved that age is not a factor when it comes to losing weight. You can tone your belly and enjoy a healthier body whether you’re 16 or 60.”
Ms. Landon relates the difficulty she and her staff often face when dealing with their clients’ weight loss issues. According to her, it can take seniors a lot of convincing for them to decide on an effective plan for shedding the pounds.
“Not all of them realize how big an impact their weight loss would have on whatever physical ailments they’re facing,” says Ms. Landon. “More often than not, they would say they’re too old for it, that exercising hurts their legs and hips, among many other excuses. But it’s really important that a person who has weight issues make the effort to deal with issues about their weight. It doesn’t matter what age they are. They can’t be healthy if they’re overweight.”
Ms. Landon states “there are many forms of exercise that seniors can turn to that are much gentler than working out at the gym. She names yoga as an example, where the stretching poses can improve strength and flexibility at any age.” Aside from proper exercise, Ms. Landon said that a proper eating habits and resting well are also keys to effective weight loss.
ToneYourBelly.com is an online community for seniors who want to learn how to make the most of their sunset years through healthy eating and observing an active lifestyle.