Well it’s been a little while, but if you found my short series on “How to be Audrey”, I thought it was about time to follow up!
Let’s start with diet! The rules I outlined based on her general diet were as follows:
- No snacking between meals
- Drink plenty of water
- Fresh, organic, seasonal and local items are preferred
- Eat small portions
- Only eat until you’re 80% full
- Watch the sugar intake
Overall, I did quite well. I’ve been drinking a lot more water, and for a little while at least was pretty good at not snacking between meals! I had been more firm with myself for the first month or two and while some habits stuck, some did not. I will continue to increase my water intake, since I really never did drink enough. I’ve cut down on the snacking, although I will have a snack-attach occasionally – usually for my home-made dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Which I am currently out of. 🙂 I always buy as much fresh, organic, seasonal and local items as I can, I always have a supply of fruit! And I’ve been pretty good about the sugar intake… although I’ve just always had a weakness for chocolate and certain pastries.
I also attempted to sit and eat and do nothing else, but I wasn’t always very good at that. I like to put on something to watch while I eat, like The Daily Show.
For my daily menu, I tried to stick to something similar to hers for at least a month. This was an average breakfast, although I alternated with a whole wheat bread and a sourdough, and also found that I’m better at making my fried eggs than I am at boiling them. Have to work on that.
After a while though, I got sick of eggs. So sometimes I would have one, sometimes not. The coffee habit didn’t really stick with me, although I will have a cup here and there.
For lunch, I would take some yogurt (sometimes dairy and sometimes vegan) or cottage cheese (which I learned is actually not even vegetarian… there’s rennet in there… way to ruin cottage cheese for me!) with berries. That’s a habit I’ve kept. I don’t always want something heavy, and I love fruit, so that works. I’ve decided for now that my favourite yogurt is the vanilla flavoured Silk soy yogurt.
Dinner was usually some kind of vegetable-based dish, and I keep that up… however I’ve gotten lazy again and revert to frozen things from Trader Joe’s or Sprouts. I would also make more pasta, and I’ve been relying on that lately as well. Growing up, we ate a lot of spaghetti with tomato sauce, to the point that as an adult I gravitated towards alfredo sauce just because it was so novel, and not tomato-based. However, with the right veggies added to it, I’m OK with the tomato sauce now.
I was very good with the snacking for a long time, and limited myself to only one or two of my dark chocolate peanut butter cups a day. However just recently somehow I ate 50 of them in about 2 weeks. And now I have to make more. Thank goodness for Trader Joe’s 4 pound chocolate bar. I suppose it’s still progress that I just eat a lot of chocolate rather than biting my nails, when I’m anxious. I’m a recovering nail-biter but these days they look pretty darn good.
I did one of the ‘cleanse’ days after a long flight from Europe, but not since then. I actually should try some more occasional fasting, since it’s supposedly good for you.
As for exercise habits.
In my recent research, I found that she would find time for daily ballet classes while filming Funny Face, and it appears she was taking them up until doing Ondine, as well.
I’ve been going to a weekly ballet class, although sometimes I have to skip them, like tomorrow (I’m filming something). To give myself more of a workout I’ve also been going to a trainer at a gym once a week. It’s torture. I’m not sure how long I can keep it up! Mostly because it involves such a long drive, though.
Audrey wasn’t a big fan of exercise for the sake of exercise, and neither am I. I walk my dog, I love dance classes and fun activities, but exercising… ugggg!
And how is my closet doing?
Well, I’ve managed to get rid of a few things, but I have a lot of things in the To Go pile. I had hoped to have a yard sale but that hasn’t happened. So I’m going to take a few bags to Buffalo Exchange and see what I can get. My closet is still pretty full, and it probably doesn’t have to be. There are certain items of clothing that I really would like to add to my wardrobe, to create the look I want and create more variety in what I can mix and match, and then get rid of more of what I don’t wear very often… however, it’s hard to find the things I want (they’re vintage-style) so I may have to find a way to have them made. Not ideal, but what else can I do? I’ve been posting things I want to sell on my alternate Instagram profile, @kendalscloset .
Last but not least…. her spirit. I’ve really been working on it. I didn’t have the benefit of a strict Victorian upbringing, so my approach to the world has been a little undisciplined! I’ve been slowing down and reminding myself of how Audrey might handle a situation, and trying to do that. It will take a lot of practice. Just this week I had a situation I used this “method” on… probably not soon enough, but I hope I recovered quickly! I had to take a little time away from the situation and ask myself how Audrey might react… and I had to just let it sink in until it became my own thoughts.
So that is the progress I’ve made, the changes I have made and am trying to make! I’m very glad to have discovered Audrey, because she has been such wonderful inspiration.
