Back from Staycation!

Hello everyone! Boy did I miss blogging - all these thoughts swirling around my head, no outlet for them... Hope I can retrieve at least a few! Let's just say that many things we (my family and I) do are food related, and this week was no exception. We have friends who come visit every summer, and the visit starts months earlier with planning the menu -- not what we are going to do, but what we are going to eat! This year was the healthier one of our visits - with plenty of fresh fruit, salads, and all sorts of wonderful vegetarian options throughout the day (to make up for all the steak, lobsters and other seafood that we were consuming at dinner). No sooner did company leave than hubby and I took a day trip which, of course included a picnic then lobster later in the day at our favorite place in Rockport (MA). Then the next day, no sooner did I say goodbye to hubby for him to leave to go to back to his first evening of work, than I headed out the door by myself to have dinner with friends! My goodness... however shall I lose weight? Rest assured, though, I did no damage! I had my wits about me and ate within reason.

Well - in the midst of all this visiting and eating and visiting and eating, I picked up a marvelous book. If you've read my earlier entries you know that I have a penchant for self-help books and "diet" books, so when I tell you this maybe is the most helpful one I have ever read, you will understand the depth of my appreciation of it. (And, by the way, I make no apologies - I will NOT give up on myself!) The author is Joyce Meyer. The title is: "Look Great Feel Great: 12 Keys to Enjoying a Healthy Life Now." The disclaimer is that Joyce is a minister so there are some scripture references in the book. I am not of a Christian religion and I did not find them offensive or overwhelming at all.As a matter of fact, in many cases, they enhanced what she was saying - look at all the sayings we have that actually do come from scripture - so they aren't out of place regardless of your beliefs (or non-beliefs). Keys include: Learning to Love Your Body, Balanced Eating, Mindful Eating, De-Stress, and Take Responsibility. Even the introduction is loaded with worthwhile information and a lot of things to think about in relation to your own life. What I like about this book is that it ties so beautifully into my last posting which was all about taking action. With the keys are specific examples and suggestions to take action - not just to THINK about taking action.

I jumped around throughout the book then started back at the beginning (and plan to re-read it again with a highlighter in hand). Right now I am working my way through "De-Stress" and it really is making me examine my life and howthis particular key relates to my overeating. Well, since the chapter is "De-Stress" I have to say that I am not WORKING my way through it, I am FROLICKING my way through it (as you can see above!). I make myself busy every minute of every day. I make myself stressed. I make myself crazy with activity. I make myself fat. I mean, forget the whole cortesol and adrenaline connection to staying fat (and OMG Joyce has the best explanation that I have EVER read) - I keep myself too busy to allow myself to do mindful eating and too busy to enjoy every bite. So my action for this step is that I took time each and every day last week - admist the chaos of visitors, meals, traveling, etc. - to take time for myself. I either read, or as in the case of today - actually took a nap, which thwarted the usual tendency to eat as soon as I walk in the door from work. I also spent time going through some recipes (which is not new action) but I made them - which is new - not that I am not cooking all the time, but I don't often take the time to try new things or go back to some old favorites.

Speaking of recipes - I wanted to start to add them to this blog. I haven't quite figured out how to post things in the margins rather than the main blog, so to start out I will put this one right here: Lentil Salad: no measuring, no specific recipe, but here is what I do:

Take a medium-sized sauce pan. Pour in lentils. (I don't know how much - maybe a one-pound package or 3 or 4 handfuls if you have them bulk?). Add chopped onions and garlic. (I don't know how much - lol!). Cover with water and bring to boil, then cover pan and reduce heat until the water is absorbed. The lentils will still have a bit of a "bite" to them - resist adding more water (I did that and had to turn the whole thing into lentil soup instead). While they are cooking then cooling, chop up a "mess" of crunchy vegetables. I use carrots, celery, peppers (all colors), radishes, and scallions to start. If you can think of anything else crunchy be my guest. When the lentils have cooled (take them out of the pan and spread them on a flat plate to speed the process, or just keep stirring them to bring up the hot ones from the bottom) put them and the veggies into a big bowl to toss. I usually toss with olive oil and vinegar (balsamic doesn't work here - use a red or white vinegar for this) but yesterday I tossed with a lite Italian dressing and it was wonderful. Oh! and if you feel like it, add a cup or two of brown rice. We served that several ways this week: on romaine lettuce leaves - so you just had to pick up the leave and eat it that way; plain; and today I put it on a green salad - I just added a touch more vinegar and tossed for a complete meal.

So - what does lentil salad have to do with anything? I was listening to one of my favorite speakers (Wayne Dyer) and he was talking about organized religion. He was saying, don't be a Christian- be Christ-like. Don't be Buddist - be Buddha-like. Don't be Moslem - be Mohammed-like. And what does THAT have to do with lentil salad? I've returned to following Core for several weeks now, and I've come to the conclusion that I don't want necessarily to be a "Corer," I want to be Core-like. It means that I want to eat healthy and natural. It means I want to honor my hunger and fullness. It means I want to watch my portion sizes, and not eat everything on my plate if I am not hungry for it, but go for seconds if I am (real hunger - not the emotional "I need another Ring-Ding" hunger). It means I want to eat a little, then assess if I am still tasting the food or am still hungry for it. It means not eating what does not really taste good (can't believe I threw out an ear of corn the other day because it wasn't sweet).

That's all being a "Corer" but what is Core-like? It means doing all that AND not obsessing over a departure from the Core list of foods. Last night we had a salad that was tossed with walnuts, raisins, and full-fat feta cheese. I didn't take aside my portion before dressing it that way for the table; I did not knock off 3 or 4 flex points in case that's how much I ate. I enjoyed the salad - my portion of it - raisins and walnuts and feta cheese and all! I probably ate half as much last night (of the salad and of everything being served) because I honored my hunger and appetite (appetite is not a dirty word, by the way) and was satisfied with just small portions of everything, and no seconds of anything.

So - even though it so happens the lentil salad IS core, I am using it for a point because I enjoy cooking without necessarily measuring everything (or if I do measure, I like not figuring out every single point). If I had tossed it with oil instead of the low calorie dressing, I would not have felt an obsessive need to measure the oil then take that big bowl of salad (which is a different size each time I make it) figure out how much it was, divide it by servings, then take exactly one serving so that I could make sure I was not consuming more than 2 tsps of "free" oil. Get my point? I think if you are new to dieting, or REALLY off the deep end, then you have to disregard everything I've said. But for someone like me - who has been dieting for so many years (by my math it's been 40 years since my first WW meeting, and I started dieting years before that), could write her own diet book, and is sick of it all, that being Core-like might just work.

But you have to trust yourself. I'm learning now to trust myself. I am someone who has not been eating mindfully, has been making poor choices, and who has brought so much stress into her life that there has been no time to make me a priority. Isn't that so much kinder than saying I am lazy or stupid or addicted? I think being kind to myself and having patience to learn new (but not so new - they are right under the surface) ways of eating and looking at food is the way to go here. Welcome to my journey!