The Diet

You may remember from my last blog that I was going to attempt an "eating healthy" New Year. I spent about two weeks before Christmas thinking about this "plan", reading a book about changing your whole eating lifestyle, and spent many hours preparing myself for the "plan". I'm happy to report that so far, I have made a little progress. My diet plan was fairly simple; lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, small amounts of meat, almost no dairy products, and...the big one...no eating after 8 p.m. Melissa decided to join me and I didn't even have to twist her arm. I did have to promise not to nag her, though. I have never eaten so many veges in such a short amount of time. Jenny opted in also and since we are all here during the week, we are working together on it. We cook together, pack our breakfast and lunch for the next day, and we have been doing Yoga at night. I am finding that I don't mind the Yoga too much. I suck at the balance stuff and I fall over frequently but that just adds entertainment. We eat salad, salad, salad and I have to start looking for some alternatives. I like vegetables quite a lot, actually, so I'm O.K. with eating so much but not every vegetable dish has been met with enthusiasm.

One night, I made what the book called a "California toastie". This consisted of two pieces of bread with steamed, diced, broccoli and cauliflower, bean sprouts, and a tiny bit of mayonnaise. It was made into a sandwich using one of those sandwich maker machines that is supposed to seal the bread around your filling. I didn't think it was too bad but really, no matter how you slice it, a cauliflower sandwich for dinner is not something I long for. We'll keep working on the menus.

We put in planned "cheater days". This means that we get to pick a time each week when we decide to cheat, hopefully just a little. We did really well last week and I was feeling pretty self-righteous about it. Then yesterday arrived. I was trying to clean out my office, file papers, throw stuff away, etc. It is a dreaded task and it seemed to be worse this year, maybe because Paul's name is all over everything. No excuse but I sort of got in a funk. Plus I didn't finish the office. I decided that it was a good night to cheat. Now remember, we have one planned cheater day a week so I was O.K. there. But I think I've possibly learned that I should never "cheat" as a response to stress. To make a long story short, I had a Klondike Bar, wine, rollos, and nuts. It was way too much. I really should count it as three cheater days and skip the next couple of weeks. I was so disappointed in myself and today, not only do I feel like I failed but I also feel sluggish and slow physically. I was feeling much better when I was eating healthy stuff.

So what can I learn from all of this? Well, obviously, I need to work on self-control. Actually, I think I need to pray specifically for self-control. It is a fruit of the spirit and I need it! Secondly, I guess I should cut myself some slack. For almost two weeks I have eaten an awesomely healthful diet with one fail. Prior to starting this plan, I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted so even with last night's fail it is still a tremendous improvement for me. And lastly, I can do this! Satan would like to see me give up now that I've blown it so bad. I wonder how many other things in my life have been affected by that way of thinking. But it doesn't have to be that way. God gives us each new day to do things differently and I'm not just talking about food. He knows our weaknesses and expects our failures. But He also provides for our successes and I'm counting on Him giving me the strength I need to conquer this obsession with eating crap. I tend to think that as I develop self-control in this area, it will carry over into other areas of my life. I need to focus on all the rest of the days when I didn't cheat instead of on the one night that I threw away. I will do this!!

P.S.    I have never in my life thought so much about what I ate as I have these last two weeks nor have I ever rejoiced so much over a piece of bread or an old pear!