Anne's New Leaf #2

January introduced me to a new eating habit that I think will work very well for me.  Since moving to C'ville, greasy, fried food has been the norm.  Grits, gravy, sauces, and the most unbelievable sweets were, at the least, a weekly occurrence.  And, I tasted them all.  

My primary reason for this over-indulgence was my search for food that I actually liked.  I remember, years ago, observing that, except in isolated pockets of urbanity, there was no good food outside of California.  The hubris of this sentiment is clear to me now but it does remain a fact that where I live, there are very few good eating establishments.  As a result of the long and sustained search, I gained back all the 50 lbs that I had lost.  This isn't good and I  am not happy.  Along with the weight gain, I also endured persistent bloating and nausea, something that did not happen in my former home.  So . . .

In January, I decided to try something a bit different.  On January 3rd I started serving myself smaller portions.  If it was white and processed, I didn't eat it.  I increase my fruit and vegetable intake and starting drinking lots of water.  Like a magic bullet, nausea/bloat disappeared and miracle of miracles, I lost four pounds.  The weight loss was a nice side benefit but the big payoff was my new reality of feeling much better.

With this experience behind me, I decided to continue this way of eating.  In addition to writing everything down in a food journal, I am writing down mini-goals for me to achieve each day.  Coffee and morning prayer is becoming a habit.  These are followed by small tasks that need to be tackled and as a result, while I still read a lot, I am also making some forward motion on things that need to be done.  By keeping a list, I have given structure to my daily life.  

February is almost upon us and I, for one, am enjoying the sunlight, have given up on the idea of actually seeing any snow this winter, and am in high hopes that the river's floodgates will not be closed for much longer.  And, I am approaching my new habits with an optimism that I did not have on January 3rd.  Perhaps I will lose four more pounds.