Skip to main content

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast....

Things have been interesting in my world for these past few days. But a couple of really nice things have happened along the way too. I got in my workouts this week (YAY ME!) including the new "power routine" ... I didn't get in the follow-up cardio, but I did get in the lifting! I was pleasantly amazed that it's manageable. It's not easy, mind you, but definitely manageable. The other nice thing is that my garden has been wonderfully watered by nature this week. The storms have left some damage in their wake ... such as not having any power at work on Thursday and running off a generator, but the natural watering has been a nice side benefit!

So last night, after the WW meeting, I was sitting at Jason's Deli. I could turn this space into an ad for them, but I'll refrain. I was chowing down on a beautiful rainbow salad and thinking, "How often do we really think about the food we're eating? Do we really take the time to discover and appreciate the taste of each ingredient or the varieties of things?" For example, I always get a salad bar trip .... and I always go for the baby mixed greens as my salad base. The mesclun usually is red and green leaf lettuces, arugula, maybe even a baby chard or two. Big difference there between the arugula (spicy) and the red leaf lettuce (mild), and yet very complementary. I had yellow and red bell pepper slices -- slight differences there as well. The red is sweet, but it had a slight hint of the fire it could have contained but for a twist or two of a DNA helix.

And that's when it occurred to me that we don't really often appreciate it enough.... there's such variety of taste, texture, scent, flavor, etc. but we're usually too busy inhaling the food to consider it. I am preaching to myself. Last night, I made the time to enjoy it, but all too often, food isn't a pleasure but just fuel for the next leg of the day's journey. Today was a mixed bag: I could tell you the various things in my lunch salad, but the turkey sandwich... well, it was just your basic turkey on white (I meant to ask for wheat and forgot... ugh!). Tasty but I mainly ate it for fuel, the salad as well, but it had enough distinct things that I remembered more of it.

I get a million health/wellness/foodstuff newsletters, e-mails, etc. I've chosen to subscribe to quite a few and I enjoy reading them at my leisure (insert massive guffaw there). Okay, I skim them. One that I do enjoy reading more about is Slow Food USA. I like a lot of what they represent -- and it challenges me to really think about my food. It challenges me to slow down... not only in terms of how we get our food from farm to table, but how we get it from table to body. From stomach to brain.

We Americans are far too guilty of wolfing down our food and not really enjoying it as we should. I've just bought Dr. David Kessler's The End of Overeating ... I kind of skimmed it and am going to dive deeper into it. But one of the things that he mentions is how in many countries, meal time is rest time. Time to enjoy the company of friends and family, to savor what has been prepared (whether in your own kitchen or a restaurant). One of the things he mentions is how little other countries snack because they are satiated at meal time. I think part of that is because they take time. They allow for the 20-30 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain, "Nah, I'm good, you can stop now." How often I prepare a nutritious lunch and STILL wolf it down because I have to run an errand on lunch hour .... or I pull into a drive-through for a quick dinner because it's 8:00 PM and I'm too tired and hungry to go home and prepare something or even to heat leftovers.

Just something to consider....

And hey, Upstate peeps, did you know there's a local chapter of SlowFood USA here? Check out Slow Food Upstate.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

At the risk of sounding like a Spanish soccer announcer,

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!! It took 3 years and 3 weeks, but I am finally 44% of the woman I was on May 11, 2006. When I started the journey, this day was not even in sight. All I could honestly think about was how to take those first steps to get through the first day and the first week. I had no idea how I was supposed to do 5 minutes a day of activity, when it took all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. But if nothing else, once I make up my mind to do something.......... Here it is, June 4, 2009. I am 228 pounds lighter and a quadrillion times better. I made it through that first day, that first week just fine. I did the 5 minutes -- okay, really 10 minutes, all huffing and puffing and barely able to walk out two blocks and back. Then 20, then 30, and joined the Y, and ..... got the dog and had to walk him. Then said, "I can do a 5K." And then watched my race time improve each time I tried. In losing 228 pounds, I have gained so much. I wasn't e

Dadgum it!!!!

I am up 1.6 this week. I am at my wits' end about how to break out of this weird hover pattern that I've been in for about 6 weeks. I've been dancing around these couple of pounds, here, there, everywhere.............. So after some discussion with my leader, here's what I'm going to do: Saturday, I'm going to have a blowout meal. One meal where I enjoy whatever I want, hang the points, and then get on track and out of a rut (which was the topic of our discussion tonight). Saturday, I had already planned to take Maddox to PetSmart for a bath. So for lunch, I will head to Sticky Fingers for some DELICIOUS barbeque (might even have ribs, yes, Lord, please!) and enjoy it to my heart's (and stomach's) content. And then that evening, back on track. We'll see how it goes. But note this: I am nowhere NEAR the point of giving up. I'm too close, and I have just a little to go. I cannot quit NOW. And I have no intention of stopping until I reach my goal!

From 50 to 20.....

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can't see me, but I'm doing a mean happy dance right now. I lost 2.0 this week, for a new total of 226.8 gone, and only 1.2 to go. Those 50 ounces from last week are now down to roughly 20 (and yes, it was actually 52 ounces; I can't count for crap apparently). Yes, a bottled drink stands between me and goooooooooooooooooal! I am so excited I can't stand it!!!! I am going to work my butt off to get that 1.2 pounds off. I have another 5K this weekend, plus going hiking in the Georgia mountains on Sunday with some friends whom I haven't seen in a very long time. Yes, I'm feeling pretty jazzed. Now, I am not dumb.... I know very well that next week could bring a bounce-up and I am mentally prepared for that, in case it happens. But again, I am extra-determined. I am going to do everything within my control to do my best, and leave the rest to God. And really with everything in life -- including our weight loss -- that's all we