Back in the Saddle

I remember going horseback riding as kid on vacation. What a thrill until my younger brother fell off his horse. My parents rushed over and made sure nothing was broken and dried my brother's tears.

I sat in the saddle as my father picked up his son and placed him back in the saddle amid minor protests. He wasn't really ready to fall again and didn't want to ride the horse.

That's the way I tend to look at dieting and exercise. With all the company over the last three weeks all my disciple flew out the window and took my motivation with it.

That day in the field when Dad helped my brother back in the saddle he said, "You need to get back in the saddle to get over the fear." I harbor all kinds of "fears" when it comes to losing weight. It's easier to stay where I'm comforable, but it's not the right thing to do.

It's time for me to "get back in the saddle." Funny how quickly the old thinking comes back to nest in my thoughts. You know. Things like:

It's too hard.

I don't have time to exercise.

With all the stress I deserve to have a little pleasure.

This one time won't hurt anything.

Nobody will know if I eat this.

I can't afford to eat healthy foods.

Do any of these sound familiar. Oh, I could go on if you want to include your excuses too. The fact is, it's time to get back in the saddle. Make a plan.

What to Include

Diet guidelines and exercise goals.

Let's face it, the inner self does not like either word. I have found that if I don't control my eating, exercise helps me maintain and that's about it. If I eat right, but don't exercise--I stay about the same.

It's time to climb back in the saddle.

In a Bad Place

I've avoided dropping in here because I've been eating garbage for the last three weeks. A constant string of company, eating out, and extra helpings of writing opportunities have pushed me enough that I've headed in the wrong direction. It's so much easier to eat things that are quick, unhealthy and fattening. Exercise is harder to fit in now that the rainy season is here, the mosquitoes are bad...let's see what other excuse can I throw in there. Oh, I know, my support group hasn't been able to get together. In fact, when we talk we hold on to the fact that we're all in a bad place.

With all that said, the sad reality is that I've got to get back to doing the right things. It's a process. I have one more week of company, and an editor-in-chief that wants a look at a manuscript I planned to edit in November, my monthly column is due, ohhhh there it is...the problem. STRESS! Why on earth do I let stress pull me away from what I really want to do? It only creates more STRESS.

The first step is to make a commitment to head back in the right direction. It's so much easier to eat what I want, when I want. Writing this blog is a first step. I'm admitting the problem. Anyone else out there on this page?

Renewing Your Mind

Everyday life offers varying degrees of stress. Not everyone deals with it in the same way. Working a full-time, juggling my writing with my editing business, family, friends, and responsibilities blend into an interesting concoction. When the pressure is on, it's easy to turn to food to make my life easier, satisfying or comforting. The truth is, this is the kind of thinking that helped me pack on the extra weight I'm battling to shed.

It goes back to your mind. Change your thinking, and you can change your habits. I'm still counting calories to keep myself accountable, and my clothes fit better. I have a ways to go, but I didn't put it on overnight and I know it won't come off overnight. It's a process either way.

Sweets abound at my office. When things get hectic, bothersome, overwhelming...you get the idea, the habit to go into a feeding frenzy prevails. At first, it was hard for me to stand on the outside looking in. The chocolate especially tried to lure me in as a participant, but I'd made a commitment not to eat refined sugar for six weeks, and renewed that commitment for a second six weeks. Instead of falling prey to the call of the sweet tooth, I prepare a snack such as an apple cut up in cubes and sprinkled with walnuts, some Bing cherries or other fruit. SURPRISE! It satisfies.

Now that I've refrained for as long as I have, I've noticed I don't hit the wall with the rest of my co-workers. Hmmmm, could that have something to do with the change of diet? I use to do most of my writing in the morning because I was too exhausted in the evening. Now, I have enough energy to write either time.

Yes, it's a change of habit--making new ones, but it all starts with renewing your mind.

Vacation Revelations

I've been off work for week. Ahhh, relaxing...oh wait. I eat to relax, right? Remember, I've made life style changes. Now, what do I do? I decided to give myself the week off from counting calories. It's vacation after all. A break from routine. A chance to kick back and unwind. Eating out more and being away from home, topped with a the stress of a hurricane looming off the coast would normally trigger many of my eating reflexes.

It's been an eye-opening experience. The other morning I stared out at the hotel pool. Rolled towels occupied chase lounges lining the pool deck, and awaited hotel guests coming to sun themselves or take a refreshing dip. A mocking bird landed on the back of one of the chairs and eyed the still waters of the deep end of the pool.

“Would you like coffee or juice?” the waiter asked.

I glanced from the view outside the windowed wall to a handsome young man with dark wavy hair. “Both, please,” my husband and I said in unison.

Piano music filtered through hidden speakers overhead while my mind drifted to my novel. Three-fourths written, I’d brought along a hard copy to read on vacation to get an overview and make changes necessary for plot twists added later in the story. I’d hit a sticking point. A character had to be added or changed to make the logic behind my plot work. It was time to let it rest.

The waiter returned with our coffee and juice and my husband and I headed across the plush carpeting toward the breakfast buffet. Fresh pineapple, strawberries, melon and bananas added a variety of color to the stainless still buffet table. I moved to the hot food and lifted the hood to one of the trays. “What’s that?” I asked my husband. A mystery dish shaped like taco shells but the color of eggs gathered in the bottom of the half-empty tray. I’d never seen anything like it.

He shrugged and we moved onto the next steam table dish. I lifted the hood enough to shed light on tiny cubes of potatoes, followed by trays of bacon and sausage links and biscuits and gravy. I carried my empty plate back to the yellow mystery dish when I noticed a sign on the ledge above the glass sanitation shield. Scrambled eggs “It is scrambled eggs!” I placed a couple of stuck together taco shaped scrambled eggs with cheese onto my plate with a few sausages and headed to the table feeling like a guinea pig. My husband’s plate held the taco eggs plus bacon, biscuits and gravy.

The waiter returned with more juice and coffee. I’d never tasted better orange juice. Fresh, not too tart or too sweet—perfect, one of the benefits of living in Florida. I cut through the taco eggs with my fork and took a bite. Not bad, but not good. The tasteless taco eggs needed salt and pepper or more. Humidity collected salt on the chrome top of the cut-glass saltshaker. I sprinkled the flavorful crystals across the dry, overcooked yellow surface. Nope, it didn’t help. The rubbery sausage topped off the dining experience and sent me back to the buffet for fruit. Why hadn’t I made that choice in the first place?

The revelation: I didn't eat all that tasteless food and went back to make a better choice. The following morning, I made the better choice my first choice. At the end of the week I realized I'd stayed clear of white flour products, fried foods and refined sugars. I didn't even have to think about it. Now that's a life style change.

Healthy Memories

Ahhhh, vacation. I look forward to it every year. My imagined ideal vacation has changed over the years. In fact, most of our vacations were imagined. With two kids early on in life, vacation turned in to a luxury we couldn't afford.

In the early 1970's we made a trip out to Colorado. Our kids were 2 and 3 at the time, and we stayed with a friend from grade school once we got there. We slept in our Vega hatchback on the road. Yes, all four of us. We made it back home with 79 cents in our pocket.

In the late 1970's we made a trip out Arizona to visit a friend that had retired from the Navy at age 40. He sold his home and bought a motor home. He traveled and towed his 1963 Corvette, but most of the time stayed in a small park in Arizona. We left the country for the first time in our lives when we crossed the border into Mexico to do some shopping, and enjoyed visiting Tombstone and four-wheeling.

In the 1980's we took a trip up into Canada and over to see Niagara Falls, into NJ and PA and headed home. In each case we went to see friends. The funny thing is I don't have many memories of food from these trips. The one exception was funnel cakes. I'd never seen them before and found it fascinating to watch the batter pour through a funnel. Wonder who came up with that idea and why.

Vivid pictures of cactus in bloom, crossing the border into Mexico where a little boy tried desperately to shine my shoes, four wheeling in the mountains, witnessing a rainbow in the rising mist at Niagara Falls, getting stopped at the border in Canada, snow-capped mountains, "flash flood" and "falling rocks" warning signs, seeing the Liberty Bell and walking the decks of a historic battle ship are etched in my mind. I see my children as toddlers, pre-teens and teenagers. I cherish each memory of them.

Food is such a fleeting pleasure or pastime, yet our society in America tends to dwell on and look forward to it with an obsession. Nearly 2/3 of the adults in the United States are overweight and nearly 1/3 of adults are obese! And, what about our children? What are we doing for them? Obesity and being overweight is increasing for children and adolescents in the United States. Approximately 15.3 percent of children (ages 6-11) and 15.5 percent of adolescents (ages 12-19) were overweight in 2000. An additional 15 percent of children and 14.9 percent of adolescents were at risk for overweight.

Why do I bring this up? Think about the memories you're making. Are we headed for heath problems or early death due to poor health-related choices? I'd rather remember marveling at the Badlands than looking at my watch to see how much longer until lunch. Let's make healthy memories.

A New Focus

Another holiday is upon us. We've been invited to a cookout complete with fireworks. I know some of the people invited, but I know more about the menu. Why is the focus for get-to-gethers food? Whether we congregate for a celebration or a funeral, it tends to center around food. Bring a dish, what's that receipe, who makes what and how much.

Gradually, as I stay accountable through counting my calories and writing down what I eat old habits of turning to food to feed my emotional side are slowly changing. Instead of focusing on the food, I zero in on the people--relationships. The food disappears quickly enough, but friendships last (if they are friendships).

So as you look to the holiday think of the people. Who can you encourage? Enjoy your time together without centering your attention on the food. Feed your body, but look beyond your appetite. It only returns looking for more. Instead, make a lasting memory.