Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving 2007 was eventful in our house, as always! After a week or more of preparation, menu planning, shopping, cleaning, cooking and stressing, dinner was very enjoyable. Spending joyous time with family is always the reward of the day.

This year has been a difficult year for my family – a year of “firsts” following the death of my husband’s father, who passed away just after Christmas in 2006. That first year following the death of someone special is most difficult. Each holiday takes on a melancholy feel and emotions remain close to the surface. My father-in-law was all about food and love, and feeding his family a healthy dose of both. Family gatherings are not the same without him here, and his absence is deafening.

It is so important to keep the traditions of our lost loved ones alive – for our sake and for the sake of our children. It would be so easy to just give up and avoid all of those “firsts”; to spare the inevitable heartache, but you must push on and allow yourself to experience the sorrow. Believe me when I say that the spirit of any season is found in the midst of that grief – you soon realize that coming together to celebrate as a family and keeping those traditions alive is the elixir of life. It binds hearts and families through generations. It’s not about the food, gifts or money. It’s the time. Time spent with those you love and who love you.

Enjoy the holidays. As the song so eloquently states, “let your hearts be light”. There will be hustle and bustle and budgets and bumps, but roll with it and always remember what is most important – the priceless gift of time spent with your family and friends.

PEACE

Product Review - Curves Granola Bars

Jumping, fly-catching mouthed, skinny chick aside, these were pretty good. The less-then-explosive fiber content is a gut-friendly 5 gr., which should keep the roughage-induced tummy-gurgling to a dull roar. I love Fiber One BARTs, but at 9 gr. of fiber, those things are a one-way ticket to intestinal distress...

$3.00 gets you six 0.88 ounce bars, which are a bit smaller than my favorite Kashi Dark Chocolate Cherry bars, but at only 1 point each, these bars will find residence in my cupboard from now on!

AUTUMN

It’s fall in the Northeast: The days are getting shorter and the average temperature is falling into the 50’s – a sad realization that my afternoon hikes will soon be a thing of the past.

I love this time of year; the crisp air, fresh produce, fall foliage. Folks will soon “take to their houses” for the winter months.

I lost the first big chunk of my weight while power walking during the late winter months of this year. The weather made no difference at all. If it was snowing or sleeting or windy or sub-zero – I was still outside, bundled up and moving my fanny. The roads were mine and mine alone. My neighbors would see me out there late into the evening, circling my neighborhood’s one mile loop, sometimes as many as five or six times a night. I was bundled up in a teal-colored L.L. Bean down jacket and at times nothing but my eyes were visible. I really enjoyed the whole experience, and I couldn’t get enough! I recall the weird adjustment the first time I took a walk without a jacket. I felt naked.

Well, here we are again. Only this time I am FIT and near my goal weight. It takes a lot more than a power walk to get my heart rate up these days, so it will be interesting to see how I manage to burn calories during the coming winter months. I have plans to break out my old cross-country skis, and perhaps do some ice-skating. Well, maybe not ice-skating - I do not fall well now, so I may stick to activities that are low on the broken bone list of hazards. I also have my eyes on a pair of snowshoes as well. The new ones are a far cry from the bent wood rawhide shoes of my younger days!

I’ll be celebrating my 38th birthday in November. I’m indifferent on that subject. Not really upset or dreading it in any way. I think 40 may require a bit more thought with regard to my own mortality, but I’m in good shape both physically and mentally, so I expect that eventual moment of introspection to be relatively easy.

The cooler temperatures of late have me thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas and what to prepare for food. Holiday food has always been healthy for me – lean meats and seasonal vegetables with a few special desserts. My problem was always that I simply ate too much. It is my plan to tackle the holiday table with portion control and not to deny myself anything. I love to cook and I love to eat! With my newfound knowledge of nutrition and healthy eating, this should be the first of many enjoyable holiday seasons!

PEACE

Joyce and Janet - Race End - 8th and 7th Place!

What a great day! Thanks to all those who supported Joyce and me through your contributions to the American Heart Association.

Our faces say it all - it was FUN!

For the record, we are approximately 105 pounds down in this picture!

Sister - New Picture Needed, STAT!

Dear Sister:

I would like to point out to our tiny viewing membership that
the picture over there ------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>

is NOT how we look today! Holy fat rolls, Batman! We need an updated picture!

For the record, folks, we have now lost a combined total of 103 pounds!

Overeaters Anonymous

So, after our weekly WW meeting, my sister suggested that we attend our local Overeaters Anonymous meeting. I said, “Sure”. I had actually offered it as a suggestion in the past, thinking that it might be helpful given that we both have the tendency (though not much anymore, really) towards compulsive/binge eating.

We went. I won’t return.

First, let me say that I am open to all new ideas and I am certain that OA is a life-saving tool for many, many people. I just don’t think that I am a fit for the program. It follows the twelve steps of recovery utilized by Alcoholics Anonymous. Just replace the word “Alcoholics” with “Overeaters”, and the word “Alcohol” with “Food”. The literature is the same.

The program has been in existence since the 60’s with great success, I’m sure. The members in attendance at that particular meeting were very passionate about the program, and some even said that it saved their lives. I believe that, and I am happy for them. Truly.

The program asks you to give control to “God” or some other “Higher Power”, which is quite difficult for me to do. I am Catholic. I believe in God, but this came off as really creepy to me and I don’t know why. I was not comfortable with this part of the program, and it is the whole gist of the program. I worked long and hard to trust in myself, and to trust that I will make wise food choices. It was not easy. I still struggle, but I have worked very hard to leave my old habits in the past. This may not be a popular opinion, but I believe that you have to be weak-minded to give complete control over any part of your life to anyone else, be they living, divine or otherwise. I understand that this can and does happen, that some people are truly powerless over food and they need this kind of peace in their lives. It’s just not for me. I find the ultimate peace in my own strengths. "Opiate of the masses" springs to mind at this moment...

Now, back to the meeting experience. There is light “praying” that goes on as well. People grabbed my hands for this bit and that put me off. I’m not antisocial by any stretch of the word, but I was not prepared for the level of personal contact at the meeting. I just met these people, after all. My advice? Give the newbie a chance to learn the program before you invite her to the sacrifice.

There is the whole matter of a sponsor as well. You are asked to choose a sponsor that you will call, and who will call you, to check in with regarding your food plan for the day and anything else that may enter your mind that you wish to share. Again, I keep track of my food with Weight Watchers, so there are similarities, but I am not one to share personal matters with a total stranger. I need a minute (or two), for crying out loud!

It was said more than once that most new people never return after the first meeting. I could help them with that issue. The whole experience is very different and personal, and it would be helpful if the new folks were greeted at something other than a usual meeting. They should schedule special meetings for “newcomers” to explain how things work, instead of scaring the bejesus out of them on the first day. You couldn’t get me out of that room fast enough, and when I finally did leave, I felt as though I had just been through something very naughty. I wanted to run and hide in my room under the covers. I couldn’t even look at my sister. I just ran for my car and skedaddled.

I called her later, of course, to discuss my feelings, and that gave me a chance to decompress and to think about what I had just been through. I came to the following conclusion.

I have made great strides with regard to my compulsive/binge eating habits, and I am well on my way to completely changing my bad behaviors. Listen, there will always be buffets, and they will always be evil, in my honest opinion. I realize now that the feeling of being stuffed after an enormous meal is very uncomfortable, downright painful, actually, and it makes me sick to my stomach. I like the way I look now. I’m “normal”. Not fat, not a model, not hideously disfigured. Just normal. I used to pray for normal and normal has found me. I trust in myself. I am who matters. If I let myself down, the healing begins with me once again. I forgive myself and move on. I will never give complete control over any part of my life to some "higher power".

I'm the one with the power. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.