Well, I managed to stay away from the funnel cakes across the street and the free community picnic (BBQ, slaw, macaroni salad, green beans with bacon) that started as I was leaving work.
I also walked our three dogs this morning. My property is on the side of a hill and is shaped like a triangle. So the first leg around is relatively level, the second is uphill, and the third is downhill. I do okay walking around with the first two dogs, but by the time I go up that hill the third time, my thighs are screaming, and I am panting and gasping for breath. I'd like to improve there, but at the same time, I'm happy that I can get around twice before that happens.
One of the bloggers (
Who Ate My Blog?) I follow for inspiration has started using an app called 2Grand. I thought I'd give it a try and see if I like it. I'm not used to taking pictures of my food, so it took me a couple of days to remember to snap a pic of all my meals and snacks. I finally got everything yesterday, so here is my first complete day of food.
I'm going to do this for a while and see if it helps me stay accountable like this blog does. It also sends me a little reminder to take a photo of my breakfast, and that reminds me to actually have breakfast, something I tend to skip. Since using this, I've eaten breakfast two days in a row! That's a big deal for me.
Last night I made tuna cakes, homemade macaroni and cheese, and sauteed kale and Swiss Chard with onion. I picked up the Swiss chard at the farmers' market in the city where my daughter goes to college. I love big city farmers' markets! We have one in my little town, but there isn't much variety there. It's great for locally grown tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and pole beans, but that's about it. At the city one there was Swiss chard, dozens of varieties of tomatoes, bread, jams, locally pressed olive oil, green beans, goat cheeses, organic pastured meats, and more! I picked up some paw paws. Paw paws!! I don't even know what to do with them, but I'll figure that out later. I also got the Swiss chard and kale. The Swiss chard was so pretty with it's reds, greens, and yellows. It was a nice change from the spinach I usually eat.
I noticed something at dinner last night. This was my first complete meal made for the family since my older two left for school. Instead of three teenagers, I'm cooking for one (and my husband and myself, of course). For the first time in years, we had leftovers. We had a huge amount of mac and cheese left. Mac and cheese is one of my comfort foods, and it's one of the foods I talked about hoarding in a previous blog (
you can find that here).
Well, last night I had my serving of mac and cheese (pictured above), which is about a quarter of what I used to get, by the way. When my husband put away the left overs, he showed me the big bowl of mac and cheese we had left and said, "I guess you have lunch for the rest of the week!" Then my 14-year-old looked at me and said, "Can I please take a little out for myself for after school? I really like it the next day." They both just assumed I would eat the whole bowl myself, not all at once, but they didn't think I'd be sharing.
That really hurt. It hurt because they are right; in the past, that would have all been mine. I would have had it for lunch and maybe even dinner for the rest of the week. Heck, there have been times I made a big pot of mac and cheese just for me! I didn't let the kids have any! It made me feel awful that my daughter felt she had to ask for some leftover mac and cheese that way.
The thing is, even before my family made those comments, I was done with the food. I'd had my dinner, and I didn't want any more. I had already planned things for my lunch this week, I didn't feel like I HAD to have that mac and cheese. I'm not saying I won't have any. There was a lot left, and if there is still some in a few days, I may bring some to work. But I don't feel possessive of it like I have in the past. I'm not sure why I feel differently about it now. Maybe it's this blog and how it makes me think about why I'm eating. Maybe it's because my teenage son is gone, so I know the leftovers will actually make it to the next day (hey, I wasn't the only one who claimed food ahead of time while he was in the house. Teenage boys, especially 6' 3" teenage boys, eat an amazing amount of food). Whatever the reason, I feel really good about it. I was able to turn away from homemade mac and cheese. I was able to share. That's a big deal, folks.
Today, I have my little veggie tray in the work fridge, I've already started on my first glass of water, and you know what else? I brought my gym bag to work today!
Maybe I can get another two miles closer to Walden today. It's time to make some distance up. This is going to be a good day!
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