The Continuing Saga Through November

The good news is I am continuing to make better food choices. Plus, I feel better!

Also, I think I am thinking better, too. Like when I behold my slimmer reflection I think losing a few more pounds will not do me any harm. No chance of losing me on a walk in a brisk wind, for now.

Doug and I, as per the example and encouragement of a friend, continue to lay off empty carbs, keeping out of the house our favorite snacks—a.k.a. rewards.

We are still eating more lean protein, salads, vegetables and being careful about drinking water. (Roasted winter vegetables in seasoned olive oil are good.)

The cost of fresh fruits, hard cheese and veggies compared to what we were spending on graham crackers, chips, crackers and candy is a bit more – maybe as much as $10/week – more if I buy fresh fish.

So far, we aren’t drinking so much water that our bill is unreasonable.

However, it was priceless for Doug to hear from his doc that his blood tests results were not just good, but excellent!

My blood work results won’t be until January. This means that during the coming holiday season, a time when folks can put on a few pounds, I will face a reckoning the first week of January.

This is a problem. My M.O. for the holidays has been: indulge! I have met few holiday goodies with butter, whether salty or sweet I could resist; except fruitcake.

I can resist fruitcake.

Now, Christmas cookies and cheese balls are not bad; my attitude to them though still needs some tweaking.

I don’t want the gift of feeling good, thinking a little more clearly, and moving more easily to evaporate. And I surely do not want to bust out of the new pants or the turtlenecks to shrink! (Nor, does Doug!)

We both need to keep at our new regime . . . relearning that sampling a treat doesn’t mean inhaling everything on the table. I’m just glad the urge to bake never really developed roots. Good grief I can’t image where I’d be if I knew how to bake the seasonal guilty pleasures I love.

Yes, I am going to enjoy the food the holidays bring – that’s part of the fun of another year’s end.

What’s more, the holidays are a combination of Ebenezers reminding me just how far God has brought me.

I am sorry it wasn’t sooner.

But these past few months I have felt good overall. Health is a great gift — one day at a time.

My knees thank me, my hips thank me, and even my brain which seems clearer is grateful. So, I thank God for friends who set wise examples; for the time and wherewithal to make better choices, and for being faithful though this the crazy year passing.

Oh, I also thank Him for that annual physical so early in the new year . . . Hopefully the prospect will help me behave myself.

If not, these pictures my friend passed along are sure worth a thousand words!

Yikes

Or, this:

This is why I could never be a doctor.

Thanks for reading – I appreciate people ask me how it’s going. I hope, if you want to take a few pounds off, this will encourage you to start now. We can both be in better shape come the New Year!

I’ll leave you with an OLD quote — maybe this explains why we are all a little nuts:

I tell you honestly what I think is the cause of the complicated maladies of the human race: it is their gormandizing and stuffing, and stimulating their digestive organs to an excess, thereby producing nervous disorders and irritation. ~John Abernethy (1764–1831)