In days of auld lang syne...

Leave it to the Irish to give us something so mysterious, enduring and downright catchy.
"Auld Lang Syne," it's a bit tricky, isn't it? Sounds German, and no one quite knows what it means. In fact, it's Gaelic, and loosely translated means "good old days."

That's fine, but I'm all about the good new days. Life just keeps getting better and better!
And 2010 feels...different. Really fabulously amazingly wonderfully different...the days ahead hold much promise. Like, I want to reach out to the skies, jump onto the moon and dance on her craters. In bare feet. Arms raised. With reckless abandon. Let the stars gather in my hair.

Ahhh...reckless abandon. Good stuff, that. It's joyful stuff...and it's my intention for 2010: approach all its potentialities with joyful reckless abandon.

Now...back to work, but later today, and account of my trip to The Bonnie Hunt Show to meet Paul McKenna! The show airs Monday in syndication...

And the best part was meeting Paul, and thanking him for helping me change my life in such a positive way...details to come...

Ahhh, my long neglected blog...

Here I go again! I'd almost forgotten about this blog, and yet, it deserves my attention. Not for anyone else necessarily, but for myself. It's about a journey that will never end for me, a road I've chosen and embraced.

I love feeling well! I love shopping! I love love love life as a thinner person so much more than I did as a fat person.

It's a challenging road some days, but I know the changes I've made are changes for a lifetime. That's why I need to care for this blog.

I've spent the morning reading over my old posts for the first time in nearly a year, and I am still just so grateful for the person I've become. In the initial post, I mentioned finding my miracle: I Can Make You Thin, a book and hypnosis CD by Paul McKenna. It's still my miracle, but the best part is that it's now available in the U.S. I'm not sure what happy twist of fate directed me to find a book/CD that was only available in the U.K. at the time, but again, my gratitude is as wide as the Grand Canyon.

I have said goodbye to 140 pounds. Whew.

I've come so far. From a size 24/26, to jeans in a junior's size 9. Hope that doesn't sound like bragging; it just makes me so happy! I can buy the cute clothes that I once coveted and envied. So I hope you can celebrate with me...

So here we go!

Tomato Sandwiches

Mmmm, the bounty of summer! Delicious, garden grown tomatoes...mine aren't ready to harvest yet, but Baronner's Farm Market has bunches, and they're pretty darn good. When I drove past today the place was pretty much mobbed with patrons hoping to score some of their unparalleled sweet corn. It's the bread and butter variety, so called, I believe, because some of the kernels are such a pale yellow they are almost the color of bread, while the other kernels are a lovely shade of sweet cream butter, making a sort of checkerboard on the cob, and they all taste delicious. I ate that corn for three days this week!

The difference between Then and Now: As a child I slathered on tons of butter, a greasy smile on my face as I tore through ear after ear. And the corn was just the appetizer in my family. Then we'd move on to eating a burgers on buns, whatever salad might be served with dinner, and probably a potato dish too. Potatoes drowned in mayo. Or fried in more grease. Or baked, but topped with butter and sour cream. Lots of it.

Now I'm a vegetarian. Now I'm the whole new me, I don't need all that food. Two ears of corn are plenty for my entire dinner, maybe with a small fresh salad. And no butter. I love a little lime juice drizzled on sweet corn, topped with some organic unprocessed sea salt and chili powder.

Note: if you're going to put grease on corn, make it butter. Or olive oil. Don't even touch margarine. Not even the stuff that calls itself 'smart heart' or whatever. Just because something's name uses the word 'healthy,' doesn't mean it is. Do yourself a favor, and do a google search on margarine.

Tomato sandwiches...one of my favorite things! But the differences between Then and Now!
Then, some crap white bread bereft of any nutrition, lots of mayo (though as a kid I think I preferred Miracle Whip), iodized salt, and more mayo.

Now it's some Ezekiel sprouted grain bread, a little bit of Vegenaise, and good fresh tomatoes. Maybe a little bit of cheese, if I'm roasting an open-face sandwich in the oven. Mmmmm, it's what I am eating for lunch right now.

I still splurge now and then. I still love a few french fries--what's life without a good french fry?! I still love a little wine in the evenings...but the differences...once you've changed your way of eating, there's just no going back. All that fake food just tastes fake. And my body is thriving with real nutrition!

These are things we can all do!



I found some old photos at work today and I look at my old, fat self and am amazed I let myself live that way for so long.

As Dylan once sang: I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

Still getting used to the differences in the way I look...maybe it ain't Angelina Jolie, but I'm so grateful that it isn't the old me...

The Moment, The Scale, and Me

Da da da dum...

I didn't even dust off the scale this morning. It wasn't that bad.

There it was, facing me. It's LCD eye blank, awaiting the touch of my toe to awaken and...judge me. Foul Beastie. We pay money for these little monsters? We pay for this self-torture?

I can't say that I agonized last night, thinking about hopping on board the bitch. I mean, my jeans were fitting well, some of them even seemed just a wee bit looser. But it was on my mind.

"Oh please," I asked of the Universe, "please let the scale-beast be kind to me tomorrow."

Then the bargaining with self. "Well, if I stayed the same, that's ok. If I'm up more than two pounds...no, I won't think about that. I can't be. My jeans fit! but if I am, ok, don't despair. Work harder..."

And isn't it funny how a few pounds can change our bodies so much? But more than our bodies, those pounds change us. When we're down a few pounds, we walk a little taller. Straighten our shoulders a little more (I've been working on my posture; I find that yoga has begun to condition me to understand how important it is to keep a straight spine), move with confidence. But when a few pounds creep back on...we hold our arms across our tummies, or hunch a little...

But the scale was kind. I am down two pounds from my pre-holidays weight!!

Relief is a deep, deep pool of gratitude.

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

The title quote comes from Michael Pollan. He's written books, and this wonderful article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?ei=5090&

Love this quote: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
That's pretty much all we need to know, isn't it? So simple, and yet...

The article is long, but well worth the read.

My friend Timberli came back from vacation with the book "Skinny Bitch." It kinda makes me feel all warm and happy inside! I've been known to bore my friends to politeness, watching their eyes glaze over while I blather on about health, health foods, the evilness of the FDA and food industries, etc. Then along comes something like "Skinny Bitch," and it makes all the stuff I've been saying for a long time fun and friendly; a colloquial, easy read. Thank you, Skinny Bitch authors.



Being vegetarian doesn't necessarily make one healthy. Potato chips, fries, cake, cheese puffys, all those things still come under the broad label of "vegetarian." But healthy they ain't.

Time to go home and do some yoga.
Fave yoga DVD: Beauty Body with Anna Brett and Ravi Singh. I have several of their DVDs, but that one has me feeling exhilerated at the end.

Countdown On!

Thursday or Friday, I'll be getting on that scale that I keep tucked under the desk in my bedroom. The beastie is a little dusty. How much can dust can weigh? Seriously. I need to know. An ounce of dust on a scale can be the barometer of our day!

I think back to my time at Weight Watchers, with all the ladies arriving wearing the lightest clothing they owned. Most wore the same clothes to weigh-in every week, to avoid unnecessary fluctuations. Then the games would begin, as they removed as much of it as possible, and took off all their jewelry too, before stepping up onto the Moment of Truth Machine. Every ounce counts on the WW Machine, and the mini-version lurking under my desk counts them too. So you see, "how much dust makes an ounce?" is a question not to be ignored!

I'll be sure to clean it well before boarding.

By the way, here's the thing about weigh-in day at Weight Watchers: after meeting, everyone would head to one of the local all-you-can-eat buffets. Weigh-in over, on to a food free-for-all.
Ugh.

My previous post, on the grossly obese who were featured on The Learning Channel, for the purposes of education and compassion, I'm sure (said with some sarcasm), might have been a little...insensitive. I'm considering revising it. Just a little of it. Not to censor myself, but out of compassion, sympathy, and empathy.

I work with a sweet young man who is nearing the point where he might one day crawl in bed and not get out. He told me, after his thin father had a heart attack, that it was time to get serious about getting in shape. At the time, he believed his weight to be in the low 400's, but it has been a long time since he was on a scale, and I would estimate him to be at least 450, but probably higher. Everything about his body looks...uncomfortable. His eyes are small slits that seem to be fighting the heavy lids above them. He walk is awkward, and he breathes with difficulty.

For all his weight, he is invisible. When you are that large, people don't see you anymore. And if they do, well, sometimes it's better not to be seen. People can be cruel.

A co-worker told me that one night when this young man came to work, he brought along three bags of groceries and a cube of Pepsi. He ate a whole pizza. Then microwaved a Hungry Man dinner. Then went to work on the chips and cakes.

What causes this insatiable hunger? What causes us to eat, and eat, and eat, as though we were hypnotized? Thoughtless eating.

Lots of things. I have many theories...thus this blog.

from Michael Pollan:

Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.