2+ Lane ILU!!!!!

The husband and I car pooled today and I discovered the new love of my life: the 2+ lane.

Oh, HOV lane! Never leave me!

Even with the downtown detour to drop of the hubby at his temp job, I still made it to work ten minutes earlier than normal.

I will be loving every moment in the carpool lane for the next three weeks until my mister starts his full-time job on the other side of town. *weeps*

(You can buy a toll tag that will let you drive in the HOV lane any time you want, but it’s ‘spensive. $3.50 a pop during rush hour. $7 a day is a wee bit rich for my blood.)

You Are What You Eat

It continually amazes me how conditioned I am to crave foods that are not good for me; chips, ice cream, pizza, ranch dressing instead of fresh produce, whole foods. I didn’t have a good weekend for food. Friday, a potluck at work for Cinco de Mayo was the insighting incident for a weekend of overindulgence. And I did what I always do: I adopted an all-or-nothing mentality and went off the Weight Watchers mentality entirely. I stopped counting my points, stopped thinking about what I was eating and started making poor choices right and left. Before I knew it, it was Sunday night and I was scarfing down movie-theater popcorn and Raisinettes after having pizza for dinner and an all-you-can-eat salad bar for lunch. It’s a slippery slope, my friends. Today, I’m back on the wagon, counting points and eating more healthful foods. I walked to Vitamin Cottage on my lunch break and picked up some more soy crisps (I’m LOVING these things) and salsa, and I also bought some cottage cheese (goes GREAT with soy chips and salsa — I know, I’m weird), and a big box of strawberries. And I sat here thinking to myself, “Why would I choose fatty chips or over-sweet candy and blow my diet when I could eat this entire box of strawberries for maybe one or two points?” The answer? Conditioning. I’m beginning to realize that’s really all it is. My body just needs a little help reminding my brain that the strawberries are what it really craves.

Slinks

WebMD has a list of the 15 Best Diet Tips Ever. I thought they were right on the money.

Cate found this resource through the Ideal Bite Newsletter which reports on the safety of popular health and beauty items. I haven’t had a chance to peruse it yet, and frankly, I’m a little scared of what I might find! Yikes!

The Good Human talks about 10 tips to keep a healthy home. Also check out David’s series about spring cleaning the eco way.

And Treehugger has a good list of resources for growing your own food.

Speaking of which, our little garden is plugging along. We got a new digital camera this weekend, so I will post some photos soon!

Un-Happy Hour?

In the world of mindful eating, dining out is my biggest challenge.

I love to eat out. I have always associated eating out with fun, a great date, a night out with friends. If I really wanted to diet big time, I would eschew eating out at all costs.

But honestly, I’m looking for a balance between “diet” and enjoying my lifestyle. That means I have to find a good way to dine out.

Take tonight, for instance. A co-worker of mine is leaving the company, and so the whole department is headed to happy hour tonight to see her off. I really like these people and I want to get to know them better, make friends, etc., so opting out of happy hour doesn’t seem like a good plan, for purely social reasons.

So how do I make sure that I don’t overdo it and wake up with a guilty conscience (and possibly a hangover) tomorrow?

I think the best way to approach these situations is once again, mindfulness. I know I’m going to be tempted by fancy cocktails and heavy food (the place we’re going is also an Italian restaurant), so I just have to prepare myself to make good choices. Scope out the bar’s website before hand, check out the menu, think of low-cal cocktails (like diet coke and bacardi) so I’m not caught by surprise and lured into a poor choice.

That happened to me on Sunday. The husband and I were out shopping for digital cameras and decided to stop at the deli of Wild Oats for lunch. Caught unawares, I picked the first sandwich off the deli menu that looked interesting. BAD idea. The sandwich ended up having breaded chicken, melted cheese, and pesto — it tasted awesome, but had WAY more calories than if I’d gone with a simple, and probably equaly tasty, smoked turkey.

SO! Making a plan. Checking it twice. Getting wasted with my work buddies.

Well, two out of three ain’t bad.

Choices

There’s an interesting interview with money guru Suzie Orman on the Weight Watchers website (of all places) about the connection between poor money choices and poor food choices.

From the article:

But you’ve got to decide: Are you going to have potato chips or the orange, apple or carrot? Are you going to put the money in the savings account or are you going to spend it? They’re identical. So when you don’t have money in your life, you’re the reason why. When you have weight on your body—in most cases, not always if there’s medical reasons—you are not a victim of circumstances, you have chosen to do that to yourself. They are absolutely identical in nature. Identical.

It took me a long time to figure that out, and a lot of days, I’m still figuring it out. I never consciously realized that I was blaming my weight –– or anything else –– on anyone but me, but I was. I used to think up all the reasons I was fat, and a lot had to do with the way my family ate when I was a kid. But that was still my choice. I could have chosen to eat differently, even as a kid. It wasn’t that we didn’t have healthy options at my house, or that my parents wouldn’t have bought me just about anything I asked for; it was that I liked eating the high-fat, high-calorie foods and I chose to eat them.

I really think the parallels between being in debt and being overweight –– two major problems in American society –– are fascinating and teribly apt. We live in a society where taking responsibility (not blame) for our own actions is frequently the last thing on someone’s mind, and if we want to change the size of our waist lines and our wallets (hopefully in opposite directions), we have to learn to take personal responsibility for the problems we have created.

DtDO First Box

Just got an email from Door to Door Organics that our first box will be here on Wednesday! Another benefit of this service? They tell you what’s going to be in the box so you can plan ahead (which we all know I love to do).

Mangos! Strawberries! PURPLE ASPARAGUS! Arugala and collard greens and carrots with tops! (It says “with tops.”)

I am SO EXCITED!

And, AND! We had two bunches of collard greens on the list (?) so I substituted one for yams because YOU CAN DO THAT! I can also order grass-fed buffalo meat, wild salmon, and fair trade coffee.

Did I mention SO EXCITED???

“The Fats”

Had my picture made today at work. And not just a simple passport-photo-type picture, either. No no. They told us to “get our sexy on” for the cute cube signs that everybody has.

Naturally, this led to a case of the fats.

Yup! Suddenly, nothing I own fit correctly or looked good on my body. Suddenly I had lumps where no lumps had previously been evident. Suddenly — I was staring in the mirror at the almost-200-pound girl I was eight years ago.

It’s so easy for me to slip back into that mindset. When I have a case of the fats, I can look into the mirror and see a twisted, distorted, exaggerated view of myself that would put a funhouse mirror to shame.

When I sit down and separate out the distortions from the true underlying feelings, I realize that, although I have made enormous progress toward never ever seeing that fat girl in the mirror for real again, I am still not entirely comfortable with the way I’m taking care of my body. I’ve regained some of the weight it took me so long to take off, and that’s not being fair to myself.

So, as of today, I have recommitted myself toward a mindfulness toward my body, my eating habits, and my physical activity that I have been sorely lacking of late. I have come to terms (mostly) with the fact that I will never be one of those girls who can eat whatever, whenever, and still be slim. To reach a balance with myself, I will have to pay attention every step of the way.

And really, is that such a bad thing?

Proof of Global WarmingI know Cate wil love this… April 19th is National Hanging Out Day!  According to LaundryList.org, electric dryers use up to 10% of residential energy. So give your dryer (and your laundry!) the day off and hang it outside!

(P.S. If you’re short on space like us, I found this nifty travel clothesline from veteran travel guru Rick Steves for only $8. It attaches with rubber bands, and the braided design means you don’t even need clothespins for lighter items!)