This has been a very strange week for me. I just now found out that a friend of mine going back to our High School days passed away this morning. She was a year ahead of me in school, which would make her 44 years old this year. I feel like the wind was just knocked out of me. This is NOT supposed to happen to our people. I know that I mentioned this in a prior issuance, but it applies here. For the first time in my life, I think I am completely speechless. I need a moment…..talk amongst yourselves….
…..okay…I’m back. I had to step away and actually breathe for a minute or two. Today is Wednesday, which means that I will be at temple tonight waiting for my daughter to finish Hebrew school. I will talk to my Rabbi while I am there. Maybe that will help me. I am afraid that sleep won’t come easy for me tonight…maybe the talk can put my mind at rest.
You know, based on our meeting topic this week, emotional eating, today’s news in my old days would have sent me right to the fridge. I actually showed restraint today though. I didn’t once reach out for food after hearing the news. Instead, I got up and took a walk, or even better, went to the kitchen for a cup of tea.
At the meeting, I was actually up a couple of pounds this week, but I also forgot my typical weigh-in gear on Monday. As soon as I stepped up to the scale, I knew exactly where I left my stuff---on the bed…waiting for me to stuff it into my tote bag. Arrrghhhh!!!!!
This week, our challenge was to track our hunger signals each day in our food journals and/or on e-Tools OR to make a list of ten things that you can do instead of eating. I have been frustrated as of late because the scale hasn’t been moving, although my body has been shedding inches. The working out part is going very well for me. I am active for at least 4 of the seven days, and I get in some good activity, both cardio-wise and strength training. I think my leader may have hit my problem on the head with this week’s topic. We hit this one in the meeting a couple of times during the year. Like the picture below, we tend to feed what bugs us. Frogs are really the only animal that truly CAN eat what bugs them (once again, note the cute graphics).
In addition to tracking, I also journal…not just food journaling, but journaling in general. I am really going to look at what I am writing and see if that helps me out a bit. The emotional eating, quite frankly, is probably what got me into the obesity mess to begin with, truth be known. The only good thing is that if I reach for something now, it’s not chips or a bag of M&Ms. Lately, I have been grabbing lean protein, light cheese or popcorn. Going forward, my efforts are going to be focused on NOT doing this, and redirecting the attention toward something else. Maybe now I will actually finish Adam’s afghan????
Remember this one? Before going to the refrigerator or pantry…HALT. Ask yourself if you are:
Hungry
Angry
Lonely
Tired
If the answer is anything EXCEPT for the first one? Don’t eat. I plan to create something with HALT on it that I can post on the fridge, right next to my now-contraband HUNGRY magnet (yes…they were recalled, but he was so cute that I kept him!!!) to assess my situation. Maybe now that I am aware of this, I can nip this one in the bud too.
"If hunger isn’t the problem, then eating isn’t the solution."
-Anonymous
RECIPES
Italian Pepper & Egg Sandwiches
Here’s a recipe recommendation from one of my friends in my Monday Weight Watchers meeting (thanks Celeste!!!!). She says “The night before, I make chicken sausages from Sprouts, with peppers and onions, and save the leftover peppers and onions to make these….I call this Italian Soul Food”
POINTS® Value: 4
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 12 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion(s), thinly sliced 1 large green pepper(s), such as a cubanelle, thinly sliced 1 tsp minced garlic 4 large egg(s) 3 large egg white(s) 1/2 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste
4 reduced-calorie hamburger roll(s), toasted if desired
Instructions:
• Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and pepper; saute until tender and light golden, about 7 to 9 minutes. Add garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Set vegetables aside.
• In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, egg whites, salt and pepper. Scramble in same skillet over medium heat until almost cooked, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Add vegetables back to skillet and gently mix; continue scrambling until eggs are set but not dry, about 30 seconds to 1 minute more.
• Top each roll bottom with about 3/4 cup egg mixture; cover with roll tops and serve.
Yields 1 sandwich per serving.
No comments:
Post a Comment