Grapes, Success, Box Lunches, Anniversary, and Herbal Tea

I've been enjoying green grapes so much I thought I'd try some red ones. They were not good. I noticed myself forcing them down like some sort of punishment. I wasn't proving anything so I threw them out.

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I feel good about what I'm eating, the choices and amounts. This is success. The goal is met. I have a ways to go in building a lasting, trust based relationship with food but my current choices are what I want to maintain. The pant size I'm currently wearing isn't the ideal size but I like how I feel in them now more than how I felt 2 months ago. I feel healthy and thinner even if I don't look any different. I'm in a much better mental place and I have more energy than before. I don't have a lot of energy when I get home from work but I have more than I did before.

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I shared in the post Doctor Scales, Enlightening Photos, Salad Orders, and Box Lunches that I would be attending a meeting with box lunches and that I wasn't sure what I was going to do. First off it was no big deal, everyone was busy eating and talking and no was making comments. I skipped the bread, cookie, and chips and enjoyed the separately packed lettuce/tomato with my meat and cheese. I have never been more thankful for an apple in my life.

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I recently passed the 2 month mark of this Blog, woot woot! I am also coming up on my 48th birthday. I day I like to enjoy with relaxation and fun foods. I have already decided that if someone gives me a treat to celebrate I will take 3 bites and ignore my rules for the day. I had already noted on a previous post how the first bite of something is the most enjoyable, especially when I am really hungry. It's important to notice it, sometimes I find myself cramming the food in as if I live in a theatrical orphanage with often denied meals. Lindsay Reinholt (Meant to Eat) writes that fun foods are really about 3 bites: the first is a sort of greeting, the last is a sort of good-bye and one middle bite is all that is necessary. Slowing down and really enjoying those 3 bites is very important. She also talks about how sometimes we crave fun foods as a way to be delinquent, to go against the rules that we generally follow to a tee. Finding other outlets for this is important like maybe listening to music that is edgy or painting our nails a crazy color. These are better outlets than eating a tub of popcorn (my typical rebellion food/amount).

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I am very thankful for herbal teas, they have been a huge help for me in the evenings when I can't figure out if I'm hungry or bored. I find the warm tea calms me, fills me both physically and mentally, and gives me time to determine true hunger vs. mindless boredom based snacking urges.