Moving Right Along

Hi,

Well. I just stepped off the scale and I am, for the first time in a very long time, under the 340 mark. Wow. Praise the Lord. It is only under by .25 but it is under. I was not expecting that. I am grateful and my belly is full. I had just eaten half a cucumber, one fourth of a small cauliflower, a few cut up baby carrots and a little feta cheese onto which salad I had sprinkled curry powder, salt, Braggs salt free herbs, and Italian herbs with 1 TBS of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar.

I am trying out the vinegar again, but in very small doses. If you have read through my previous posts you know that I had gotten red spots on my feet from eating that vinegar in somewhat large quantities on a daily basis. It took a long time for those spots to disappear, but they have been gone for a long time, now, and I thought it might be OK to try it out again, but only in measured doses and not very often.

The curry powder is a concoction of my own, since I cannot find the brand that I like (Astor) and I can now taste the cloves in my mouth. I love to smell them, and don't mind the after taste, but am wondering what is up with that. Maybe I put too much in. But... I do know they have a lot of good antioxidants, just like cinnamon and nutmeg, so do not think that is a real problem. So far.

As far as the craving notebook goes, I don't have much written down in it yet. The times that I am overeating -- which has not affected the weight loss, so maybe it is not overeating (?). Perhaps for now I should just call it, eating more than my brain thinks I should -- seem to come on so suddenly that I have not been able to capture what leads up to it. It usually takes the form of a picture in my head rather than a verbal statement of some kind. That I can tell. I am trying to pay attention so I can learn what goes on there.

Today, I absently ate a slice of cheese for a "getting up snack," (since I had been eating it last week and lost so much weight, I figured it would be OK to continue. Same with the Ezekial bread.) I am not so much a follower of "The Raw Food Regimen" as one who is trying that out to see if I lose weight doing that. My goal is losing weight in a healthy manner. I figured that if I ate a particular kind of healthy food and was satisfied, and also lost weight, that is good and the direction that I should continue in, until it does not work, anymore, if that happens. So I have basically re-incorporated a few of the items that I thought I would have to get rid of -- based totally on the fact that I lost 7.5 pounds while eating them. And am still thinking that is more like the 30 Day Diabetes Cure than not, except that I am not eating much meat at all.

So. On "Marcia's Raw Food Program" I can have any vegetable I want in any quantity I want at any time I want as long as I eat it in the RAW state. So I eat a lot of salads and am getting creative with them. I also make sure that if I eat a peanut butter sandwich, which I like, that I put veggies of some kind on it. I now prefer them with Romaine lettuce or broccoli sprouts. I also include apples, raw dates, raw nuts and seeds, the sliced American cheese, feta cheese, Ezekial bread, and butter on my program. I have some tuna fish from time to time. I also eat chicken from time to time, although, I have not had any chicken this week. I have no idea what the percentage of raw food is that I am eating, but what I am doing is working, so I shall not rock the boat. Amen.

Back to the notebook, which has no entries, yet. This afternoon, when I next ate, I noticed a sudden feeling of hunger. I think it was hunger based on the fact that I had not eaten much before that and it would be reasonable to think that the feeling was hunger. I could feel it in my mouth, down to my stomach, a feeling of some kind that I do not have a name for. I am calling it hunger for the lack of a better word. As I described it, the feeling came upon me again, but I know my belly also feels full, since I just ate. I am a little confused at this point in time, but still observing.

I am thinking that if I am ever going to be able to tell the freight train from actual hunger I will need to pay attention and check these things out.  Perhaps my first step should be simply writing down what I experience just before I eat. Maybe that way I will be able to begin to tell the difference. I suddenly got another feeling of "belly full."  Wow. This is so strange.

That is one of the things that differs for the food addict. Other kinds of addictions can be gotten over by simply walking away and not doing them ever again. But a person has to eat every day, still. So with that, so far, it looks like you have to actually begin eating right, and then begin to learn how to stay on the right track. I say that, simply because that is what I have done. I think Carlene's workbook -- called "Fat Brain Lies" available at http://www.carlenejones.com/ for $9.95 -- covers this topic of being able to tell the difference between hunger and craving, but I need to finish my assignments for the first chapter before moving on.

Frankly, I had just put it aside and not looked at the assignment since reading it last time, but I just read it again and found this interesting thing:

6. The next time you eat your favorite food, ask yourself is this really worth not being able to do x, y, or z. Take note of how often you say yes, and how often you put the food away.

That I can do as part of my notebook work. I think I shall start there and see what happens.

I have only a little time before I have to get ready for Bible Study and want to get in a little exercise, so I shall end for now. But you know, I will be back soon.  Keep on keeping on, friends. You can find what you are looking for if you just keep looking. I think I may have found what works for me. May you be blessed to find what works for you.

Love you,

Marcia