Friday, February 17, 2012

Redirection and Refocus


     Something’s been amiss recently, and I’ve struggled to put my finger on it. When something isn’t quite right, you can sense it – but it is just beyond your reach.

     Something wasn’t quite right for a long, long time in my life – I was eating poorly, making bad choices. Not able to control snacking impulses. Eating mindlessly. Not enough water, fruits and vegetables, too little nutrient dense food to help my body’s mechanism work at peak performance. I was amiss for so long, I didn’t know any differently until the Clean Eating lightbulb went off in my head, and I began to take control of myself for the first time.

   So why have the past 6 weeks been a struggle? Why has my resolve been less than steadfast? Why have I   ( more than occasionally ) gone off path? I’ve thought about this a lot – and came to a few really astonishing conclusions.

First and foremost? I’ve not been eating enough. Seriously.  Before Christmas, I was eating my 6 mini meals a day. I was eating heavy breakfasts, medium lunches, and spare dinners - with mini meals in between. I didn’t snack, and didn’t even feel the need to cheat – at all. Now? The salt and vinegar potato chips I ate the other night tell the story.  I need to refocus myself back to eating a lot more during the day so my snacking impulses are at a minimum.

Second, I know I haven’t been as conscientious about drinking water as I need to be. Several days in the past week I’ve noted I drank only one small bottle of water in a day – nothing like my previous 60-80 ounces per day consumption.

Third, I haven’t been journaling my food for the day. Why? I’m not holding myself accountable for the garbage in / garbage out. 

I really feel that if I get back to these basic 3 core tenets - my evening snacking and urges to cheat will be eliminated, as they were for well over a year when I as so successful with Clean Eating.

I know you come here, looking for CE information – and here it is. You pick yourself up, you brush the salt and vinegar potato chips off your lap, and you refocus yourself.

Nobody is responsible for my bad eating except me. No more excuses. 
Once I take ownership of it – I can change it. 
Like a friend of mine says in a homespun country accent "You gotta dance with the one who brung you."

I need to go back to what I had success with: Clean Eating.