I Had No Idea

For many years I have been eating in ways I didn’t even realize.  I ate a fairly normal breakfast, most of the time.  Lunch and dinner were not that unusual in terms of quality of food or volume.  Now, that I am conscious of everything I put in my mouth (‘cause I need to track it all) I am amazed at just how big a part of my day/life that food had become.

I have discovered that I was “grabbing a little something” throughout my day.  Whether it was taking advantage of some sweet that someone brought into the break room, that candy bar or chips and soda that I picked up when I went in to pay for the gas at the station, or the goodie that I ordered to go along with that cup of coffee at whatever part of the day I sat down for a break.  Food, especially snacks, had become a major part of my eating problem.  It is only now, when I am really counting “points” that I realize how much this part of my diet was really out of control.  It could be that bag of chips that I bought to snack on during that long drive or the bag of candy that I had in the car when I needed “a little something sweet”.  You may find this hard to believe but on occasion I have actually bought a tub of dip to go along with those chips.  Yes, I mean when I’m driving down the highway.  Chip AND dip as I’m driving down the road.  How was that for distracted driving?!  I have become painfully aware .that food, especially the tempting, fattening (very tasty) kind, is all around us.

It is amazing for me, now, when I walk into a Quick Stop type of gas station that food is everywhere, and it’s being presented in a flashy, attention getting, you just gotta have this right now fashion.  You step inside the door and there they are…racks and racks of every kind of chip, cracker, corn whatsits and potato whatchamacallits.  And chocolate!  It’s all over the place.  Have you noticed that the entire front of the counter where you have to go to pay for your fuel is entirely covered with shelves clear to the floor filled with candy bars?  Oh yes, and just watch any parent that approaches the cashier and see what their children head for.  “Hey mom!  I need this candy bar right now.”  And then the whining starts.  

No matter which way you look it’s everywhere around you.  It’s like you have stepped into junk food heaven!  And if you finally make it past the minefield of fat, salt and calories that you have to navigate through just to get up to the counter, there sits a tub holding bags of fresh cheese curd on ice just waiting for you to grab one “for the road”.  Did you notice that the enticements start long before you enter the store.  As you pump your fuel you see giant posters positioned nearby you which show a cheesy, delicious slice of pizza or and calzone just dripping with cheese and sauce.  They are reaching out, trying to get into your head to say, “You really need one of these to eat while you are driving home for dinner.”  If you are anything like me you have often agreed totally with those voices and walk out with that greasy slice of pizza on a paper plate.  Of course you need a soft drink to wash it all down too...and maybe a few chips to go along with it.  And don’t get me started on the pastries that are displayed all over the place just waiting for you to take along with that cup of fresh hot coffee.  I knoweth of what I speaketh!   

It’s been said that it’s important to know your enemy and recognize how he operates.  I am not saying that any of the above mentioned foods is evil in and of itself.  What I am saying is that you and I, if we are trying to lose weight and develop a more healthy lifestyle, need to recognize these foods for what they are.  They are the enemy of the dieter.  They give us a temporary satisfaction or sugar rush which lasts only a short time.  That’s when we find ourselves loosing energy fast and starting to droop.  Some call this their sugar crash which follows their sugar rush.  And that says nothing about the guilt we all feel after the fall.  :)

So what do I do?  I still have to go into those places to purchase the fuel or whatever else I need.  I try to see all that junk food for what it is…junk.  I think of it as poison for me as one who is trying to lose weight.  It will not help me to work toward my goals.  Instead, it will impede my progress, give me lots of guilt if I fall for it, and it will continue to reach into my head in any way that it can with those bright colors, great pictures and the smells, oh those smells!  Mmmmmm, makes your mouth water just to think of all those great smells. Just remember, POISON!   I had to laugh just now as I’m typing this post.  In the Bible it speaks about “the pleasures of sin for a season”.  I hadn’t thought much about it but that applies to what I’ve been writing about.  When I take a bite of that chocolate bar or reach into that salty, oily bag of chips and then take a mouthful, it’s pleasure.  It tastes great, mmmmmmm, but I know in my mind that it’s a lie if I am trying to control my weight.  If I would just use my head a little more and trust my taste buds a little less I think I would make out a lot better.

How many times have we all heard, “Once past the lips forever on the hips.”  I remember another phrase that comes to mind, “You are what you eat.”  That means that Bob has been, in large part (pun intended) a big bag of delicious Doritos, or Ruffles with Ridges, or cheese sticks, or Mounds Bars, or Little Debbies, or an Ice Cream Sandwich……I think you get the picture.  That’s how I got ‘thick’ and then this fall I got “tired of it”.  That’s why you often see me write, “I’m thick, and tired of it.”  I knew I needed to make a change and, thank God, I’ve found Weight Watchers.  For me, this has been a great motivator.  I really like the program for many reasons.  I like the folks who are sharing this journey with me and others and I like the young lady who leads our little group.  We truly are, or are becoming, a ‘Big Bunch of Losers’, and I’m lovin’ it. I have decided that I will take control of my eating no matter where I am, including that Dieter’s Lion’s Den we call the gas station.  I want to take control of my environment rather than let it control who I am and what I eat.  It’s hard but then everything in life that’s worth anything usually is.  I will end this post with a poster I saw on line.  Life is hard in many ways, but we get to choose which ones we would rather work hard at.  I hope you can make the hard choices to.  They will be the ones that help you avoid the trap that junk food can be, and those right choices will lead you further down your own weight loss journey.  Happy losing my friends!