Note About Nutrition

I'm aware that alcohol has zero nutritional value. Unless you have a bloody mary. In which case you could've have a V8. To me, food has always been plentiful. You see, my folks owned a restaurant and they would always bring home leftovers. Or they would make things specially ordered. While many kids at school were bringing PB&J to school. I was bringing shrimp in lobster sauce. In college, times were strapped tight. I would use my college card to buy Dinty Moore beef stew cans and mix it ramen. Looking back, I can't see a difference between me and a trash compactor. Sure the compactor was getting more vitamins and minerals. To me, it was always a battle of choices. I often would forgo eating for smoking cigarettes. It was the Midwest, in college and bored. So, cut me some slack on that one since it was essentially prison.

Something I didn't realize before, because...well...maybe I was blocking this out: Was your mother ever convinced that you loved a certain food but you did not? My mom is CONVINCED I love beef. Every single time I'd come home, she'd sear a steak for me...and I REALLY dislike it. Her response "No you don't...you like it." Huh? I thought she had me confused with my sisters. But they barely ate meat. So I have no idea what went on in her mind. What she did teach me was variety. Everything on my plate was so different. We had fresh fruit ALL the time. My mom knew what season it was without missing a beat. Even today...she'd call me up..."grapes are in season, get some." Followed by a comparison of prices in California versus Ohio.

Food is fuel. Nothing more. Americans live a very amazing lifestyle. You think they have buffets in Ethiopia? I don't think about food unless absolutely necessary. People obsess with it in the United States. The other day I went to Red Lobster and saw a menu with calorie counts for every dish. Is this how we want to live our lives? Allowing a stupid menu to decide for us? And why go to Red Lobster anyway when you know you're blowing a "diet". I blasted thru a grip of biscuits ('cause that's the real reason to go) with a clear conscience.

That's the thing, I think the more you think about it, the more you're defeating yourself. Why? Let's say I have a jelly donut. Bummer. I feel horrible I broke my diet. I spend the next few hours, if not days, dwelling on it. I'm just a horrible person. Next to Dahmer. So I go and work out religiously to burn that donut away. Seriously? I could spend a whole week on a treadmill but wouldn't erase the memory of that donut. How about this? You eat that donut with authority, say "Donut, you and me had our differences, but thanks for the tastiness you're about to give me." And never think about that donut again. You're having closure with your food cravings.

10:00AM Saturday July 9th (sorry about tan line) 157lbs. 5' 6"

I eat garbage all the time, but that same exact day as I'm reminiscing about the crap that I ate between dreaming about that beautiful girl from work, I drop my self-loathing of eating. You should't be embarrassed to eat. Enjoy it. Earn it. Never deny yourself things. Just don't overdo it. A lot of stuff I read is about why we eat. Anxiety. Boredom. Stress. I think we eat like we do because we think it'll go away. We all had our lean years. Food cravings can be swung by simply getting an intense exercise in. Me, I get too ill to eat. So I suck down a yogurt with some fruit. Which is all I can handle at the time. Earn your food. But make that food something you enjoy.