What I learned

It's all a learning process, isn't it.  I suppose there are people, like Rene Zellweger, who learned healthy eating at her mother's knee, but for the rest of us, it's a process. 

I thought that this weekend, either Susan or I would win, in the clash of the titans.  I thought either I would succumb and eat everything in sight, or Susan would suddenly take up eating salads with no dressing as well.  Well, the truth was somewhere in the middle, where the truth usually hangs out.  I indulged.  She held back.  I'm not sure anyone won, because neither one of us ate especially healthily, but it was better than it could have been.

Today I stopped on my way home to see another friend, and we went to lunch.  I had a salad of fresh spinach, cucumbers, onions, and a lovely piece of grilled salmon, with four tasteful breadsticks (I ate one) on the side, as was the dressing.  I was so happy.  I was so happy to be eating that bowl of raw spinach, I kid you not. 

However, then the drive home was stressful and I sort of indulged, so it wasn't as good as it could have been, but at least I got that bowl of spinach in me. 

So I learned that it's harder than you think to eat out and eat clean.  Unless you turn into one of THOSE woman, can you grill this, make sure no one uses butter, etc, etc, etc.  I don't want to be one of those women.  I'd rather stay home.  I learned that your habits can influence those of the people around you, even over the course of three days.  I learned that a month seems to be enough time to root good habits at least a little bit.  I was in that funny place of enjoying and not enjoying.  Some of me liked the stuff--the intensely flavorful meat at Olive Garden, because, of course, of the enormous amount of salt they use.  I liked the zeppoli too, because who wouldn't, really?  Sort of beignets, with chocolate dipping sauce.  What's not to like?  But I could taste the fat more than I ever could before. 

I learned, I suppose, that it feels better in the end, to have eaten well, as in healthily.  The momentary pleasure of the "false" food doesn't begin to measure up to the way you feel, day in, day out, when you feed yourself good food.

I only have one question.  Why did it take a health scare and 56 years to learn this?

Oh well.