Grocery Store Epiphany

As you may remember from last week, I am on a path intended to help me lose weight and improve my overall health.  I am pleased to announce that I lost another 3.8 pounds since last Monday!  I really think this is going to work for me, because not only do I have amazing support from Hubby, my family, and my friends, I am able to eat whatever I want, I just have to face the consequences of it.  For example, tonight, I want pizza so so so bad.  And I could easily, without guilt, order pizza for our dinner.  The consequences of that would be that, first off, I would use a ton of WW points on, lets be honest here, more than one slice of pizza.  Secondly, I would feel disgusting afterward; I would be sluggish from processed carbs, and my tummy would not be happy about all that grease.  So, instead, I am making zucchini mini pizzas for dinner.  You take sliced zucchini, put a little olive oil on both sides, and broil each side for 2-4 minutes.  Then top with a little pizza sauce, 2% mozzarella, and on Hubby's I am including some mini pepperoni.  Broil again until cheese melts, but do not let it get brown.  Voila, a pizza dinner that will amount to 3 points.  3 tiny little points.  The consequence of my choice will be using less points and feeling better.  And, if I want a snack later, I will have the points left to do so (I have tons of healthy low point snacks on hand as well.)

In the grocery store today, I had a bit of an epiphany.  It is no wonder that we, as Americans, myself included, have so many weight problems.  We have, in our grocery stores, an entire aisle dedicated to potato chips.  We have another aisle dedicated to sugary sodas.  That is probably 2 or 3 times the amount of space we have dedicated to fresh fruits and vegetables.  And even foods that we think are healthy, when eaten in the gargantuan portions Americans are used to, are not healthy at all.  We go out to restaurants and think, I will be healthy, and get a salad.  Well, let's be honest here, when it is laden with fried chicken strips, cheese, french fries, and fat filled dressing, a salad is no longer a health food.

It is funny, but just two weeks into my plan to restructure my eating habits, and already, food tastes better to me.  I have been eating better than I have eaten in years.  The fact that it is summertime, and we can go to the Farmers Market for fresh produce, and cook a lot of things on our grill, well, that is really helping.  I am hoping that my new habits will be so ingrained that come those chilly autumnal days, I will long to cook squash and vegetable soup, instead of wanting steak hoagies and french fries.

As I walked around the grocery store, really thinking about the kind of relationship I had with food, versus the kind of relationship I wanted to have with food, I saw real improvements in my thinking and choices.  Foods that were staples due to their convenience were no longer in my cart.  The items in my cart were instead being chosen based on nutritional value and satiety.  And, I do not deny myself.  I know my weakness is sweets.  So, anyone looking in my cart today was going to see sweets.  But instead of Hershey bars, they were Weight Watcher candies, and instead of Ben and Jerry's, it was Skinny Cow ice cream products.

I left the store feeling energized, and for the first time in a long time, grocery shopping did not make me hungry.  I really think this is going to work for me.  At least, I really hope so.