Mouse's Zen Moment

Dear Friends and Family,

You are going to get tired of me writing about food. But, it's what's on my mind, so it's what I will write about.

Tonight, I was starving as I headed home. I was strongly tempted to drive straight to la Golden Arches for some delicioso fast food. But, I came home instead. I thought about what I would order from McDonald's. I realized I was craving protein.

Now, normally, I would have done the thinking and then eaten my pre-planned dinner anyway. And, been starving in three hours.

Instead, I scrapped my original dinner plans, and ate a good sized portion of roast chicken, with some bread and gravy. I feel much better now. It might be the way to go from now on. There's a night or two every week when I am just famished. I've decided not to fight it, and just eat a little extra on those days. It's been working so far, so I can't complain.

Where is all of this headed? It's a zen philosophy I've been practicing. Moderation. So, eating an entire bag of chips is not moderation. But, neither is fighting heart and soul to not eat a single chip. A German friend of mine helped me put it in perspective. Here's his chocolate cake example.

You like chocolate cake. You see chocolate cake. You have four options:

1. smile and continue on with your day (don't have the cake)
2. have a piece of cake, enjoy it
3. have a piece of cake, be wracked with guilt
4. don't have the cake, but agonize over it the rest of the day

So, responses are in order from best to worst. The best option is obviously #1. But, say today is not the day you'll be able to smile and continue on with your day. Then, the next best option is #2. Have a SMALL piece of the cake and continue on with your day. The worst two options are to fight it tooth and nail. Either way, that's not moderation. BTW, neither is eating the entire cake.

Okay, so I get how this applies to dinner. Tonight, instead of fighting 22 pts, I ate 27. There's 35 flex each week just for these situations, so no biggie. But, think of this on a grander scale. I think it all ties back to the "Big Day".

I had four options, in no particular order, since I'm not that organized:

1. quit and enjoy the summer
2. don't quit and enjoy the summer
3. don't quit and feel like my boss had me boxed into a corner and won
4. quit and feel like I had won by deciding not to play

Well, #3 and #4 definitely don't count as moderation. What are we in kindergarten? Who cares who wins? So, thinking about #1 and #2... #1 felt like the right answer for the longest time. And, maybe it was the right answer. But, on the day, it didn't feel right. I wasn't capable of #1. I was in #4 mode. So, I decided to cross out option #1, #3 and #4. Effectively, all that left was #2. So, that's why last Monday wasn't the "Big Day".

Now, if I can figure out a path to option #1, I will take option #1. But, I decided option #4 was as much a loss for me as option #3. Perhaps my discovery for this summer will be how to get to #1. But, for now, I'll settle for #2 - the other path of moderation.


Cheers!
mouse