LESSONS FROM A DOG BLOG -DAY 1 - DINNER

I was so busy working on my website, today, that I forgot to eat lunch. This is a strange idea to me. For so much of my life, I suffered with problems with low blood sugar, and was always hungry. I would eat huge meals, then a couple of hours later, I would be starving, again. That was before I discovered low glycemic eating in the late 1990's.

Now, I limit my starchy, and sweet foods; and make sure that I eat protein, and hunger doesn't bother me so much any more. Also, in the past, when I was trying to eat the way the "experts" said was healthy; that is lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low fat, and smaller amounts of protein, if I didn't eat every few hours, I would feel drained of energy, get a headache, get stomach cramps, and feel nauseous. I am so thankful for the day that I picked up a book by Barry Sears on "The Zone," and started learning about "low carb" eating.

I don't eat according to "The Zone, any more, though. I find it best to limit my fruits and grains (if I even have grains at all; by the way buckwheat, which I had for breakfast, is not a grain) to once a day. Then, for the rest of the day, I eat just protein, green vegetables, and some kind of healthy fat; mainly the vegetables.

But, I digress. This blog is supposed to be about me following Emma's advice, and eating with gusto. Since I skipped lunch, I had dinner around 4:00. It consisted of a salad containing a variety of leafy greens, two boiled eggs (eggs are the only source of complete protein that I have in the house, at the moment), and a mixture of black beans and lentils.

Admittedly, the legumes are starchy, and could be considered cheating according to what I just wrote. But, I have found that they don't affect me like potatoes and grains do (cravings for sugar and starches, hunger, etc).

Before I ate, I was thinking that I would have to blog about it afterwards, but I wasn't thinking about the reason for that. Consequently, I didn't remember that I was supposed to be eating with gusto, until I had eaten both eggs, had about 2 bites of salad left, and had not much more than that of the beans and lentils left.

When I realized that I had forgotten, I immediately thought something along the line of "oh, well, I'll just have to blog about forgetting. However, I realized that I could still eat with gusto for the rest of the meal. So, I got myself into an attitude of being happy and grateful that I was eating, and ate the rest of my food. It felt good. Then, I really enjoyed thoroughly licking out the bowl that had contained the legumes, Emma style.

It hadn't occurred to me that the hardest part of this would be remembering to do it. I don't know why. I mean, I only have 50 years of eating while my mind is elsewhere under my belt. Of course I'm going to unconsciously fall into my old habits. I plan on doing better, tomorrow, though.