A dear friend doesn’t care what you eat.
Pearl One
Hello Thivers!
I re-tooled a former pearl.
A casual friend who was an eating-buddy of sorts and I went to lunch every two months or so and no, we didn’t and we eat small. We politely chowed.
So when I began my weight loss trek (in earnest), my girlfriend and I were out to lunch one day and I ordered my veggies and brown rice. When our meals arrived mine was for some reason in a very small bowl. It wasn’t a problem for me,
But guess how the small bowl went over? Clearly bugged her.
I didn’t purposely pull away from my friend, but that’s exactly what happened. That’s all to say that I’d handle the interaction 1,000 percent differently today.
If you have somebody in your life that you don’t want to give up, explore the topic in your journal. Challenge yourself to write about why this relationship is so difficult and why this friendship is so precious to you? Add three ways to keep the relationship as you go forward. What does it mean to lose a friend? Do we “grow out” of people? Just keep writing in your journal. (Remember Dora in Nemo.,”Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming.”)
They’ve done studies concluding that habits are contagious no matter whether we’re talking good habits or bad.
Like a terrible virus.
They also say that we can catch habits from our friends’ friends. Makes sense if you think about it. If my good friend, Sarah, has a good friend named Sally and Sally thinks that drinking a bottle of chardonnay on her own every night is just the thing, then Sarah might end up drinking more too and subsequently pass the attitude of over drinking onto you.
Here’s my point: we have to give careful thought to who we allow to stay in our lives. That’s what happened for me. My eating and weight bothered me so much that I didn’t want to be around anyone who could even accidentally create a snag in what I was doing (losing weight permanently).
I didn’t say that it would be easy to walk the Smart Eating Path, only that it’ll be worth every hard moment. ♥
Pearl Two
I think you know that I’m not a huge fan of Starbucks, but there are times when I’m in one for a meeting or something like it.
I look up the menu the evening before I meet someone so that it’s easy to order the next day.
As per normal Starbucks puts seasonal drinks on the menu. And the spring drink options are — drum roll please — the following:
Iced Cherry Chai, Iced Lavender Cream Oatmilk Matcha, Iced Lavender Latte, and Lavender Crème Frappuccino Blended Beverage.
The one drink that’s reasonable is the Iced Lavender Latte which comes in at:
- Calories: 135
- Protein: 4.1g
- Sugar: 19g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Fat: 4.7g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
Let’s remember to vote with our dollars: only order healthy drinks. ♥
Pearl Three
Sequencing is taken directly from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The purpose of sequences is to help us move from reacting to circumstances to responding. I encourage you to do a sequence a day in your journal. Powerful stuff.
Initial Sequence
- Situation: (something very concrete): I get dry mouth. It’s from one of the meds I’m on.
- Automatic thought: Ahhh, dry mouth! I can’t talk.
- Feeling: I feel misunderstood. People around me in public and at home don’t understand how awful dry mouth is. It gets so bad that I can’t form words.
- Action: I reach for anything that’s liquid.
- Result: No growth, no learning, more dry mouth problems.
Chosen Sequence
- Situation: (something very concrete): I get dry mouth. It’s from one of the meds.
- Chosen thought: there has to be a better way to live with my “dry mouth.”
- Feeling: Productive. Like of course I can solve for “x” here.
- Action: I – okay, duh – keep a small water bottle in my purse at all times.
- Result: I learned that I hadn’t taken the “bull by the horns” and solve the problem for myself. ♥
Pearl Four
Books love us and want us to be happy
I’m just halfway through this marvel of a book called My Name Is Lucy Barton: A Novel by Elizabeth Strout. So halfway in give this story five thumbs up.
Pearl Five
Most people have an insufficient reason for action. The pain isn’t painful enough. It’s a nice-to-have, not a must-have. There has not been an (“aha” moment”). ♥
Tim Ferris
I’ve been knee-deep in a Philadelphia article this week. Sounds like a great city to visit especially if you’re a history lover.
Would you believe that there’s now an app where we can reserve our parking spot? I learned this because Philly has so much to offer visitors except parking spaces. lol. Spothero.com
If you’ve enjoyed this post it would be so great if you could pass it on. And thank you.
Have a smart- eating week!
♥, Wendy
You know the scoop: I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you buy from a link in my post, I’ll receive money, but the arrangement won’t cost you a dime.
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I am not an expert, doctor, surgeon, nurse, dietician, or nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
