Strawberries are in-season! Yes, they’re pricey, but the Smart Eating Path is all about eating in-season.
Pearl One
“I never have coffee before we head out because it makes me poop.”
So said my younger Arizona sister Lucy who made an offhand comment about planning and prepping to hike the Grand Canyon’s (GC) “rim-to-rim.” The term is just what it sounds like: from the top of one side of the canyon hikers descend to the canyon’s floor, trek the ten-miles, cross the raging Colorado River on a suspension bridge (freaked my sister out) and hike up the other canyon-side.
So, when Lucy casually added, “Ben and I start planning and prepping for the rim-to-rim a good six months in advance.” (Ben grew up in Phoenix and has crossed the GC over two dozen times. Regular hikers need a full year’s prep.)
Ben is local to Tucson and knows his way around the GC we can cut a few months off.
At her words, my ears perked. The parallels between planning and prepping for a monstrous hike and planning for a lifetime-weight loss with a scarfer onboard seemed pretty obvious to me.
Here’s what I learned: My sister and her husband plan as if their lives depend on it because they do: people die in the canyon every year (eleven people out of millions of visitors) and 250 are airlifted out by helicopter.
Am I suggesting that nailing a permanent weight loss is akin to hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim? Yes. In fact, I thing being a female over-thriving with a scarfer is much more ominous.. For many decades the diet-cartel has murmured sweet nothings into our ear assuring us that this time will be different and we will lose weight; that we just needed to use their product and we will be “successful.”
Keep in mind that neither side has decreed what successful actually means. When eating well gets particularly difficult, default into micro planning your days. ♥
Pearl Two
I never get hungry. The idea behind my forever-loss is that I never get starving-hungry. Could there be a more important strategy? I don’t think so. It’s to get in touch with your hunger. Getting overly-hungry is the sure-fire way to careen off the Smart Eating Path. (More on hunger in a future post.)
And I’m not only talking about those times when we’re so hungry we could eat everything in sight, I’m talking about the kind of hunger that presents itself after a meal as in, “gee, a handful of peanut M&Ms sure sounds good right now.”
Would you believe that last night the cavewoman part of my brain suggested this very handful of candy to me? It wasn’t ten or twenty years ago. It was last night.
Just as I started to vacuum up the calories, I realized what was happening — I was merely still hungry — so I had a small bowl of cereal. My M&M craving? Gone.
When I catch myself daydreaming about eating the chocolate peanut butter cups, or stopping at Wendy’s for a frosty, I remind myself that food-daydreams are nothing more than a signal of hunger. Remind yourself often, “I don’t need junk food, I just need food-food.” ♥
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.
Automatic Sequence
This sequence is about Kyle Bryant and I wrote these words not Kyle.
- Situation (be very concrete and specific) I was diagnosed at 17 with Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare and progressive neurogenic disease. It causes balance problems and most with FA transition to a wheelchair.
- Thought: My life is over.
- Feeling: Total despair.
- Action: I’m enraged.
- Result: Family is walking on eggshells.
With many, many, many bridges between the first and last sequence.
Responsive Sequence
- Situation (be very concrete and specific) I was diagnosed at age age 17 with Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare and progressive neurogenic disease.
- Chosen thought: I saw an outdoor recumbent trike and thought I could ride that.
- Feeling: Hopeful and determined.
- Action: I bought my own trike in red so that it would match my truck. I began to join others in making several small group rides around Northern California.
- Result: After many rides to get into shape, I was one of a four-man team to cross the U.S. from San Diego (West Coast) to Annapolis, Maryland (East Coast). We made the 3,000 mile ride in 8 days, 8 hours and 13 minutes.
To read more about Kyle Bryant you’ll find his story here: ♥♥♥
Pearl Four
Books love us and want us to be happy
Three of my most favorite books of all time:
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. Her first book snagged the Pulitzer’s Fiction Runner Up in 2018 and is proof that aliens live among us.
The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson – Funny and phenomenal.
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus. Too hard to describe, but so good. I love learning about other cultures.
All three are awesome. ♥
Pearl Five
“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.” – Mary Poppins ♥
I might know a little too much about the royal family.
Have a great 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.
Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!!
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.
