Savvy Self-Awareness

Weekends are tough because I am often confronted with many challenges.  Yesterday I brought lunch to my 2-year-old grandson who is a total carb-eater.  I thought I was being so smart by supplementing his whole wheat bagels with some things for the rest of his family as well as me.  I brought lox for my granddaughter with low-fat cream cheese.  I added some hard-boiled eggs, bean salad and couscous salad.  I ate a tablespoon of each salad and proceeded to eat the bagel with ever so little lox and cream cheese. The hard-boiled eggs would have been a better choice.  Nevertheless, I felt I had done reasonably well.

Dinner arrived and we went to Mohawk Raceway where there was only a buffet dinner.  I filled my plate the first time with salads of various kinds and the second with roast beef and more veggies.  I didn't have any wine, bread or dessert.  Sadly I gained 1.7 pounds this morning.  Too much salt?  Too much food?  Could it be a combination of both?  Could it be, I didn't plan before I ate lunch or dinner?  The salads were probably loaded with oil as well.  It could be a combination of all of the above.  It could be water retention as well.  If I knew I was going to gain weight, I could have enjoyed a rich dessert and a glass of wine instead of making other bad choices.  At least, I would have made that choice.

This had followed a morning of elation when I weighed in reaching my first goal of losing 11 pounds and receiving a purple star.  So where is the savvy self-awareness?  It is stopping dead in my tracks and reviewing the possiblities of the error of my ways. 

In the grocery store it is easier to be a savvy shopper.  It is easy to shop the perimeter of the store where we find the fresh fruit, vegetables and milk, meat and fish.  It is easier too to be savvy enough to plan ahead before a meal.  I do that at home.  It isn't difficult to read labels should we venture into the interior aisles where one can find the packaged, bottled or canned goods.

The good news is self-awareness and not to get too down on yourself but soldier on to make sure that the next meal is a better one.  Like an alcoholic, a food-aholic has to deal with it moment by moment, meal by meal.