Saturday, August 24, 2013

Mindful eating


 I have just finished week seven of Weight Watchers, still going to the meetings every Friday morning at 10:30. Yesterday I celebrated my first goal. I have now lost 5% of my body weight. I feel so much better just having 8 less pounds. I can walk the hills in our neighborhood at a good pace without feeling like I am going to pass out. I was starting to have problems with acid reflux, gone now. My knees don't hurt, joints don't hurt, and I have a lot more energy. Also, my old favorite clothes fit again and my arms don't look like an old lady! Eight more to go!

Yesterday at the meeting, the leader was talking about quick meals and as everyone mentioned their tricks for quick meals, I realized I don't do quick meals anymore. Others talked about their Lean Cuisines and their Wendy's drive through salad, and the frozen steamed veggies. All the while I was thinking about the fresh cantaloupe and tomatoes I stopped and picked up at a roadside stand last week, thought about the beautiful red and yellow and green peppers I picked up at the farmers market last week. I sliced all of them up and put them in a clear container and reached for them all week for snacking and for use in stirfry, along with all the other fruits and veggies I picked up.

I think frozen meals are really misleading. I used to buy them for nights when I was here alone, but then I started looking at what I was really eating, and thought, "what? I can make this with fresh ingredients quicker than I can thaw this out in the microwave", which by the way, zaps all the enzymes so you lose all nutritious value to that food. Last year we got rid of the microwave and I have not missed it one bit.
I can take a few minutes on a Saturday or a Sunday, prep all of my veggies and fruits and they are there and ready for me to enjoy all week. I don't like to buy the pre chopped vegetables and fruits at the grocery store, because then I am stuck with the plastic containers and recycling them. I actually enjoy the time I spend washing all the beautiful things I get at the farmers market and cutting them up. I enjoy the smell of a fresh cantaloupe, the redness of a fresh tomato, the juice of a ripe watermelon. Having direct contact with the food that will fuel and nourish my body reminds me of how important eating good food really is. This time I spend preparing meals is a mindful process for me and one I have not always considered. I used to dread fixing meals, and I was bad about just shoving something in to sustain me, not even really considering if it was doing me any good. But then I realized, I am very lucky to have access to good food and I should be grateful and more respectful to the food I eat that sustains me and my family. Another bonus, is that Wesley has formed good eating habits at a young age. Just as I was typing this post, I got a text from her saying she was heading to the farmers market at Old Salem. Talk about mindful eating. Old Salem is such a beautiful place, what a great way to spend a Saturday morning. Instead of waking up with a hangover from a Friday night college party, my girl is heading to the market to buy fresh food! I am smiling as I write this, and so proud of her!

Since I started WW, I have not been through a single fast food establishment, except Subway, where I got a chopped salad, which was delicious. I have had three soft drinks, and have finally realized I don't even like sodas. I like the fizz, so I have started buying seltzer water, and that satisfies my fizzy craving. I have had two light beers, don't even really miss those. I have cut out sugar, except for an occasional oatmeal raisin cookie that I baked myself and chocolate, never ever will give up my chocolate! But that's the great thing with WW, you don't have to deprive yourself of anything, just watch the portions!
And I walk every day. Another time for contemplation and quiet.
My body is thanking me for all of this.


If you bite it, write it! I write down every single thing I eat. I am surprised some days at the amount of food I have consumed and fear that I will not move the scale at my Friday weigh in, but every week I drop at least a pound.  If I have to write it down, I think about what I am getting ready to put in my mouth. Writing down a soda and oatmeal cookie for breakfast does not look that good on paper, but having a healthy veggie wrap and fresh fruit looks great. Tracking my food has been the greatest contributor to my weight loss by far. I can look back and see why one week I lose almost two pounds and then one week the scale is creeping back up. I have discovered there is a ton of sodium in restaurant food, and it definitely shows on the scale. So I am much more aware of sodium now than I ever was. And sugar. Sooo much SUGAR in the foods we eat. The last issue of National Geographic had a great story about how toxic sugar is for us. A great read!


Today the scale said 152! My 10% goal is 144, but I would like my final weight to be 140. That is a weight I am very happy at and look best. I'm not interested in looking anorexic, but I was getting a couple of additional chins and a really fat ass. Not to mention health issues and feeling like shit.
This is working and it's easy!


Most of my week has been filled with trips out of town picking up props for the upcoming show I'm working on. The set will be a live radio show. I was able to get this old sound board for free, thanks to a hook up from my pal Laura's husband Bob! That's what I love about prop work, it's like a treasure hunt. I call someone and they hook me up with another person, and then they hook me up with someone, and before long, I have met a bunch of new people, usually some very eccentric person that I would have never run across otherwise. It's always interesting and fun and I love it!


I needed student chairs for the art installation portion of this show and found these on Craigslist in Kinston, NC, which is a two hour drive from here. It was a beautiful day, and I was needing a long drive fix anyway, so I drove down to pick these up. They were in an old abandoned elementary school, this place was full of office furniture and school furniture. Desks, chairs, file cabinets, projectors, carts, soooo much stuff! It makes my head swell to think of all the unused stuff out there, and the empty buildings, and yet, we just keep manufacturing more and building more. Why do we need more stuff!?!?!? It's crazy and I notice it more and more when I am out looking for props. I can't get my head around this at all.

So right now I am a prop girl. No weaving, no clay, just shopping and searching for the things we need for a show. My phoney baloney life, haha! It's all good though. In the end, this show will raise awareness concerning the pitiful state of our educational system, the state of our prisons with regard to young people and the deplorable conditions in which our teachers have to work. I am happy to be a part of this, it feels good to be working on such an important issue.

It's been a good week. Wesley is settling in to her new home, cooking with her room mates, yesterday they planted a fall garden. I feel really good about where she is. I'm sorting out what I'm doing right now, still feeling like I am in some sort of transition, but it all feels right and I'm not too worried about where my head is. Gerry is about to go into full sports shooting mode. I guess lucky for us this country is obsessed with sports, there is not a lack of need for sports photography, but still..... really?!
I am just waiting for a time when this world can get it's priorities straight. Will it ever come?????

13 comments:

Michèle Hastings said...

You are inspiring! Keep up the posts about eating healthy. When I was working for WW's the meeting leader never advocated the WW frozen meals or any of the shakes & bars. She said to only eat them as a last resort... like you, she said, "Always plan ahead and have fresh food that's easy to grab and go."
Congrats on reaching your first goal.

Tracey Broome said...

Thanks Michele,my leader advocates good fresh foods too,but there are a bunch of not very food wise people in my meetings,hence the weight problem I suppose....

oldgreymare said...

Spent two hours today on phone with teacher pal lamenting the state of the education system and the world in general. Though both of us try to find positives, it is a scary future and since voting is being hijacked in this country what is next seems terrifying to me.

My DD is scouring NY for props for her next film. You both are having fun! I told her when she makes it big she can hire me to help her do the same. :D She also eats very healthy. These kids are so smart.

Tracey Broome said...

Suzan, my friend that is directing and writing this play has over 1300 pages of notes from teachers over the past three years. It's really astounding!
So proud of your girl, looking for props in NY, what a dream! Where was film school when I went to college!? I am also in line for Wes to give me a prop hookup when she hits the big time, haha!

cookingwithgas said...

You are doing so good!
I picked out a few things for Wesley's new pad.
I will need to get them to you so you can take them on one of your trips to see her.

Tracey Broome said...

Aww, thanks for thinking of her. We are long overdue for a visit! Lets figure it out

Unknown said...

Hey, well done Tracey.. keep it up! Oh, and the amount of stuff just getting dumped is astronomical... just look up the number of wooden pallets getting buried in landfill each year in the US... wooden pallets!!.. but then think of the chemical treatments most of these have had too. Anyway that's why i like the pure salvage living guys http://puresalvageliving.com/ You should become a salvage miner Tracey! There are enough resources already out there, they need to just be re-used, re-purposed.
...and i'd just like to say a hangover is a life experience in itself... and so usually is the night before! ; ) i shall research this further for you at the weekend!

Tracey Broome said...

Oh yeah, I have done plenty of research on the hangover situation! Lesson learned :-)
Have fun with that!
I would love to have a big old barn and sell reused/ repurposed items, how fun!

Amy said...

you are inspiring, Tracey. Inspiring! Thanks for sharing.

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