Twitter's Stolen My Appetite

You would not believe the behaviors I am conquering just by taking pictures of my meals to share on twitter before eating. Doing this has led me to think about what I'm doing - sometimes cautiously and carefully. Here's how:

It underlines the importance of honesty.
Oh, I've had the inkling to deceive you by taking a picture before adding cheese to a scramble of some kind...but I didn't! Taking shots of eggs and bacon or whatevers every morning and plowing through with images of lunches and dinners has heightened my respect for my personal dignity.

I am more conscious of what goes in.
Changing my diet from a drive-thru and/or quick bites and big dinners lifestyle is a process for me. I'm not 100% there yet...but I've done some mental and social work to tweak my behaviors already (hosting a real foods group has been especially helpful) and am more aware of what is going to pass my lips. Taking a picture of what is about to end up in my stomach? Yeah. I am not going to want to share a picture of a sloppy burger and a heap of fries without having thought it through.

Note: I ate that very burger and gave most of my fries away the Friday night I went out with my friends. And I didn't feel bad about eating it OR tweeting it because I'm taking better care and attention of what I eat ALL the time now. That burger was awesome and a good choice. I make even healthier choices day to day, meal to meal, so I don't feel guilty.

I think about food differently.
And I can't say that tweeting what I eat is wholly responsible for the change in how I think about food, but it does have influence over presentation.

For a while I have planned meals and grocery shopping (as part of yet another group I started for people who want better home organization). I still do that...but because I am tweeting, I plan to make even nicer things to look at. I hate tweeting pictures of blobs of food. I do eat blobs of food sometimes, but I mostly want to make things that look delicious.

Portion control is spontaneous.
My -portion- size has trimmed on its own. It has! I am not going to send you an image of a heaping plate of spaghetti bolognese with two slices of garlic bread and a meager salad of not much in it. I did eat like that.

I don't now.

Just the other day I tweeted a photo of spaghetti squash with three meatballs and sauce. I skipped the garlic bread and the salad and was still satisfied, not left feeling hungry or wanting, which means I can eat less and feel just fine about it. Being aware of how much food is on my plate is all twitter's fault. I love it. I won't cheat myself by going hungry because that will just push me to binge eat between meals. I eat enough to satisfy my stomach but also appeal to my sense of pride (and embarrassment!) because I am tweeting what I eat.

I get to share my life.
Now I find myself excited to show you what I'm doing. I am not having but wanting to photo journal every day....and I get to avoid food logging the old fashioned way and I inspire people to cook more and I get asked for recipes. This feeds my slightly social personality.

I encourage you to try this for yourself in case you find the same benefits - or even better ones. #tweetyereats with me @wendytime

The Potency of Slow

I read so much applicable information in Anat Baniel's Kid's Beyond Limits that I've incorporated her methods for teaching children and parents of special needs the sacred art of movement into my everyday life.

If I was still reading this book in tidbits of time, only picking it up here or there, I believe I would have missed out on a lot of valuable material. Before I slowed myself down, I would have gotten the gist of the book and probably would've liked it...but the richness of taking it all in was far better.

I still have a lot of books to finish. This many:

Most of them I intend to read from the beginning so I don't miss anything useful.

This basket of books is symbolic to me. It is a heap of unfinished, in-progress, well-intended ideas that didn't get the time or the effort they deserve. When I leave open books all over my house and in my car....and only read a little at a time whenever/wherever I happen to be....I'm impeding progress, delaying gratification (of having finished a good read), being too busy, denying myself the real privilege of reading.

I do this to myself in so many other ways: take on way, too much...kick off lots of ideas that I don't have the time or patience for...and then suffer the consequences of having various items, people, events, projects waiting for my attention. And when do I ever get to me? I don't. Not with heaps of things like this all over my life.

So, I'm doing this "read one book at a time thing" to get through the book pile and get what I really can out of it. I'm doing a "take on one project at a time" thing, too...helping out Mason's Toy Box through December 19th. I've bolstered support for my own nutritional needs by hosting a REAL FOODS group in my home and it is slowly growing in membership and ideas are spilling and I'm not the only one generating them. I love it.

The difference shows in my body: I'm slimming down. I smile more. I feel good, generally. It's nice.

I'm "mastering" these things before I move ahead - and I have every intention to move ahead - at a pace that is more kind to me. I have a lot of projects waiting for my attention and I feel that's okay.  I feel much less guilt when I wait to do something and finish it....than if I jump to do something and don't.