8.7.11 - Tripping up yesterday & gaining renewed motivation from 2 great documentaries

I should have gotten so much more done with work today than I actually have.  I have spent the majority of my afternoon and evening with thoughts actions on Kai's and my journey.  I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead today.  Last night I watched Food, Inc.

Food Inc. made me want to stay devoted to a low meat diet forever.  It also made me want to stick to good choices at the grocery store.  Buying as much as I can that is locally grown and organic.  I realized if I eat organic it wouldn't be as costly if I was eating less meat, processed foods and sugar.  A high veggie/fruit/grain diet leaves you satisfied so you eat less during the day.

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead gave me that burst of motivation to continue.  Here are some of my favorite things from the movie:

-"You do the crime, you do the time."  This was Joe's initial feeling starting out.  Expressing how hard it was to stick to the diet in the beginning.  The depressing thoughts of the long journey ahead. 
-Most people keep putting off changing to a healthy lifestyle to a more convenient time.  I was amazed at the young people he interviewed in their 20's and 30's who look awful... at least twice their age!

-People feel they eat what they want as it makes them happy and if that means they die early, they die happy.  

-DR: we don't have to have to be demented, have heart disease, strokes, most cancers.  We do most of these things to ourselves by our daily choices.

-If you Juice, your mates will think your extreme ,crazy...

-It's about maintaining a balanced lifestyle.  If you go back to your old ways, you'll be back to your old self in no time.  The choice is yours. 

- A balanced lifestyle in moderation--not perfection!

-"People say I couldn't do that, w/out even trying.  So what if you do it for 7 days then stop. Good on you for trying."  

This movie reminds me of the need for us to keep trying.  If something doesn't work, try something else but never stop trying. If a good diet or lifestyle you are maintaining gets put off for a day... you goof up, don't let that be an excuse to stop all together or a reason to eat poorly the next day.  

Speaking of... so yesterday we had a congregation picnic.  It was a good day.  I went out in service in the morning and resisted the urge to eat pastries and high calorie coffee drinks.  I just drank water and wasn't tempted.  I ate tuna with onions, garlic and pickles for lunch (no bread).  The picnic had an amazing amount of vegetarian dishes.  Cut fruit, meatless lasagna, broccoli salad, etc. I started with fruit but when i realized there were so many more choices, I filled my plate with some of them.  Then when I wanted a taste of a new salad that arrived, I went for seconds.  I realized the new salad had bacon in it... something i am not eating.  Yet I found my mind slipping back into it's old self rationalizing that maybe this once wasn't so bad... it was just a few crumbles of bacon.  After all, maybe i instead would follow the flexitarian diet!  That is mostly vegetarian with "some" meat every once in a while.  I ate the salad.  Then my mind started to play tricks on me.  I realized i now had eaten more than I should have.  I also cheated with the bacon.  So a third helping wouldn't matter at this point.  I felt my mood slip even more.  I was now grumpy and unsocial.  I ate a piece of cake.  Hey, it's part of my diet if I want... a vegetarian diet can include cake.... it was my OWN created wish to stay away from sugar. 

Needless to say, the headache I had all day got worse and I was now feeling completely grumpy being I had totally lost control. I left with friends who could take me home early and told Kevin I'd see him later at home. 

I was reminded of an important thing.  Eating bad or abandoning my goals makes me feel REALLY bad.  I get disappointed with myself, even angry which puts me in a horrific mood.  My family gets the brunt end of that as I am now upset with them as well.  Heck, I am mad at the world at this point.  Eating well and maintaining a good diet may require total deprivation of some foods for me.  I have an emotional disorder and that quickly leads to overeating and rationalizing wrong choices.  I must watch what I eat and think twice before diving in.  Watching the two movies really helped me gain motivation to get back on track.  I ate GREAT today completely sticking to the Lacto-Ovo-Pectarian diet.  


In the future, I want to remember the saying from a motivational speaker.  He reminded the audience about how they feel after going to a motivational seminar, read a good book, or come across something inspiring. You feel this amazing willpower to change; like you can conquer the world.  Then as time passes, sometimes even a few hours, that feeling slowly slips away as realities of life slip in.  If you don't immediately set goals and take action to make those goals, it's difficult change anything you wanted to.  We must constantly remind ourselves of WHY we are doing something.  Every day, I have to wake up and meditate on the really important things for that day.  For me, it will start with sticking to a healthy regime as all other goals are much easier to make when I feel good mentally and physically.  If a day ends with bad choices, re-reading these posts, watching tidbits of these movies or something of the like will help me get back on track the next day.  But it will be vital that day start with focused meditation on making good choices and not letting the prior day lead to a allowance of bad choices the next day.  As Joe Cross put it,  "It's about maintaining a balanced lifestyle.  If you go back to your old ways, you'll be back to your old self in no time.  The choice is yours."