Bright Line Eating

In the shower this morning, planning my day and thinking about shopping for food to support Bright Line Eating, the thoughts came fast and furious and I wanted to journal. I have purchased a paper journal for a daily evening gratitude entry, and thought that would be a good place, but immediately realized that my handwriting would never keep up with the words rushing from my little grey cells. So here I am, back on the blog I had forsaken as a futile exercise in self help.

Good for me, I haven't really given up, just taken a break. A break from managing my food, a break from disappointing myself, and a break from recording the whole shoddy mess. 'That being said' (I love to say that) I owe respect and gratitude to my past self for lessons learned, and for carefully putting my tools away so I could find and use them later.

I have not finished listening to Bright Line Eating yet, but I already have one foot on board. To oversimplify, there are many parts to the eating program that speak to how I ate for the three years I was eating for nutrition and lost 50 pounds. I've had a few conversations with people in my life about why I couldn't sustain eating that way, and perhaps Susan (Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. who wrote BLE) has the answer. But I have been impressed enough to call this Day One and have erected three of the four bright lines that are proposed in her book. A bright line is a line you won't cross, and I drew mine this morning for sugar, flour, and snacking. Again, I am oversimplifying, Suffice it to say that I will not be eating sugar or flour, and I will not be snacking between meals.

For right now I will be pepping means for nutrition and following the guidelines for veggies, protein and fruit that I have found online for Bright Line eating. I haven't reached the food plan in the audio book yet, but I have been listening to a couple or three vlogs by Susan each day to supplement my listening. Breakfast was a side of sweet potato &onion hash and 6oz of fruit (blackberries & apple) microwaved until jammy and stirred into Greek yogurt and pecan pieces. A hearty breakfast. For lunch I sauteed peppers and onions until cooked then stirred in mushrooms and cooked until brown and the water had evaporated. For protein I microwaved with cheese and added some sausage. I had flavoured the veggies with fennel, italian seasoning and red pepper flakes so the resulting bowl had all the comfort of pizza but no sugar or flour.  Not on program I would guess, but the proportions of veggie to protein should have been close.

Dinner was lentil stoup, made with a couple of smoked turkey wings, a little wild rice, and lots of onion, carrot, zucchini and spinach. I de-boned the wings and threw away the bone, skin and fat, adding the meat back to the veggies. So Delicious.  I had forgotten how much I adore stoups. And there is enough for several more dinners, quick and easy, in the coming week.

As I continue learning about the program my menu will adjust accordingly, but I have no desire to dedicate myself to eating perfectly in order to get the optimal results. I am too old and know myself too well to go there. Instead I will eat more as if I were on maintenance for now. Just eliminating sugar, flour and snacks is already a huge change and I don't want to add any additional stress to my life.

Speaking of my life, let's catch up a bit. I began eating meat again a couple of years ago. Just BLT Mondays with the family at first and gradually other items became something I wasn't saying no to as my daughter and her family prepared their meals. Mostly it was just easier. And then came the holiday season of 2018, and with it RSV - a nasty cold virus - and complications for my little grandson C. He was in and out of hospital fighting to breathe, and finally in February was diagnosed with Leukemia. He has been in and out of hospital for treatments and urgent care on and off all year, including his 2nd birthday, and remains in treatment with a good chance of recovery. But the long term side effects of the treatment are something I know a nutritious diet may help mitigate and this is part of my incentive to think about my food, and weight, and ability to move so I can set a good example.

So here I go, putting on the oxygen mask.

I have a meditation book to read each morning, a stool to help me be comfortable while I meditate, and a journal to end each day with a gratitude entry. We have all learned that we need positive thoughts just to get through each day without losing our minds, and I have no room for any negativity. Part of Susan's philosophy is to remove the chatter from our brains, and I love how she has introduced brain science into the equation of how we eat, how we shouldn't eat, and why.

It's been a busy day, and I feel different just from deciding to do this. I have been listening to the book for a few days and woke up this morning and just decided. A quick trip to buy groceries and some time spent in the kitchen and I'm on my way. I'm really looking forward to eating better this week; I'm really looking forward to feeling better!

Peace Out.