As I write, I am sitting here munching a bowl of popcorn.  Granted it’s “healthy” popcorn, not heavily buttered or sweetened but that’s not the problem.  The problem is I am eating unconsciously and by habit, not because I am hungry and need fuel to function.  The problem is I am doing something else (reading email and browsing the internet) and not focusing in the taste of the food or the signals my body is trying to send me, saying I’m full and don’t need to eat more.

Cutting Calories Without County Calories By Susan Young The one rule I set for myself at the beginning of this journey was NO MORE DIETS!  Here I am starting week three with the gals at DailyBread365 and the topic of today’s thought (Day 22) is cutting calories!  I almost skipped it entirely but knowing Lucy’s dedication a healthy lifestyle, I jumped in and gave the article a closer look.  Sure enough, Lucy is not advocating getting on the merry-go-round scale or measuring and weighing each bite of food.  She is merely reaffirming common tenants that some types of food contain higher caloric content and are more easily converted to fat storage. Today’s “lesson” touches briefly on  the difference between essential and non-essential fats, refined or processed foods, and the dangers of filling up on empty calories. Good information to recall, even when you are NOT dieting, like me. If you have read my previous posts you will know that I am working on changing my whole life experience.  I am using self-hypnosis books, tapes and videos to reprogram myself to see food and exercise in a different light. I have spent a lifetime using food as a substitute for other things I thought were missing in my life.  Food was love.  Food was affirmation.  Food was comfort.  Food was entertainment. Now, I have come to realize that food is fuel.  Fuel to accomplish the tasks I need and choose to do each day. Another pattern of thinking that I am working on changing is my attitude about exercise.  As a child, young adult, and middle age women, I saw exercise as work, punishment, torture, the enemy, or something other people did. Now, I am learning to find health and well-being as rewarding incentives to exercise.  I am learning to appreciate the improved mobility and strength that are the results of a few hours a week of activity. I’m not all the way there, where ever there might be but I am progressing nicely along the path to a healthier, stronger and fitter body and lifestyle.