People are always amazed at how much I eat. My husband weighs twice as much as me and eats half as much as me and he still has to watch what he eats. I eat so much that I never even think about food because I am too full and satisfied.  Of course that does not keep me from eating as much chocolate as I want all day.

So why am I not fat? First of all; vanity.  I DON’T want to be fat!  I want to look my best.  As an artist aesthetics are very important to me and I am my own work of art.  Second, I want to be healthy.  I want to be around for many years for my family and being overweight is hard on the body.  Third, I LOVE TO EAT so I want to be able to eat as much as I want and not worry about it.

I have never had a problem with havingness. It is not my nature to deny myself things that I want if I can find a creative way to get them.  Of course I am going to have my cake and eat it too, why else would I have a cake.  In fact some night I am going to make one of those gooey undercooked greasy “chocolate bacon cakes” that that guy on the radio from “Lake Woebegone” talks about.  The kind you won’t find at the grocery store and have to make yourself in the middle of the night when no-one is watching. This will come under “JUMPING off the wagon” as I will explain later.

Okay, here is my secret. It’s nothing new and it may not work for everyone but it works for me.  I EAT A HUMONGOUS BREAKFAST!   Imagine that. My typical breakfast is 2 cups of coffee filled a fourth full with half-and-half cream.  I fix a big bowl of frozen blueberries, strawberries and a whole large barely ripe banana.  I then make a giant bowl of spaghetti pasta (I like the gluten free kind) which I pour on top of a bunch of melted cheese.  I have some kind of meat or protein with that; chicken, beef, what-ever.  I have a fresh spinach salad usually left over from the night before with large chunks of fresh ginger, avocadoes, and potato chips and sausage.  I get one of those little plates like one would put soy sauce in at a sushi restaurant and fill it with crunchy peanut butter and eat that on the side.  I get another one of those little bowls and fill it with extra virgin olive oil and pour that all over my pasta like milk on cereal.  I have a huge glass of Orange juice mixed with water to drink.

And my friends wonder why I am not a lady who lunches. Who wants lunch!  Who has time for lunch! Who wants anything to eat all day long after that except for 85% dark chocolate.  If you ate that much for breakfast do you think you would be thinking about food the rest of the day?  Notice that eating a giant breakfast does not mean eating a million boxes of doughnuts unless a meteor is crashing to earth and you are going to die anyway.

Be sensible about it, don’t over-do it to the point that you get sick or explode.  So evening comes and its 5 o’clock somewhere; time for a drink.

I have a glass of inexpensive but good “Twisted Old Vine Zinfandel” red wine in one of those big beautiful red wine glasses and eat apple and orange slices while I listen to music and dance around the kitchen full of animals {cats, dog, birds} as I prepare dinner.  Or I may have a “Kettle One” vodka martini.

I LOVE A PERFECT MARTINI!

The trick is to just have one, NEVER EVER two!  If you cannot be responsible and moderate with alcohol then simply DON’T drink.

Dinner ALWAYS includes a GIANT fresh salad (usually from a box of organic mixed greens that does not have to be washed).  The salad is covered in tons of cilantro, fresh ginger, fresh rosemary, bell peppers, cucumbers or really any kind of handy vegetable.  If I am eating alone for some reason, a plastic box of spinach will do.  I then squeeze fresh lime juice all over it {no fattening yucky dressing}.

There is always some kind of protein, usually what-ever is on sale at the grocery store whether it be meat, fish, pork, or chicken.  I may fix some basmati rice as a side dish for the rest of my family but at this point I lay off the carbs.

There will be time enough for carbs the next morning. So I have a super giant fresh salad with some kind of protein on the side.  YUMMY!

After dinner it is time for a walk and the walk is NOT negotiable.  I don’t care if it is freezing, dark, snowing, raining, or muddy and the bears and mountain lions are on the prowl {I live in Colorado} the dog and I go out into the night. You have to get exercise; there is no way around it.  It is good for the mind, body and soul, AND THE DOG.

I recently watched a show Oprah did on weight loss. She advertised it as revolutionary and was really excited about it.  It involved a book called “Women, Food, and God: an Unexpected Path to Almost Everything”, by Geneen Roth.  I have not read the book so I can’t comment on it. I did however watch Oprah’s interview with the author. They discussed the book and Oprah and her audience that had read it, raved about this spiritual perspective on over-eating and found it very helpful.

It seemed to me that everyone was still over-complicating the whole weight loss issue.  It was heart-breaking to hear many of the women at the show talk about their constant struggle with their weight and their self-hatred for allowing themselves to not meet their own expectations. They also felt horrible about modeling such low self esteem in front of their children.

I kept thinking that it does not have to be that complicated. It is human nature to obsess on something that you feel you cannot get enough of.  If you could eat and eat and eat all you want and not worry about it you would probably get so full or bored you would find something else to think about.

When you are sick you probably don’t feel like eating.  Why is this?  It is probably because you “don’t feel like eating”. If you are completely full and satisfied you are probably not going to feel like eating, or even think about it because you “don’t feel like eating”.  When your body is well-nourished with lots of healthy food you are not so likely to get those compulsive cravings.

Yes, you do need to use some self control in the evening and not pig out like you did at breakfast but that’s not that hard to do when you know that you get to wake up and indulge in a smorgasbord to your heart’s content a few hours later.

I will admit, sometimes at night when I am watching TV I think gosh that triple cheeseburger, chocolate shake and fried blossom onion sure look good and I could sure dive into that.  But I am in bed and morning will be here soon enough and I can have whatever I want then.

If you consciously decide that you want to indulge in such a binge then take responsibility and pick out a time and JUMP off the wagon!!!  Sometimes just giving yourself permission to be decadent if you want too is enough to satisfy you.  For instance, you say, “gee I think I will eat that carton of new lemon Haagen-Dazs with the five pure ingredients at 2:00 P.M. or maybe I will clean the toilet instead.”  You will be surprised at the empowerment making a conscious choice will give you.

Don’t fall off the wagon, JUMP off the wagon if you so choose and enjoy every second of it. You won’t be mad at yourself afterwards because it was a conscious choice and you can choose to leap back on the wagon later.  There is no flood gate that has opened and no dam has burst allowing you to fall into a pitiful cycle of woe is me, now I might as well eat crap all day for the rest of my life because I am just a weak screw up and there is no hope for me so what difference does it make.

I am really really big on being kind to oneself.  Be nice to yourself.  Find something to compliment yourself on, anything will do.  Say it out loud so your brain thinks it, your mouth says it, and your ears hear it. This way it involves a number of your sensory perceptions and sinks in better.  Talking to yourself is also funny and you will find yourself laughing.  Find ways to admire things even if they are bad. For instance, “Wow, that tornado did a really good job blowing away my house”, or that is the finest pile of dog crap I have ever stepped in, just the right amount of stench and squishiness!” When you can admire the horribleness of something it does not have so much power over you.

Say wonderful things to yourself even if you don’t think it is true. Fake it till you make it as they say.  Ladies, put your makeup on even if you are the only one to see yourself.  It should be for you anyway.  Treat yourself like an honored guest or a best friend.  Think of ways you can spread kindness to others, even if it is a smile or a kind word of support.

For God’s sake quit watching the horrid wretched news! You will feel so much better you will probably lose ten pounds the first week just doing that. Another thing, don’t dwell on the past.  The past is the past!

You might say, I just don’t have time to eat like a pig in the morning and the last thing I can think about that early is food.  Well, get up earlier!  You will also be surprised at how hungry you can train yourself to be especially when you eat such a light dinner the night before. Maybe you could move your lunch hour up a couple hours making it more of a brunch.

Do whatever it takes because your health is at risk. And don’t forget about the benefits of super dark chocolate.  You can nibble on that all day if you want.  One is not so likely to binge on something that does not contain much sugar.  How often do you catch yourself mindlessly binging on celery?

One more thing.

DON’T DRINK DIET DRINKS! They will screw you up royally! To find out the reason why, I recommend reading “All Water is Not Created Equal” at www.Janhaleblog.com.  It could change your life and the world.

My point with this whole blog post is, don’t deny yourself! Indulge yourself; DON’T DIET!  Eat, eat, eat!  Just make it healthy, fun, wildly decadent, and IN THE MORNING!

To read or hear the poem “Forbidden” about the chocolate bacon cake, as read by Garrison Keillor,

go to:

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2009/10/24/scripts/forbidden.shtml

I would all love to hear about the ways you have found to indulge yourself while maintaining a healthy balance.  Please leave your stories or comments for me and everyone else and by all means feel free to share any of my blog posts with anyone you think will enjoy them. I am very new at blogging and I have not quite figured out how to do individual replies to your comments but I want you to know that I read each and every one of them and I appreciate you taking your time to visit with me and leave your comments.  Thank you so much!  YOU ARE THE FORCE!