Mind Over Fatter

Initially, I thought I might write about waiting.  This week I was kept waiting 25 minutes after my appointment time at the doctor’s office before being called back. I had fasted in order to give blood  and I had not had a good cup of coffee or breakfast. I had grown hangry (hungry + angry) and it was about to get ugly.  (Please know I have ruined date nights, family outings and vacations with my hanger.)  But then they called me back.  And then they kept me waiting in a little room with no windows, no clock and no access to the outside world and in a hospital gown that kept me from opening the door to see what the hold-up was.  (Hangry will always win against common sense, a good upbringing and manners).  It made me think about how much waiting I was doing, all the traffic I waited through to get there, wait, wait, wait was on my mind.  And you know if it is on my mind, it invariably becomes my words.

However, the fasting was to give blood to have everything in my blood tested and my test results now have me thinking of other things.  I am apparently Vitamin D deficient.  What?!?  Is that a thing?  It is and it is a very popular thing lately, so look at me being trendy.  Google search assured me I will get rickets.  However, the real downer of the blood work was my high cholesterol and the fact that I am of an age where I have to do something about it.  Ew.  I like to take as little medication, especially daily medication, as possible so I am not rushing to swallow a Lipitor every day.  This leads me to making dietary changes to lower it.  I hate the word diet, so I have decided to spend the next thirty days trying out mindful eating and exercising to see if that won’t lower it.

Not at alarming levels, but still alarming.

 

I like to eat, but I am not sure I like to mindfully eat.  I don’t even menu plan for the week even though it makes life easier, lends itself to less waste, and brings down the grocery budget. I really just like to eat.  But, I would also really like to lower my cholesterol so I started thinking about things I should cut out of my normal eating.   I don’t eat a lot of meat, so I can’t get away with saying “I will cut down on my meat and fix this!”  What else could I rid my diet of?  Cheese, beautiful cheese, how can I forsake thee?  Fat-free cheese instead?  Ugh.  Why not say soy cheese or nut cheese and really make me cry?  Chocolate?  Oh God, please don’t let chocolate be high in cholesterol!  Whew, it is not.  One ounce a day is perfect.  I am not sure how big an ounce is, but I am pretty sure it is a handful of chocolate chips three times a day or six pieces of random office candy. 

Because I enjoy eating the way I do, I found myself growing sad at the thought of not eating things I like.  So what if instead, I just stopped to consider if what I was putting in my mouth was good for me?  Is an oat bar in the morning really the best start to my day?  Could I do better eating steel cut oats and fruit?  I guess I could.  Do I need to eat two pieces plus a little bit more, little bit more, alright three pieces of pizza on pizza night?  Or could I eat one big piece and load up with veggies, holding the ranch?  I have yet to try this, but maybe.  I started to see how by asking myself “should I?” rather than “NO!”, and by being mindful rather than restrictive, that this might work.

Day One of Mindful Eating/Lower the Cholesterol or MELC will begin on Monday and I will report back on my results at the end of Day Thirty.  Why not start today?  HAHAHA.  Hello, it is a Friday!  It has been a long week and I am in no position to be mindful.  Plus I ate queso at breakfast.  This was not a mindful choice, but it was a very, very tasty one.