One of my best friends and his wife and youngest son were doing the same thing. It worked out that we were able to have lunch together, which is a rare and pleasant happening as they ordinarily live 5 plus hours away from us!
He recommended the Chapala Mexican restaurant as he had eaten there before and since we all like authentic mexican food, we went.
I can count on one hand how many restaurants I’ve eaten at in the last 6 ½ months. I have mostly chosen to “not go and try to eat carefully” as it is ususally just not worth the emotional stress of “being good” and staying with my reduced eating plan.
But there are occasions such as this that demand attendance…I wouldn’t have missed this lunch with my friends for anything!
So I tried to order wisely from the menu.
The food was enjoyable, the company more so.
I felt full about halfway thru the meal.
That is not my normal.
I almost never recognise the feeling of fulness while I am still eating.
For years “my normal” was a very, very full (like at Thanksgiving full) feeling to the point of pain.
Everytime I ate.
So this was uncharted territory for me.
I still had half the food left on my plate. I could have eaten the rest and made it fit into the amount of calories I wanted to eat that day and be okay with my eating plan. That would have given me a very uncomfortably full feeling.
I was eating slower on purpose, I was busy in conversation and not as concentrated on the food, and this slowed the eating down further. (Hmmmm.)
But now I was in a dilemma. I'm not used to recognising “comfortable full”. I’m also not used to leaving food on the plate uneaten. (Except for the yucky refried beans!)
She reminded me that we weren’t going to be able to refrigerate the uneaten portion for about 8 hours, did I really want to take it with?
Well………………
I guess not.
The waiter came by to clear the plates.
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| "You realise there is uneaten food on your plate!" |
I cannot remember leaving uneaten food on the plate (that tasted good) for a very looooong time. I didn’t see my reaction to this circumstance coming either.
I had to consciously overide the demand that my mind was yelling to finish eating what was on my plate. My mind was very insistant and rigorous. It was not used to being disobeyed. It was determined to make me believe that the full sensation I had was bogus. That I better eat the whole serving now as it might be a long time before I could eat again that day. “And lord knows you should never have to feel the least bit hungry…you know how cranky you get.”
While I am a typical guy when it comes to not “feeling or recognising emotions” I do know that my mind, stomach, and well, ( me ) do not like to ever feel the least bit hungry. That is not how “we” operate!
Then my stomach started chiming in…”You know I think I do in fact have a little room left down here…can’t you hear the echo? HELLOOOOO! OH OH OH!
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| The empty space at the bottom of my brain is reserved for thoughts of food, false hunger pangs, and cravings of anything I shouldn't eat. |
The mind said “What a waste of money…you didn’t get your money’s worth.” The stomach said, ”Yes, definitly a little more room here, grab some of those chips and salsa that is still on the table.”
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| There is a spot right here that is not completely stuffed to the brim. |
Then in unison they said, “Hey, since you left some food on the plate, how about sharing a dessert around the table?? Hmmm? Sounds like an excellent plan!” they shouted!
My world and welcome to it…NOT!
I re-entered the conversation around the table, and left those two to devise the next evil scheme that I’m sure will be written and appear here sometime.
The bottom line?
The dynanmic duo of brain and stomach not withstanding, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SORRY FOR THE FOOD I DIDN’T EAT!
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