Look next time you’re in a grocery store, at the back near the dairy items, you’ll usually see these small baskets stacked and waiting for people to use who originally came in and thought they were only going to pick up a couple of items so they didn’t need a shopping cart. For years I was in stores and saw those baskets and wondered why they were in such an odd placement in the store. Until one day I found myself back in the dairy section trying to juggle way more items than I thought I was originally going to buy and “found” one of these baskets and thankfully dropped my items in it before I dropped and broke something.
Now I imagine most women reading this will say, “Duh! Of course that’s what the baskets placed in the dairy department are for.”
I’m your typical non-observant guy though….sorry, the light bulb goes on eventually, though there are no promises it won’t be on the dim side!
So I’ve taken you a long way down the wrong aisle here.
I was at the checkout and glanced back at the contents in the little basket the guy behind me was purchasing…these were the contents:
Half-Gallon of Vanilla Ice Cream
16 oz. Can of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
(The little green cap on the milk signified it was 1%, remember I’m not that observant! Though men do remember visually much better than things they hear, women are the exact opposite, {viva la difference!} Ladies, please remember that next time you complain that your man has “selective” hearing.)
There may have been a little more in the basket but I turned back to the cashier who was ringing up my purchases and thought to myself,
“Well, not anytime soon.”
“Do they really sound all that good?”
“No, not really, I guess.”
“Do you even miss ice cream?”
“Actually, not very much at all.”
The glance back, and the resulting conversation with myself, all took place in about two seconds.
I then glanced down at my purchases:
• Two dark purple ripe and delicious plums
• Two orange, red and yellow fuzzy peaches, they smelled like a peach orchard!
• Three crisp, juicy and refreshing Braeburn apples
• One Pluot, (half-plum, half-apricot I've seen them called "Plumcots" too.) they’re pretty and taste as good as they look. [I’d mention my wife here, but this is not that kind of blog!]
• One aromatic and ripe to the touch cantaloupe
• A bag of potatoes
• 4 Sweet Yellow Onions
• Fresh Mushrooms
• A few cans of water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, (my new cooking staples).
Things have changed. I sincerely and honestly crave fruits and vegetables now. And I am always looking for a new spice or seasoning to try.
My family gets worried for me, as I make some fairly large portions to eat for supper and it brings back worries of me overeating. I finally had to get the calorie counter book out and add up what that meal came to and show them before they relaxed a little.
I am completely sympathetic to their worries.
I’d worry for me too if I were them. I have a lot, (A LOT!!) of years of massive overeating to live down before they can be comfortable with what I am eating if it looks like too much food or the wrong types of food.
One of my mentors, Megan, at Mercy Weight Loss Center, gave us a startling example of the differences in food calorie counts.
Let’s just say for example that you decided to eat a McDonald’s Big Mac and a large order of fries three times in one day. Play along, it’s just an example!
A Big Mac & large fries for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A Big Mac weighs 7.6 ounces & a large fry weighs 6.2 ounces. If you consumed three of each in one day you would have eaten 2.59 pounds of food, (about 3,300 calories)! If you got a large Coke each time add another 310 calories each!
Megan showed our class, how by selecting lower calorie food choices that we could eat quite a wide variety of foods AND in order to eat that same 3,300 calories in low calorie food we would have to eat approximately 14 pounds of food in one day!!
Now I have always really enjoyed McDonald’s food. In fact the last thing I ate before I went to my first Mercy Weight Loss class seven months ago was a Big Mac and large fry!
But no matter how hungry I get, there is no way I could eat 14 pounds of food in one day!!
I have been taught some tremendous lessons!
I can eat a lot of food and still lose weight!
Obviously the food choices are drastically different, but there is now no sweeter, better feeling than to eat a fairly large portion, be completely satisfied and not feel one ounce of guilt because of overeating!
These are some of the heavy thoughts that compel me to attempt lighter living.
Fruits and vegetables, the new loves of my (hopefully much longer) life!!
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