100 Day Challenge - Day 20 - Half Off Special

Just getting this started as I want to get started on the third section of the book - Days 21-30 this week.   I feel like I've been at a standstill for too long and it's time for me to move on.   The chapter on "Half Off Special" is about cutting portions in half...again I see this as something very do-able at a restaurant...and once in a while at home.  In fact, I did this just two nights ago when I had bought butterfly pork chops for dinner.  Not only did I cut them in half, but then even cut the half of the pork chop in half again - which fit in about the palm of my hand.   Even though I don't  have a food scale here at my daughter's home,  it probably ended up to be about 3 oz - and with all the veggies I had and the red skin potatoes,  it made for a very filling (and tasty) dinner!  I also did this for breakfast these past two mornings by giving myself 1/2 of an English muffin, and yesterday, cutting my serving of 3 bacon strips down to 1.5.    I think I do this subconsciously on many occasions as I know intuitively how much food fits into my program.

The assignment in this chapter is to cut portions in half over the next several days and record times I've done this  While I probably won't  be doing this at home  - especially now that I've decided to make an effort to measure  portions - I can certainly see myself doing this when we eat out.   The last time we ate a Chinese restaurant - a few weeks ago when I was still in El Paso - I brought home 2/3 of the portion that was served.   Granted, it was served "family style" on platters - so the portions were large.   However, I noticed that my husband and our friends took about 1/2 of their portions home while I took home considerably more.   Today, we're going out to eat for dinner.  I'll continue this blog when we return - and report on the choices I made and whether or not I did the "half off special" assignment.

Entry to be continued....

My choices at the restaurant tonight were:   1/2 serving of grilled chicken, apple and veggie salad (also used 1/2 of the dressing);   French Onion Soup  (left the croutons).    I was pleased that I was able to do the "Half Off Special" assignment and the dinner was just right -  both filling and tasty!  I will continue to monitor portions and exercise the "half-off special" strategy in the days to come.

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Revisiting Day 16 -  on Emotional Eating  (or the Nurturing Power of Food)


On Day 16,  which was essentially about "emotional eating",  I mentioned that I would have to revisit this topic as it needed some reflection.      I am now returning to this topic as an incident happened a couple of days ago that made me realize that there are times I do use food to soothe feelings of frustration, etc.   San Antonio is huge - over 1.5 million people and the interstate has many overpasses, "spaghetti-type loops", etc.   On Friday, I had to go into another area of the city which I am not familiar with for a medical appointment.  I had printed out directions to the location, but not directions to return home.   Sure enough I got VERY lost - and, in fact, ended up going around in circles three times, and each time, I returned to the point where I had started...by the third time, I was very frustrated - in fact, I was nearly in tears - why couldn't I figure out how to return home?!   I finally called my husband as he had driven the route several times.    That was my salvation as he is not directionally-challenged as I tend to be!  LOL   I finally got on a road I was familiar with and began recognizing landmarks...and breathed a huge sigh of relief!   However, my first thought was to stop and find something to eat!  While I did feel hungry - I hadn't only eaten yogurt, a 1/2 banana and a small sandwich that day- and it was already after 4 pm. - I know part of it was an emotional reaction to the level of frustration I had felt.   I spent some time going through a list of possible foods I could find in the vicinity of a mall I had stopped at.   Most would have been detrimental to my program - and I was at least determined to "protect my program".   Finally, I found a smoothie shop - and ordered a small "slim and trim" smoothie with protein - about 200 calories and 3 g. fiber.  The smoothie not only filled me up but seemed to relieve some of the anxiety I still felt from feeling so helpless and lost in an unfamiliar city.

What I realized through this incident is there are times that food seems to "soothe" my feelings  - or essentially food sometimes does have a "nurturing power" over me.  It's not something I turn to on a regular basis as I've mentioned before I have used other "outlets" when I'm going through a crisis in my life, or just generally having a "bad day".   I will say that in this particular incident, I should have planned my day better by  eating more "filling" food before leaving for the appointment, or at least have brought a filling snack with me (not to mention printing out directions to return home!)  I would not have had to search "desperately" for something to fill both my hunger and my frayed nerves if I had planned out my day better.   I also will need to address the "emotional aspect" of this incident.   Fortunately, I will be able to do this as the next several topics in the book I am using for this 100 Day Challenge is on emotional eating.   I am now more than ready to address this topic!