Day Three - Unlearning and Relearning

An injury in my foot is really cramping my style. It is healing, slowly, as in the way of things.

I want to be in the kitchen whipping up all sorts of delicious foods but, alas, it's not to be. I have to stay off my foot awhile longer.

But I did carefully step into my herb and flower garden today where I sat at my little table to pluck coriander seeds and roll them into a bowl to dry. It's a ritual that always pleases me. The aroma! The colors! The peace and quiet!

Afterwards I again carefully stepped into another garden, the sun drenched backyard garden where the lush lawn cushioned my healing foot enough so that I could make it to the chaise lounge for a good long sun bathing, staring up into the maples, still green-leaved for the most part with a smattering of reds and yellows. A brilliant blue sky for a background, a warm low-in-the-sky autumn sun coaxing creatures out for a ramble.

All this got me to thinking about food. When, I wondered, did we go off the rails? I mean, ultra processed food is a rather new invention, becoming ubiquitous in the1980's according to Wikipedia. The addiction and dependence snuck up on us from then on creating massive sugar addictions and obesity, among other things. Who knew the dangers? 

Well, we do now.  

It's a hard habit to fully break for me, having utilized ultra processed food-like substances all of my married life without thinking about the harm they cause. I have gained a ton of weight from the 1980's until now. It is all too easy to stress-eat high-calorie fake foods: affordable, accessible, and palatable. 

I have to say, my palate has undergone an unlearning when it comes to these substances, though sometimes the Siren call wins. I'm always sorry afterwards, and I'm learning to remember the longer lasting sorrow before partaking. Most of the time. The gratification lasts minutes, the regret, hours. This I full well know.

Lying in a garden under the sun in between a large strawberry bed and an autumnally colored blueberry bush affirms to me that eating as God intended in not hard once the truth is known and embraced.

It just takes focus.

Now, for a cottage cheese and freshly picked tomato salad sprinkled with a few pumpkin seeds for my light supper. 

This is truly living!