The Hazards of Snow Days

If you live in the south, which I think most of reader do, you know that snow days where you are stuck in the house happen rarely.  Even when it snows here in the mountains, usually you can get out later in the day  when they salt the roads, and the sun shines and melts some of the snow.  Today was different though.  It never got out of the 20's so the snow and ice stayed put.  I was not feeling adventurous, so I've been in the house all day.  I haven't been bored, not really.  I cleaned up a sink full of dishes from where I made soup yesterday.  I read a book.  I watched old reruns on television while doing word puzzles.  I took a nap.  My stomach has been rather sensitive from a bowel prep for a colonoscopy that I didn't get to go to because of the snow.  I haven't been eating much, but drinking a lot of water today.  After all that said, I just went looking for something to eat. I'm was not even, really hungry.  I just want to eat. Now, I have plenty of healthy food in my house that I could eat.  I have vegetable soup that I made yesterday.  But, what do I go looking for?  A bag of dark chocolate chips and nuts that I had left over from making Christmas goodies.  I thought that sounded so good and after all, I deserve something good to eat because I've been stuck in the house all day.  I ate a couple of hand fulls and they were good, but not as good as I thought.  Plus, now, I don't feel well.

So, why did I decided to eat this way?  It would have been just as easy to prepare something good for me.  In fact, all I had to do was heat up soup that was already made.  Why did I think that I deserved something not so healthy because I'd been in the house all day?  And, to choose something that I knew would not sit well with me on my already sensitive stomach.

First of all, using food to make me feel better, or a reward for something I think I deserve is a bad habit.  I fight this urge all the time, but usually I can think about how physically it will make me feel and that usually is a good deterrent. Plus, I don't feel good about myself after eating when I'm not even hungry, but just feel like I want to be rewarded with food. Also, I don't need to have food that is not good for me, like peanuts and dark chocolate, among other things, in my pantry.  I need to give them to somebody who eats sweets.  It's not the worse thing I could have eaten.  In fact, I try and think that anything in moderation is ok to eat.  But, eating it just for the sake of eating is not a good thing.  Really, now, when do I NEED chocolate and peanuts?

Certainly, I didn't do irreparable damage.  But, it's a good time to stop and think why I would eat something that I know will not have good results.  I don't tolerate sugar well.

Maybe somebody out there deals with boredom eating or rewarding yourself with food.  I hope you can learn, or at least be reminded that it's not necessary or even good for you to eat for anything for hunger.

I have lost 5 more pounds, and that was before the colon prep.  I'm 15 pounds from my goal weight.  I don't want to sabotage myself and start gaining weight back because of old habits.  I'm going to learn from this.  I feel better already.

Until next time,

woof from the snow and cold hating dog, Phoebe,  meow x 2 from the lazy, nap experts, Hannah and Houdini, and xoxo for me.