Final First Quarter Assessment

Day 97

Final First Quarter Assessment

This last week has been a look at the challenge and how I have added to and refined it. To be perfectly honest, the biggest change I have noticed in myself since implementing the challenge is not a smaller wardrobe. What has happened, and what I did not anticipate, is I feel very powerful. It seems strange to even me that something that can seem insignificant, like shopping, can really impact a life. It has been very, very difficult to avoid reverting to old habits and buying things when I feel sad, feel happy, feel fat and feel thin. Yet not shopping gives me a sense of accomplishment, an “I can do anything!” feeling.

The next step is to channel this power to good instead of evil.

An additional challenge since the beginning, or perhaps since the beginning of time, is how to lose those last few pounds to fit into _____ (fill in the blank). In January, it was the epic battle of Weight Watchers vs. Menopause and there was no clear winner. Some weeks Weight Watchers would kick butt. Others weeks, the diabolical Menopause would launch an all-out war. My yoga pants and I were tugged from one side to the other.

At the same time, my husband read a book that he shared with me. Called, “The Happiness Diet,” it’s not actually a diet but a way of choosing which foods to eat. Feeling both empowered from staying out of stores and battle weary from dieting, I joined him in making conscious, informed decisions about what we eat. A friend suggested another book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver. This is proving to be another significant, yet unanticipated change in the way we live.

In a nutshell, we try to choose “clean” foods. We seek out the freshest food possible, the more local, the better. Organic is part of it, but we are more concerned with as little “processing” of foods as possible. I have started a super-fun herb garden and make all of our dressings and marinades. We frequent the Eastern Market and Royal Oak Farmer’s Market. We are starting a vegetable garden this spring. We are not perfect at this new approach to food. But, I will say for sure, our food tastes better and we need less of it to feel satisfied.

I worry that I will gravitate to orthopedic sandals and unshaven legs. I hope I can be the new picture of organic—stylish, fully highlighted hair and pumps. Sounds like Green Acres!