Yesterday: Eggplant; Today: Pictures of Food

Yesterday's goal was to find a recipe that uses eggplant that is easy, appealing, and not covered in cheese. I found a recipe that meets the criteria - a simple pasta sauce that doctors store bought sauce with ground chicken, peppers, and, of course, eggplant.  The recipe looks delicious and I fully intent to make it very soon.  But, I had to drive to a construction site 4.5 hours away today - and back.  It makes for a very long day and barely had the energy to whip up a Smart One TV dinner and a salad.

************
Today is a new day.  A new, challenging day.  I am attending a party at my sister's house, and I have yet to successfully master a party.  What can I say?  I like brownies.  I like beer.  I like to try every thing on the table.  I hover over or near the food.  I feel naked without a drink in hand.  If you can think of things that people should do when trying to stay healthy at a party, I can generally assure you, I do the opposite.

I've tried a few tactics with varied success.  I've read the (very good) advice of others.  These include things like eating the vegetables, drinking diet soda, being the helpful cleaner, offering to run or play the games, and staying away from the food table.  I've said with conviction that I would do these things, but I have yet to avoid reverting to my near frenzied state of brownie inhalation by party's end.

Today's tactic is to take a picture of each item I eat or drink.  I'm hoping this will increase mindfulness and decrease consumption.  But, we shall see.

Yesterday: Water; Today: Eggplant

Yesterday's goal went very well.  I dutifully drank my water (as I do every day) at breakfast and in the car on my way to work. These two times are habits I established years and years ago, and though I do sometimes forget my water bottle on my way out the door, I am pretty good with those two times. 

I have also worked re-filling the water bottle into my routine, though I almost always forget to drink it.  But not yesterday.  Because it was my goal of the day, I grabbed it at 12:39 when I realized I had missed most of lunch time, and went outside.  There was this weird glowing ball in a beautiful blue sky.  Fluffy white clouds drifted past the ball from time to time.  The air was balmy and 82 degrees.  Could it be sunshine?  My star(s)!  I drank my water and did not stay out for too long, but, it felt good.

I re-filled the bottle and drank it on my way home at 8:30 pm. (boo) I nearly forgot the drive home water as usual, but remembered when I was about 15 minutes into my drive and thinking about how I might manage to wait for some chicken tenders to cook without gorging myself on breakfast cereal.  (Answer: gum.)

So, score one for me!

***********************************
Today's goal is to use up some eggplant from the farm share this week.  I struggle to find recipes that I actually feel like making and eating, other than ratatouille.  I'd like to have another go-to under my belt, and hopefully it won't be loaded in cheese or breaded and fried!  It is probably asking too much, but it would be really nice if my better half would eat it too...but I'll settle for something healthy and yummy (to me).