Epic Epiphany a Day Late

The epiphany. The discovery. The light. The revelation. Everyone's story has one--some many more than others--but everybody has at least one. Me? I had one on Monday whilst sitting in my weight watchers meeting.

So why are you only hearing about it today? Well, DUH! Don't you know it's bad luck to have an epiphany on Monday?! Then what does the rest of the week have to aspire too? Anyway, before I begin explaining my proverbial "light bulb poised above head" experience, I am excited to announce the extermination of another 2.6 of my pounds. My total loss is now 4.2 pounds. Next week could be extremely important to me, since I will likely hit the 5 pound mile marker (that's half way to 10!!!) and also get under 200 pounds. Baby steps!

Now, on to the epiphany. If you'll recall, last Monday wasn't exactly great for me. This valley came as a surprise, because I had just finished my stay on the little black scale, and learned that I'd been successful in the week's endeavors. Then I spent the rest of the day feeling like a ravening wolf--hungry and irritable. As last week's blog will attest, I chalked these feelings up to an emotional low, but yesterday, as the group's leader talked about "filling" foods, I really did see the light.

We were instructed to look at the previous days tracker and place a diamond next to all the foods we had eaten that WW considers "filling." These foods include whole grains, lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. Looking at Sunday's tracker, most of my foods had been filling, and in direct correspondence no doubt, the day had been positive.

And then I thought about last Monday, and I pulled out last weeks tracker. Less than half of the items I had eaten that day were filling. For breakfast, I'd had a bowl of Rice Crispies, since that's what the rest of the family was eating. However, by lunchtime when my body was communicating to me a desperate need for something filling, I responded with emotionalism. It wasn't that my choices were dead AWFUL, they just weren't filling; consequently, the day's struggles did not improve.

So live and learn, right? Tonight, on my way home from aerobics, I really, really thought I wanted a cheeseburger, but then I thought about the exercise I had just survived, how many points I had left, and what I had learned from last Monday, and I drove by McDonald's without stopping. Instead, I pulled through a Bi-Lo and picked up an avocado (one of my favorites!) and a can of salmon in water. Then I came home and fixed these two filling foods over a bed of lettuce and tomato, alongside a serving of spaghetti and tomato sauce.

That was more than two hours ago, and I'm still feeling satisfied. I doubt the cheeseburger would still being hanging around . . . well, maybe around my mid-section, but that's about it.

And here's a deeper thought for you. How much of our lives are REALLY filling? I mean, we're definitely great at running around like dismembered cockroaches (don't tell PETA where I live), but how many of the things that we cram into our days are really that FILLING. When we finish the day, can we say we took time to make someone feel special, or important, or noticed. Did we hear our children? Did we encourage our loved ones? Did we notice the sun shining in on our chaos?

So there's my epiphany. I'm not just going to EAT filling foods; I going to live a full life. If that means letting the dish water get cold to help my daughter find all the teddies in her favorite book, the water is gonna get cold. If that means leaving the tub un-scrubbed until tomorrow, so I can read another chapter of the Wizard of Oz to my son, the tub is going to wait.

In the mean time, I have bad news for Snap, Crackle, and Pop. The economy just got bad for foods that evaporate before they reach the stomach.

Guys: . . . you're fired.