Is It Really Time for Dinner?

This evening I was frustrated because my husband and I arrived home from a weekend trip, and I had nothing planned for supper.

I immediately reached for one of my cookbooks for using fresh produce, but I was coming up with nothing that appealed to me. Why was that? I'm telling everyone to eat whole foods as much as possible, and I was flaking out on them!

Then I realized something. I wasn't that hungry.

That was a pivotal moment. I remembered that I had a large breakfast (eggs benedict with spinach) as we traveled back from Colorado Springs to Grand Junction; and then we each had an avocado, tomato and cheese sandwich, along with with apple slices and almonds, mid-afternoon. No wonder I had no appetite for a full dinner meal.

So I drove to the store and picked up some prepared chicken noodle soup from the deli area, and a few small squares of jalapeno corn bread. I heated the soup, cut a couple of slices of  the cornbread for the side, and we were set.

The soup portions weren't large; about a cup and a half for each of us, but it was plenty.

Here's the take-away.

We are so conditioned to eating full meals in the evening that it may feel strange not to do it.

True enough, the soup wasn't prepared in my kitchen, and neither was the corn bread. Had I prepared a meal of fresh, whole foods, I probably would have served up larger portions, along with some pasta.

But quite often, "less is more," and ideally we're better off putting less food into our stomachs in the evening; and eating more earlier in the day.

Think about it. We probably spend more on stocking up for dinner in the evening than for any other meal.

Less food at night could mean a lot more savings on your grocery bill!

A World View of Food

I've noticed over the past few years that there have been a number of international viewers of this blog.

As you've seen, I am passionate about sharing how good food can empower our lives in so many ways; by making us healthier, more focused, and less wasteful of our time, our energy and our money. It's the one area of our lives we can exercise some control.

Whole foods and clean water is the currency of the future; it's where our true wealth lies. If you've read my blogs, you see that my main message is that healthy eating is affordable health care.

I invite comments from my readers, particularly those beyond our borders, to share with me how they view food and how people relate to it within their own cultures.

I truly believe we can simplify and enrich our lives by simplifying our eating habits.

How do you see it? I'd like to know ~

Eating Is a "Mind" Thing

For those who are "single minded," I'm convinced that life "flows" and that food has its proper place.

Whole foods get by-passed as conduits to good health when our attention is divided. In those situations, it is all too easy to mindlessly go about our day, yanked from one distraction to another, and not a clue of what foods we've eaten, or how much.

It's easy to feel bad about the whole thing when we can't seem to keep the promises we make to ourselves.

But when we're on different "channels" or energy frequencies, our choices are simply going to be different. The higher the frequency, the better the choices. The lower the frequency; well, we're talking a McDonald's whopper with fries.

To put it differently, a higher frequency would be a positive frame of mind. Negative thoughts put you on a lower frequency. Positive thoughts lead to better choices. Negative thoughts do you no favors.

Unfortunately, when negative thoughts kick in, it's very difficult to control the emotions. And the more stressed we are, the stronger and more frequent the negative thoughts and emotions. As a result we feel out of control, and emotional eating directs our food choices.

What to do?

The solution is "mindfulness." Paying attention. Focusing.

So much easier said than done when we feel so responsible for how things turn out. That misguided belief puts us in a mode of constantly responding to what's outside of us, rather than being directed from the inside.

The only way to change that is to pay attention to what we're feeling and what we're doing in this very moment.

Contemplate that while you enjoy an apple!