As I mentioned in my last post, while J and I were on vacation, we packed our lunch down to the beach each day.  I had challenged J before we left to consider eating exactly like me for a week, and he accepted.  While he has definitely been on board with the entire Food Revolution, he has only been perhaps 80% as… strict?…. as me, and had recently mentioned he wasn’t as satisfied with his progress as I have been with mine.  Hence the challenge.

Breakfast was a protein shake for each of us.  These are not all created equal, so if you are considering making a shake a part of your eating plan, much label reading is required because they can be very high in sugars.  For that reason I prefer Almased.  By the way, I’m not affiliated with any of the brands I’ll mention here, and I don’t get any freebies (as of yet, but hey, email me!) for mentioning them.  However, since nearly all packaged foods are off my list, it’s noteworthy when I find one with very “clean” ingredients.  Our first stop after check-in was Publix, and we bought all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables, some Chobani yogurt, Bear Naked granola, cheese, and roasted turkey.  No bread, no ice cream, no cookies, no potato chips, no “food as treats” which is a vastly different shopping list than the last time we were at the beach.

So after the morning protein shake, we packed the cooler with our healthy eats and ate in the breezy shade under the umbrella.  The view certainly added to our enjoyment, but even J reports that not only did he not suffer, but he actually felt less hungry than usual and had the added bonus of discovering he’d actually lost weight on vacation!  Each night we ate dinner out, but it’s pretty easy to eat healthy when seafood choices abound.

I lost a pound or two myself, which was refreshing, because to be honest I’ve stalled out lately.  That’s surprisingly encouraging, because it coincided with not being able to get to Zumba the past few weeks.  How is that encouraging?  Because remember, this isn’t a diet, it’s a radical lifestyle change.  The weight loss is a bonus, but after losing more than 30 pounds, I’m at a point where I can eat as much as I want within my “rules”, and even without exercise I’m holding steady.  Now, I’d love to go down more, so exercise will need to be worked in, but with our shared commute and trying to get the checklist finished to get our house listed, that hasn’t been easy.  Overall, I’m very pleased with the plan and more committed than ever.  I cooked a special dinner tonight in honor of my dad’s birthday, and while the entrée and sides were healthy (lean pork loin with an apple glaze, roasted potatoes, onions, and mushrooms, steamed broccoli with lemon, and sautéed carrots), I don’t usually eat potatoes, I definitely don’t normally eat the french bread, and I certainly don’t eat chocolate cupcakes.  I ate all of them tonight and loved it, because I have declared birthdays are Anything Goes events (mine or immediate family only, or it would really get out of hand), and even with that declaration, while I savor the taste of the “goodies” at that meal, I don’t feel as good after I eat it, and I look forward to going back to my plan.  What a change in me!

That change was on my mind a lot at the beach.  I know how healthy I eat.  I know that I’ve lost 32 pounds.  I know how much better I feel inside and how much more confident I was in a bathing suit than in years past.  But besides J, not another living soul on that beach was aware of any of that.  As much progress as I’ve made, I am still overweight, and it’s likely that’s how I was perceived by the other vacationers.  That would have really bothered me in the past, but this year I threw my shoulders back and held my head high and genuinely did not care what anyone else thought about how I looked.  I didn’t particularly care how they looked either.  When you feel uncomfortable in your own skin, you fixate on that, to the point of comparing yourself to everyone in sight, which causes you to examine them with a rather critical eye as well, and that does not lead anywhere good.  Paul had a lot to say about loving one another in Romans 14, such as “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another” (v. 13) and “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (v. 19) and, most pointedly, “You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt?” (v. 10).

Interestingly, those teachings came out of a discussion about food!  In Paul’s case, the early church had been complaining that some among them weren’t holy enough because they weren’t as conservative in their food and drink choices.  I have found that for myself, food and holiness have a strong correlation as well, but in my case, it’s not that I care what you eat or drink.  It’s that my own choices created an unfortunate distraction, so that I was more likely to be fixated on someone’s appearance, either critically (to avoid thinking about myself) or in comparison (because I couldn’t stop thinking about myself), rather than trying to understand their heart.  In learning to fuel my body correctly, I’m learning that the burdens some people carry are far less visible than extra pounds, and far heavier to bear.  Food for thought, huh?