Did you ever notice how good food tastes when you are on a diet?? Any kind of food! Health food! Fattening food! Food you don't like! I woke up this morning with a ferocious appetite. I'm not sure why I was so hungry- maybe because for the last seven days I've really been towing the line. I was starving! My hunger has been insatiable all day and I find it pretty funny how most of what I ate I would find totally unappealing if I weren't on a diet.
I made myself a steak sandwich at around 10:30 this morning. I wasn't playin'! Waiting around for lunch or dinner was not an option and my usual morning meal of fiber cereal and fruit was not gonna cut it. So I cooked up some steak with some bell peppers, added a bunch of hot peppers, then mixed in a little jack cheese. I loaded this onto a lightly mayo-ed whole wheat roll and topped it with thinly sliced tomatoes that had been salted and sprinkled with oregano. When I tell you it's the best damn thing I've ever eaten, believe that I am not lying! What's funny is I HATE tomatoes. I'm cool with tomato sauce and tomato products. I can even handle diced tomatoes if they're firm and have been seeded, but the Earthy, slimy, seedy, make all your sandwiches soggy variety, will deter me from eating whatever they've been placed on. Not today! I'm also not a big fan of "hot" food. I can take a little heat, but once it becomes a five alarm fire I usually walk.
Later in the day I thought I was going to pass out from sensory overload when I had some Melba Toast and cheese with some grapes as a snack. You heard me...MELBA TOAST!! Are you kidding me?!? That's like getting excited over a rice cake! I found the whole situation pretty amusing and it got me to thinking about how Americans overindulge on everything to the point where most things aren't enjoyable anymore. I think our quality of life suffers a great deal as a result of this. Think about it. We overeat, overspend, over-text, we overdo the holidays, we drive cars that are ten times bigger than what we need, we hoard, we over-watch TV, we drink too much, smoke too much, work too much! When did the American dream become all about excess...?? The only thing we don't overdo are things that are actually good for us!
I remember a time when driving was enjoyable- when it was fun to go cruising, take a road trip, or a Sunday drive. Not anymore! I understand a lot has to do with the change in traffic patterns, but I also think it is because we drive ten times more than we once did. I love to watch people move their cars two blocks. I think, "really, you live less than three blocks away and you can't just walk to the store for your newspaper?!" And when did everybody start driving their kids to the bus stop!?! Jesus! No wonder we are overweight in this country! We're giving our kids a ride, to their ride!
We have ruined for ourselves just about every good experience there is in life and I'm the first to admit that I've done it with food. Absolute, unnecessary, total excess! I can tell you that food hasn't tasted anywhere near as good as it has in the last few weeks, and I KNOW it's because I took it for granted and ate and ate and ate as mindlessly as I could. What a lesson learned! If you truly are a foodie then you should care enough to respect the experience. Someone who truly values food will not overindulge to the point of being unhealthy. Learn to limit yourself and I promise all things will become more enjoyable.
My husband and I recently went two years without television. What an experiment! The whole time all we heard from others was, "you're not missing much because the programming stinks!" There most definitely has been a decline in programing, but I'm sure that's because we now have an excessive 150 stations on average, instead of the 6 or 8 channels we once did. But I have to tell you, I really enjoy the few hours of television I watch per week. Notice I said, a few hours per week, not a few hours per day! Going without the Telly taught me to focus on more meaningful things. I read more, exercise more, clean more. As a couple, my husband and I were talk more and have actual sit-down meals in our dining room- not just balancing a plate of food on our laps in front of the boob tube. Not only did other things in my life become more meaningful, but so did the act of watching TV.
Excess is everywhere but it is up to you to pick and chose how much you will indulge on things. Think about your life today. What things are you abusing? What is it that you might be overindulging on, and has that overindulgence caused you to appreciate the experience less?? I appreciate food a whole lot more now that I make more conservative choices. Perhaps we all just need to consider getting back to basics.
"The proximity of a desirable thing temps one to overindulge. On that path lies danger." -Frank Herbert
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