Good morning to a new day of whole foods!  Up 0.4 this morning. I don’t worry about the tiny fluctuations on the scale. 

I wasn’t sure how filling this cereal would be so that’s why I opted to use nuts as my entire protein. 

The strawberries and raspberries are from the garden. We also have blueberries, but they’re not ripe yet. 

This was a pretty quick prep time for lunch. The patties were in the fridge as leftovers. All my salad foods were basically prepped and in jars. 

I had to wash the snap peas and green beans since I picked them last night and put them straight into the jars without washing. 

This meal (protein, vegetable, salad, fat- and right now I’m switching the lunch and supper meals) always seems like a LOT of food. It was all very good. 

I like the different textures in food, sometimes even more than the taste. The coleslaw salad was fairly dry with no dressing, but having some soft cheese in it and alternating bites of it with the savory patties made it all taste delicious!

I just love knowing that my food is coming from my own garden or from basic ingredients out of my own kitchen. I’m planning to make the bean/mushroom patties again soon and I’ll share the recipe then. 

Right before I had supper, I had a food moment. I spent the whole day decluttering the contents of our basement that flooded this past spring. I already dealt with all the wet stuff during spring break, but the whole office was jammed full of boxes that were dry. 

Most of it is homeschooling materials which means I can use some for my classroom (I’m a teacher now. It’s been so long since I’ve blogged, lots has changed in my life.), I can get rid of a lot of it, and I can remember our homeschooling years which makes their cute handwriting and colored pictures sentimental and difficult to part with. There is also a lot of stuff we never did which leaves me feeling like a failure, even though I know overall, we did a good job. 

Needless to say, by 4:30 I wanted to snack and eat all things yummy, but those types of foods are not within my Bright Lines. I took a moment to think about how I was feeling. 

I wanted a treat, a reward for working so hard, some COMFORT food for doing such a grueling and mind taxing, awful job. But I chose to keep my lines bright and I drank water instead and quickly put together my supper. 

I had planned to eat this. It’s a life saver to plan your food the night before because executing the plan takes no additional decisions. And with a situation like this, another decision is NOT what I need to be doing when I’m tired, grumpy, and weak. 

I decided that peanut butter for my “fat” was more comforting than cheese, so I ate this. It was a compromise, but I didn’t cross any lines!

It was fast and easy to prep and I savored every bite.

As I ate, I could feel the peace come back over me and the cravings for all the treats went away. I am grateful for clarity of mind which has been a result of my new lifestyle and while in the past I would have just grabbed anything I could find, now I was able to make better choices and not pacify myself with unhealthy foods. I may have faltered a bit with the peanut butter (I didn’t measure it), but I stayed within my food plan and I feel like the day was a success especially since I was conscious of the “why” behind the cravings. 

Food should be food, not a reward, not a pacifier. It is for fuel and nourishment and should be enjoyed just for what it is.