Food for thought.......

 Written by Linda Gauthier

I say Eggplant, you say Aubergine, whatever you call it, it's darn good and good for you!!!

Here is the food,

Eggplant Au Gratin with Baby Spinach

Ingredients:

1 med size eggplant
1 jar Italian tomato sauce
2 tbsp Epicure Sun Dried Tomato
1/2 of a medium cooking onion
2 c spinach (washed and stems removed)
1/2 c to 1 c grated Pecorino  Ramano cheese  amount depends on your taste

Method:

1. Slice eggplant into slices 1/2 inch thick
2. Sprinkle 2 tbsp Sun Dried Tomato over Eggplant
3. Chop onion finely
4. Sprinkle over eggplant
5. Place spinach over eggplant
6. Pour tomato sauce over mixture
7. Place in pre-heated 375 degree oven
8. Bake for 15 minutes
9. When bubbling, remove from oven and top with half of the cheese replace in oven continue to bake, aprox 15 minutes more. 
10. Remove from oven once more, sprinkle rest of cheese,place in oven to melt 5 min.   
11. It is now ready to serve.     
12. This dish is a total of 13 ww points.

Here is my finished dish, served with roasted beet, red onion and orange salad, topped with toasted walnuts and Epicure Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing.

And now for the thought:

I have been having a real hard time getting back into the routine of writing, so yesterday I sat down and had a talk with myself, and self gave me a few interesting answers to my questions.

I have realized that I require structure.  I knew I was a list maker and a to-do person, but I had not actually come to the realization that it was a personal requirement for most activities in life.
  
When I sat down to give myself a shake and ask myself what the heck was going on, these where the answers I came up with:

a) I had not sat down and made a list of goals, or created a menu to start the month off with... "So?" you say.  Well, what I was doing was floating around, drifting like a leaf in a puddle of water, not having any particular direction to focus on, the result being that I was just bopping from here to there with no particular goal and achieving nothing.   
Realization #1;  Meandering not good, keep focused and on track.

b) I also realized that I was beginning to think I had reached my goal and I was relaxing.  What I was actually doing, was returning to old habits.  I had been too confident that I had my new lifestyle down pat.  Wrong!  Old habits, lifelong habits are comfortable, and easy to fall back into.  Until you are sure of them and have a firm handle on them, you must remain vigilant.  I am not saying that this applies to everyone, but to me, it certainly does.  It's like seeing that old boyfriend and all the old feelings and the warm and fuzzy memories start up, but you forget about how wrong you were for each other, the pain it caused you.  Remember the pain and you'll be better off.
  
Realization #2;  Over-confidence is not a good thing, keep your confidence in check, if you're going to splurge, okay, but be sure you have your return back to schedule plan in place.

c) This isn't a diet that you follow for a period of months, days etc, it is a change, a permanent change in lifestyle, and therefore has to become part of you.  I have to view it as the way things are, not a temporary situation to deal with and then move on.  I have to look at food and my behaviours, being sure to recognize why I am craving something or falling back into my old ways.  What I have to recognize is why do I want this, am I really hungry, or am I bored, or thirsty, or mad with myself or my husband, or is it something else entirely?

Realization #3;  Recognize my demons and don't try to bury them with food, face them and meet them head on.

d) When I truly look at myself and the barriers I sometimes place in front of me, it is as if I am deliberately testing myself.  Setting myself up to fail, instead of forgiving myself and moving on.  One slip does not make me weak, one indulgence does not make me any less determined, but when I allow the slips and indulgences to continue and to mount up, to undermine my determination, they do become a weakness, followed by, in my case, at least acceptance that "yeah, you can't change, that's the way you are; you were born to be this way; who are you kidding? you will always be overweight."

Realization #4;  Get rid of the whiny little kid voice that sometimes likes to ride on my shoulder and undermine my resolve.

So, the outcome of the conversation with "self" is; she gave me a swift kick in the posterior and said to smarten up, and get on with it, so here I am.  Sounding a little crazy, but I am here, and I am getting back on this horse, so I guess the morale of the story is the following quote from Albert Einstein: 

Not that I could ever be compared to Einstein, but "self" sometimes seems to know a few things.  If only I would listen to her more often.

Have a great day, and remember it never hurts to sit down and have a serious talk with "self".  We all know what is right for us, we have just forgotten how to listen to our "self" and sometimes need to hear the hard truths which no one else will tell us.

Talk to you soon.