It seems like nobody wants to accept personal responsibility for their own actions any more, perhaps they never did. But in the spirit of not taking personal responsibility for my own actions, I’m blaming the Easter Bunny for all of the poor dietary choices which I made yesterday and for the way that my body is feeling this morning. I feel like crap and somebody is going to have to pay the price… probably me, because my dog chased off the  Easter Bunny and that little rascal is nowhere to be found.

Life is about Perspective

And from my perspective this morning, life is pretty harsh, I woke up feeling like what I imagine a poorly maintained eighty year old feels like first thing in the morning. I was tired, I was grumpy and my body was racked with aches and pains.  So what happened? Was I run over with a truck? Trampled by the Easter Bunny? Dragged behind a horse for a few miles? No such luck, the simple truth is that I ate a ton of sugar and processed foods and now I’m paying the price.

The first mistake that I made yesterday was ignoring the need to take time to enjoy a healthy breakfast to fuel my body while we prepared for Easter brunch. I kept telling myself that I’d fix myself something healthy to eat in just a few more minutes and then I found myself munching on the chips and dip which somebody brought as an appetizer.  Sure there were some fresh vegetables and I certainly ate my fill of those, but what I really wanted was the salt off of the chips because my body was dehydrated from not drinking enough water.  And of course I told myself “hey Easter only comes once per year, I’m going to just relax and enjoy it!”

Here Piggy, Here Piggy, Piggy!

And enjoy the day I did… I loaded up on ham which is full of nitrates and sugar, ate a bunch of wild rice and pasta salad which my body quickly converted to sugar, ate some sour dough bread, some Russian piroshki [the odds are that I’ll never regret this one] and then I chased it all down with a slice of chocolate cake that my grandmother made, topped with ice cream and followed by a slice of the fresh cheesecake which I’d made the day before.  And then while we sat around the backyard watching the children and dogs run around and play, I gleefully helped myself to another slice of cheesecake and topped this one off with cherry pie filling.  And then I proceeded to slip into a sugar coma and pass out.

Being Proactive about Getting Back on Track:

Contrary to your expectations, I’m not about to express remorse or apologize for eating all of that sugar yesterday.  I’m not going to beat myself up for a second over indulging in all of that wonderful food because it is extremely rare that I eat such things and I know how to get things back on track quickly.

I might have woken up feeling like the Easter Bunny backed a tractor trailer up over me this morning, but by mid-afternoon I was feeling pretty good because I ate a bunch of fresh organic fruit this morning and drank a ton of filtered water.  I made myself an all fruit smoothie for lunch which was full of fresh pineapple which I cored myself, a handful of fresh strawberries, a banana and some blueberries.  I can already feel the pressure reducing in my joints and the inflammation is getting better, all I need now is a little bit of exercise to get things moving again and a good nights sleep!

Happiness is Found in the Present, not the Past, nor the Future:

If there is a lesson to be learned by this experience, it is that happiness is found in enjoying the present, not in regretting past mistakes or in being anxious about the future.  I enjoyed every bite of the forbidden fruits of yesterday’s Easter feast with full knowledge that there would be a certain price to be paid and also that I knew exactly what it would take to get my body back on track.

But I have experience eating healthy and have an established routine for what I generally put in my body as fuel.  Unfortunately there are a lot of people who woke up feeling the same way today and spent the evening beating themselves up for blowing their diet and many of those will blow their diets again today because “what’s the difference, I already blew it” but this line of thinking is not going to serve the interests in the long term.

The best thing to do is take personal responsibility for enjoying a good meal and dessert once and awhile and then do what it takes to get back on track the next day, or the very next meal for that matter.  My dinner last night consisted of some fresh fruit, a handful of raw almonds and some raw cashews.  The only thing I regret about eating that cheesecake is that I didn’t cut myself a bigger slice, after all, if I’m going to do the time, I might as well do the crime! Ah the logic of a Strategic Intervention Coach 😉