Monday April 27, 2009. I had a gentle reminder from the Universe yesterday.  I’m pretty strict about what I eat since I changed several years ago to a very low fat diet.  I don’t really miss certain foods anymore, but I miss the idea of certain foods.  So Sunday I had a sandwich for lunch.  Pretty innocent.  Bread, some light mayo, turkey breast and swiss cheese.  Innocent, except that is a heavy combination for me these days, at about 30 grams of fat total.  I usually keep my meals at about 15 grams of fat each.  Then for dinner, several hours later, I was in the market and bought a relatively lowfat, frozen vegetarian pizza.  Lowfat at 11 grams of fat per serving and 4 servings in the box.  That’s real low compared to a lot of what is available, but still a relatively high fat meal for me, to ingest 30 grams of fat at one meal.  Especially after having a heavy lunch.  I ate 2/3 of the pizza and, as I did so, I knew I’d have repurcussions simply because I’d eaten bread twice in the day.  I eat so little processed food,  so I knew my sinuses would clog up for a day or two afterward.  But I didn’t expect to be up all night with indigestion.

Indigestion, no big thing, right?  No big thing except, since I change my eating habits, I never get it anymore.  The last time I got “indigestion,” it was followed by a hospital visit, and the two times before that as well.  So I finally caught on in 2005 that I needed to drastically changed my eating patterns or have some problems down the road.  So when I got ‘indigestion” last night, it kind of scared me and was a good reminder that, as simple and normal as it seems to have a sandwich for lunch and a few slices of pizza for dinner, that life was not for me anymore.  Period, end of story.  I was out of the Traditional Medicinals Eater’s Digest TeaI usually have on hand, so I was sipping peppermint tea and feeling irky and uncomfortable from about 10pm until almost 5am, when I finally fell asleep for a couple of hours.  I woke up feeling better, and decided to be smart and stick to liquids for a few days, to give my system a little pampering.  And papaya!

I bought two papayas at the market yesterday, and a few hours later read my receipt and saw that instead of charging me $1.76 per pound for them, she charged me $1.76 total for them.  A big savings since they each weigh a couple of pounds.  Thank you, Universe!  I know that papaya is good for digestion, plus I love the taste of it.  I knew if I was going to be eating a frozen pizza, it would be good to have papaya on hand. I find if I keep good food choices on hand, it makes it easier to do the “right thing” when it’s time to eat.  It helps keep me on the right path.

This morning, I left the cats out when I got up.  Since we’ve got the cardinal nest right outside the back door, I’ve been making them stay inside overnight.  The nest was built about chest high, right outside the door the cats come in and out all day.  When they go in and out the door, I usually follow them out with the broom and shoo them into the side yards.  A few times during the day I may see them in the back yard paying a little too close attention to the direction of the nest, and when I do, I shoo them away again.

Sometimes, they will only walk so far and then lie down as if, “This is as far as I’m going.  I was allowed here last week.”  When that happens, I simply pick them up and walk them around to the side or front yard, and place them at the head of a trail into the woods and walk away.  When shooing them away from the nest just brings more attention to the nest, it’s time to change tactics.  Change tactics and give them something else more compelling to watch.  That’s when it’s helpful to encourage them down another path.

Like me keeping only the right foods in the house.  I will still go out and buy whatever I decide I want, but I won’t keep it on hand “just in case.”  That would be premeditation.  And the only things I want to pre-meditate or pre-pave in my life are things that are good and useful and meaningful.

All I have to do is keep facing myself down that path.

I’ll get it.  Sooner or later, I’ll get it.

Meanwhile, I keep on dancing.