THE FIRST FIVE

 

I found this flag somewhere on the internet. It actually belongs to the people of the Gambier Islands but I think I will borrow it for now. I know nothing about the Gambier people but if this island is like most places, there was struggle in the beginning to grow the culture which lives there now. Two steps forward, one step back sort of pace as the roots of one civilization dug in and began to grow.

I like the look of this flag...five little stars to represent the start of something bigger. Just like the first five pounds I've now lost since beginning this journey to a healthier me. No, it's not been easy. For me, food is tied to my emotions and it's been a roller coaster week where that is concerned. My boss came down with the flu and I ended up running the entire school by myself for the week. It's not that I thought myself incapable of handling it. I felt bad my best friend was so ill and I'm really happy now he's on the mend. It's just I am responsible for soooo many things in my life (even if it's of my own choosing) and being fully responsible for the school, even for only a week, put more emotional stress on me than I would have liked. 

The old ME would have come home every night and dove into chocolate...or maybe chips. I typically use food to put a damper on my stress induced emotions but, at least for this past week, I didn't. I had already cleaned out my cupboards so when I got home, the only indulgent food in the pantry was the peanut butter and sugar free strawberry jam I eat for breakfast. Not exactly the stuff of binging fantasies so I drank a mug of hot green tea with Splenda instead and watched some TV til the urge to eat ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING passed.

It's a baby step for me...this purging my system of the craving for sugar. I watched a documentary recently on sugar addition in America and it said our brains react in the same way to the "high" from sugar as it does from the "high" of cocaine or heroin. That's kinda scary when I KNOW those drugs will kill you so just what is SUGAR doing to me???

So wave on little five-star flag. Wave on for the first five pounds I've said goodbye to on the road to a healthier me and may many, many more stars be added to my little flag in the days to come!