Category Archives: Food

Body Changes, Cravings

Getting Real with Clotille

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Yesterday, I caught sight of my reflection and I look … I look … well, I look pregnant.  I’m not, but I look it. (Pick yourself up off the floor, Ramona. I haven’t seen in you ages, but, girl, Ida called with that.) I’m so swollen up, I look like I swallowed a watermelon. I’ve got sausages for fingers and I don’t even want to discuss my cankles. I’m eating everything in sight. I’m irritable. I’m cranky. My body hurts. Wait a minute, that sounds like….. No, I’m really not.

Last week, I shared with you some of my recent introspection. While I wouldn’t say that I’m “proud” of my self-awareness, I would say that it’s a pretty handy skill to have. Still, although I thought I had identified my eating trigger, my binge hasn’t stopped. I’m puzzled and annoyed. My old stand by coping skill wasn’t working. So, I went over it all again, looking for an additional blown emotional fuse. And guess what I found. Nothing.

More frustrated than ever, I looked at other factors, including a prescription shot I was recently given in preparation for an upcoming procedure. When I started looking at its possible side effects, I found my answer. Weight gain. Check. Depression. Bingo! I think I found my culprit. However, since it was a one-time injection, it’s not like I can stop taking the chemical to restore balance. So, I have to find some other way to deal with it. My solution was to sit down and talk with myself.

So, I did. Here’s an excerpt of the conversation.

Me: Princess, you know you’ve got to do something about this. Your clothes are tight and you feel really bad; so, what’s the plan?

Princess: It’s the medicine. It causes weight gain and depression. It’s not my fault. It’ll be over in three months. Let’s just deal with it later.

(On hearing this, my very own inner Jiminy Cricket – Clotille Jones pushed me out of the way and took over.) Clotille: “Deal with it later?” “Deal with it later?” Did I just hear you say, “deal with it later?” Girl, you look like Hell and you feel even worse. Your knees and feet hurt and it’s no wonder with that big ole, swoll up belly you’re wagging around. If you “deal with it later” you’ll be buying clothes in the camping supply section again. We gon’ deal with this right now!

Princess: But I can’t. The fatigue, the 60-hour work weeks, solar flares – I just can’t deal with it right now.

Clotille: Woman. You are an intelligent being. You are not powerless. Plan ahead. Deal with the side effects – they ain’t making you leave your dirty clothes on the floor. You’re doing that. They didn’t buy that Dream chocolate frozen dessert. You did. Act like a grown up. You ain’t no cartoon Disney princess, honey. You are a descendant of Vikings. Viqueen up and let’s do this.

That Clotille just doesn’t cut me any slack. She is Queen of the Come to Jesus Meetings and, well she should be. Otherwise, my life would be in utter and complete shambles. She’s blunt, but she’s right. I am a sentient being. And, although there are outside forces acting on both my body and my mind right now, I am far from powerless.

I can make better choices. I must. And I have to remember the continuing process of going from wish, want, & will to am & did.

Body Changes, Food, Thought Patterns

Big Trucks and Big Trunks

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My friend David drives a big truck. One of his frustrations with drivers of cars is that they whip in front of him, leaving little room for him to stop if he needs to. The legal weight of a tractor trailer (without additional permits) is 80,000 pounds or 40 tons. Compare that to the average car which weighs around 5,000 pounds or 2.5 tons. It doesn’t take a physicist to figure out that it take a lot more time and space to stop that tractor trailer than it does to stop a car. Momentum and inertia are just HUGE.

Those same physical forces are pretty huge in the mind of a healthy eater, as well.

Now, stop it! I heard you say, “Oh, c’mon, Goddess! You’re really reaching now.” Okay, so first, thanks for finally addressing me properly. 🙂 And second, no – no, I’m not. Follow me here.

Your 30th high school class reunion is in October – like mine will be next year (yikes!). In late August, you realize that you’ve been to a few too many barbecues over the summer and popped the top on a few too many cold ones. You have 15 pounds to lose to be where you want to be for the celebration. You realize this, of course, just after you’ve polished off a slab of ribs, a generous scoop of potato salad and two helpings of Aunt Sally’s banana pudding. You start your reducing diet the next morning. You eat nothing but twigs and grass; but, after Day Five, you see no difference in either the numbers on the scale or the dunlap disease you’ve got going on with your blue jeans. (Dunlap disease. Remember that? It’s when your stomach has done lapped over your pants.) You get frustrated. Sound familiar?

Well, honey, your momentum was going up on the scales. Your semi was all loaded up with all those carbs that your body still had to store before it could get to using those stores. It took a while for that bad boy to come to a stop. You’ve got to stop the big truck before you can start unloading the big trunk, you see.

That’s both pretty simple and pretty self-evident. But. I still get frustrated by the delay. Like every. single. time. It’s important to remember that our bodies neither stop nor turn on a dime. We have to give them time to adjust to things. So, although I’ve corrected my over-snacking and poor food choices, I won’t see a difference in my pants for a week or two. I have to allow myself to be human and not a quick weight loss advertisement with all of its smoke, mirrors and gimmicks. I have to let my body to use (and maybe even continue to store) the extra calories I ate recently. I know that eventually, it will run out of the excess and it will start working on the stored energy that is making my jeans tight.

I have to have patience for the process and not let my efforts get jackknifed by the lack of immediate results.

Body Changes, Cravings, Depression

The Button of Truth

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Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? The Shadow may know that. But, who knows what calorie-laden sweets linger on the hips of mankind? The Blue Jean has that one covered.

As I’ve told you, I have not been careful with my food intake for, oh, about a month now. Last night, I firmly felt and saw the results. Oy.

I’ve known that I was gaining a little weight; but, I was using that old standby method of denial – elastic! And as we established just forEVER ago, Satan did, in fact, invent yoga pants. But, last night, I didn’t wear yoga pants. I wore my jeans. Well, most of me wore my jeans. There was some spillage over the top until everything got all stretched out. Muffin top. Yech.

I’ve earned it. And it’s not even the holidays yet; so, I can’t blame it on holiday eating! This is just plain, old emotional eating. Thankfully, I have been able to slow it down since I identified the emotions which started the whole thing. Now, I just have to deal with the aftermath, which, if I’m not careful, could lead from Depression Eating straight into Guilt Gorging. Neither of these activities or mental locations  appeared in The Princess Bride; however, I’m fairly certain that if the book had been written by a woman, there would have been no Fire Swamp, but rather the Gorge of Nervous Snacking. And there would not have been large rats. There would have been huge trees of Little Debbie cakes, potato chip flowers and a river of melted Phish Food. (I’ll let you enjoy that calorie festival vision for just a second.)

I told myself that I hadn’t done too much damage – just a pound or two; but, my jeans showed that as a lie I’ve been selling myself with a side of lycra. But, just as Wonder Woman’s golden lasso will reveal any falsehood, so will the waistband of my blue jeans. And, honey, did those show my deception last night! Thankfully, as I’ve said, I’ve already been able to slow the process to a near halt and I’ll reverse it because I know that I can and, to be in the kind of physical condition I want to be, I must.

As I’ve known all along (but need to be reminded occasionally apparently) self lies are the most dangerous. Thankfully, I have a couple of sets of lie detectors in my closet.

Accountability, Body Changes, Cravings, Motivation

Means, Motive and Opportunity

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I awoke this morning to find carnage in my kitchen. At the center of the obvious crime scene were the ravaged remains of a bag of barbecue potato chips, a bag of multi-grain tortilla chips, a king sized Hershey bar with almonds and a container of Dream salted caramel gelato. Oh, the horror! The inhumanity! Who could have done such a thing?! Surely not I, the Positive Thinking Blog Goddess – Her Dotyness herself!

Johnny Cochran said, “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit!”

But, then, Cotille Jones (remember her?) said, “If yo ass shows swell, you guilty as hell!” It seems that Ms Jones has seen my jeans.

As I’ve mentioned to you before, I am an emotional binge eater and for about the last month, I’ve been struggling with it – like Godzilla versus Megalon type struggling. Small Japanese fishing villages have been torched in the fray. And I’ve been losing.

At first, I thought the cravings were just PMS (and they might have been), but that’s not the issue now.  In public, I’m making good food choices; but, behind closed doors, I’m eating everything I can get my grubby little hands on. My cats have learned to be even stealthier than usual and my dogs sleep with one eye open. PMS cravings would have ended after just a few days. This has been going on for about a month. Now, the jeans that I could take off without unbuttoning a month ago are a real challenge to button at all. Not good. Clearly, something else is going on here.

My friend Russell told me years ago that I was one of the most self-aware people he knew. I like to think that I’m pretty self-aware; but, I like to think that I look a lot like a young Ann-Margret, too. Whatever my level of self-awareness, I am aware enough to know that to change my behavior, I have to figure out where it originates. If I want to stop my emotional binge-eating, I have to uncover the emotion(s) that is (are) causing it. To that end, I’ve been poking around in my mind to see what anxiety fuse has blown.

The suspects:

  1. Money. Since my income dropped by about 75% last year, I’m always worried about money. Nothing has happened to change that; so, that’s certainly a contributor.
  2. Holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming. I have to work Thanksgiving; so, I’ll likely be asleep all day and working that night. The traditional holiday meal will likely be just like every other day’s meal. Since I’m not starving, that’s only a First World Problem. I don’t have to work Christmas; however, with money as tight as it is, I don’t see how I can fly my son home for the holiday. It will be our first one apart and just the thought of it is ripping me up, especially since it has been a year since I’ve seen him. Another First World Problem.
  3. Health. I had some curious symptoms that were scaring me. Tests have shown that there’s nothing abnormal going on – no cancer. Relief.
  4. Disappointment. I had an idea where I would be at this point in my life and I’m just not there. I’m trying very hard to get there, but it’s unbelievably difficult.

I worked at Complete Automotive Repair and Service in Metairie, LA. (Julie’s, to most of our customers.) We had this one customer who, when asked how she was, would always reply, “I don’t have any problems that money can’t solve. So, I guess I’m good.” That’s what I need to focus on. And I’m trying.

I don’t walk miles each day to get water of questionable safety. No mortars fall in my town. I don’t live in fear of being attacked every time I leave my front door. I don’t have to wear a burka or have a male escort to go anywhere. I can vote. I can publicly disagree with my government. I can practice any (or no) religion I choose. Stocked grocery stores are all over town. And I have my pick of doctors to see when I’m ill.

As long as I have food, clothing, shelter and health, the rest are just First World Problems that I should be grateful I have.

Then, how come I still want a brownie?

 

 

 

Accountability, Food

In Your Dreams!

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Catholic school guilt run amok. That’s what it is. I attended St. Francis for fewer than four years; but, the nuns still clearly got to me. I am feeling guilty for things I haven’t even done!

Tuesday  night, I dreamt that I drank a Diet Coke and Wednesday, I awoke feeling like I should go to confession. Are you serious?! Yep.

I first encountered this phenomenon (I’m going to call it that so that it ranks right up there with the Bermuda Triangle, telekinesis and the success of the Kardashians) when I quit smoking. At first, I would often smoke in my dreams and wake feeling very disappointed in myself for a few minutes before I figured out that I hadn’t actually done anything. My subconscious mind was still seeing me the way it had for a couple of decades – as a smoker. I guess on Tuesday night, it was still seeing me as a Diet Coke guzzler.

10365907_10152614322598197_80319119227901736_nThe only thing I remember about the dream is that, in it, someone bought me the soft drink and I drank it so as not to be rude – Southern belle training at its best, right there, folks. My guess is that the dream sprang from my weekend away visiting with friends and family. At the tailgate on Saturday, there was all kinds of food that I don’t normally eat anymore, namely chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A, and both barbecue chicken and pork from Little Dooey. Now, I have scarfed more than my share of both over the years; but, I don’t anymore. But, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t tempted.

As you know, I stopped drinking caffeine on August 8th and I stopped eating meat at about the same time. While in New Orleans, I did order a cafe au lait to go with my beignets, but I had a decaf because I truly do like how I feel without the caffeine jitters and headaches. Last week, I went off the food reservation once when I had a fried pork chop from 400 Degrees Chicken (in my opinion, the best hot chicken in Nashville) and again when I had a chargrilled oyster from Acme Oyster House in New Orleans. The pork chop was super tasty (as I knew it would be); but, it sat in my stomach like a brick and I felt just all kinds of gross later. The one oyster I ate was just as yummy as they always are; but, I really did prefer my red beans and rice.

In the end, I imagine that the soda popped up in my dream as a result of the meat that I ate and some bizarro misplaced guilt I feel over having eaten it. The fact is: I ate it. It’s done. And, in the eating of it, I showed myself that the path I’m currently on is the right one for me. The meat (well, the pork chop) made me feel crummy and, in the end, the delight my taste buds experienced just wasn’t worth the upset that the rest of my system underwent.

So, while Jimmy Carter may count it cheating on Rosalyn if he even looks lustfully on another woman, I don’t count it cheating when I dream of soft drinks or filet mignon. I’m not even sure I count my recent actual intake of meat as cheating. It’s more productive if I count it as a lesson learned.

Food

The Fun Outside of Kale

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I haven’t written in a couple of days because on Monday, I, was returning from a trip and, yesterday, I was recovering from my whirlwind trip. And what a great trip it was!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMy aunt Judy wanted to go to a Mississippi State football game. Thus began our adventure which included a high school football game, a college game, a day walking around the French Quarter and my old neighborhood, as well as lots of laughs with relatives, friends and some people who qualify as both! Now, when I say that we walked around those areas of New Orleans, I’m being a little generous with the word “walk.” It was more like we waddled – or at least I did.

When previewing the trip for my friend Sean, I told him plainly that our intent was to get to the Quarter, go directly to the Croissant D’Or (my very favorite patisserie on the planet), eat at least one pain au chocolat (although I wasn’t committing to just one), then continue our way eating and waddling through the city. Upon my return to Middle Tennessee, I would just have to wear elastic for a few days. His response was priceless.

“Fantastic! There’s fun to be had outside of kale!” (I’m thinking of putting this on an apron.)

He agreed that occasions like this trip are one reason we make healthy choices most of the time – so that we can splurge every now and then. And, indeed, we did enjoy our trip. I ate wheat, sugar, chips and all kinds of things I don’t normally eat. I didn’t go completely hog wild; but, let me make this perfectly clear: I enjoyed every single morsel of what I chose to eat. When I say that I didn’t go completely wild, I mean that I didn’t eat everything I wanted. I still made some choices. For instance, because I knew that I was going to the Croissant D’Or in New Orleans (don’t you hear some angels singing when you read that?), I skipped the doughnuts at Shipley’s in Starkville. Shipley’s are my favorite doughnuts (followed by Dough Daddy’s in Lexington, KY), but I avoided the wheat in Starkville because of the upcoming wheat in the Crescent City. And, as I said, I enjoyed the croissant, the eclair, the pralines, the bread pudding, the eggplant parmesan, the beignets at Morning Call, etc; however, I can feel the difference in my body, that’s for sure.

10404354_10152618032213197_822061509036429045_nWith all the unaccustomed salt, I feel like I should just put the water hose in my mouth and turn it on. My hands, feet and legs are swollen and my belly! We just won’t even talk about that. I enjoyed my time away; but, my body wants to get back to lots of steamed and roasted veggies. My system feels kind of gummed up and sluggish, which doesn’t surprise me or anything. What does amaze me is that Before I probably always felt that way; but, because it was what I identified as normal, I thought nothing of it. Amazing that this feeling of Bleh was my normal feeling of Good.

It was a wonderful trip, a break from my everyday world and I don’t regret a single bite. However, I’m certainly glad that there is as much good inside of kale as there is fun outside of it.

Food, Habits

60 Minutes I’ll Never Get Back

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On Monday, I shared how my 90 minutes of eating adds value to the other 1350 minutes I have every day. I briefly mentioned that healthful food choices save me a whole bunch of time at the doctor’s office; but, the truth is, I haven’t been to the doctor in so long, I really didn’t know how much time those food choices saved me.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday morning, I had an appointment to see my regular general physician at 9 AM. When I called to make the appointment, no one told me to arrive ahead of time to fill out paperwork or anything; so, I showed up at 9….and was given five pages of paperwork to fill out. Most of these forms were things that were already in my record. And the information hadn’t changed. My mother died from cancer in 2003. I haven’t seen my doctor in almost three years; but, the facts surrounding Mother’s death have not changed …. and neither has the rest of my family history. In fact, the only thing that had changed was my insurance information, which I gave the receptionist right when I checked in. The whole sheaf of papers was a waste of my time.

But …. I’m a team player and filled it all out. This annoyed me, but not unduly. What annoyed me most was that 50 minutes after my arrival, I was still sitting in the waiting room. I finally left without seeing the doctor.

full_waiting_roomI had scheduled another appointment with a different doctor at 10:30, an hour and a half after my first appointment. This should have been plenty of time; however, I realized at 9:50, that there was no way I could see my GP and make it to my other appointment in time to arrive by 10:15. I had been told by the second office to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out paperwork. Now, here’s the really funny part – I didn’t fill out any new paperwork there. The receptionist just made a copy of my new insurance card and told me to take a seat. I was in and out of that office before 11:00. I saw the nurse practitioner (which is all I ever see at my GP’s office either), had blood drawn, vitals done, and a full consultation in less than 45 minutes.

Physicians, I’m going to speak for many of your patients for a moment. We are frustrated that your offices do not value our time. We understand that emergencies come up and that sometimes we have to wait a while to see you. However, since these delays occur every single time we set foot in your offices, we no longer believe they are the result of emergencies. Rather, we now believe that they are the result of poor planning …. constantly. And we’re tired of it. You want to know why you’re losing business to those Doc-in-a-Box places? It’s because: 1) we see a nurse practitioner there, 2) we expect to see a nurse practitioner there, and 3) we don’t have to wait to see her. At your offices, we expect to see you, end up seeing your nurse practitioners and we still have to wait! And, guess what? You’re billing our insurance like we saw you and we know it. If either my insurance or I am paying for your expertise, then, by golly, that’s what I expect to get!

For a long time, I suspected that my doctor no longer actually showed up at the office bearing her name. Today, however, I heard her voice and it seemed to be interacting with someone; so, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a recording. It might have been a very clever recording, but I’m fairly confident it was a real time event. Since I never actually saw her, I can’t be sure.

I can, however, be sure that I’m in the market for a new GP – hopefully one who respects my time enough not to make me waste it leafing through ancient magazines.

Food, Relationships

Southern Fried Samhain

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Yeah, yeah. I’ve seen the prints and the photos of Autumn in all her glorious color; but, I have a hard time relating to that. When I lived in Pennsylvania, I walked around like a tourist every October. The colors of the trees were too fantastic to be real, and yet, they were. One of these days, I’m going to go on a Leaf Peeper tour of New England in Autumn and get the whole great, big, giant effect. In Mississippi, we just didn’t have that kind of color. Mostly trees went straight from green to brown. Usually over about a two-hour span on a Thursday night. They fell to the ground on Friday and that was that.  Autumn – or, more accurately, Fall. So, when people talk about Autumn and its beautiful color, I still have a hard time making that connection. For me, Autumn is less about leaves and more about candy!

SamtenserI still love Halloween. When I was a child, we lived outside of town where there were no neighbors to call on for trick or treating; so, we went into town. We went through neighborhoods where we had friends and came home with pillowcases heavy with goodies. Back then, those goodies included Aunt Lawrie’s popcorn balls and Miss Charlene’s pralined pecans (a closely guarded recipe my father has tried to wheedle out of her for years). Whether the night was chilly or warm (and in southern Mississippi it was just as likely to be one as it was the other) no trick or treat outing was complete without a stop for a hot chocolate or hot cider at Mister Andrew and Ms Monelle Smith’s log cabin in the middle of town. It was a wonderful tradition that I enjoyed then and treasure now.

And, now, it’s my turn. I love to watch the slightly puzzled little ones all dressed up coming around the neighborhood with their siblings and their parents. I love the costumes, the pumpkins, and I love being the one who helps make great memories for these children. This year, I had been planning to have friends over for a Samhain dinner where we could enjoy good food and each other’s company while we honored the dead by setting a place for them at the table. Alas, my vampire schedule has interfered.

Ah, but fear not, my friends! A coworker has suggested that we have our own dinner that night – at work! I like that idea and am contributing fried chicken and biscuits to the meal. Now, you know I don’t eat either of those things anymore; but, I enjoy making them and will enjoy watching others eat them – especially while I’m noshing on those vegetarian spring rolls that are being made just for me! There will be potato salad and goodness knows what else! I’m sure the Celts would be puzzled by our modern, multi-cultural (but mostly Southern) offerings; but, after a little fried chicken, I’m sure they’d get over it. I know that we’re all looking forward to it. Looking forward to good food, good company, and to enjoying an ancient tradition in a thoroughly modern way.

Food

It’s In The (Lunch) Bag

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Several of my coworkers make daily – mostly negative – comments about my snacks and my lunch. One coworker is always interested in what I’m eating because she thinks I eat weird things. (She’d never heard of lentils.) Another doesn’t eat green food and all but gags anytime I have spinach, kale or even asparagus. Still another cannot go a single mealtime without commenting on how she just “can’t eat that.”

Here’s the thing, I eat what I chose to eat. They eat what they chose to eat. If they chose to eat food-like substances rather than actual food, that’s their choice. It’s on them. And, frankly, I don’t care. They’re grown. And while it’s true that I am a mother, I’m not their mother; so, it’s neither my job nor my place to say anything about what they eat.

However, for some reason, they seem to think that it’s perfectly okay to have a running commentary on my food. Can I just tell you a secret? I’m a little tired of it.

princess_on_the_peaI have this theory (yes, another one!) that most of us don’t converse on a wide variety of topics. That’s not to say that we can’t; but, rather, that if we are left to initiate conversation, we will chose one of a very few topics. And I think that goes to Carl Sagan’s statement, “When you’re in love, you want to tell the world.” We talk about things we are in love with. For some, those things are religion, baseball, football, politics or Positive Blog Goddesses (it could happen). For me, those things are my son, my pets and, yes, food. That being the case, I probably talk about healthful food choices more than I think I do, which may explain their commentary. But, there’s a reason it’s a topic for me. There’s a reason I’m “in love” with it.

Okay, so we each have 24 hours in a day. Let’s say that we spend 1.5 hours of that actually eating – not preparing food, just eating it. That leaves us with 22.5 hours. Then, let’s say that sleeping takes eight of those. That leaves us with 14.5 hours of non-eating, conscious time every day. Let’s look at each of those time segments for a minute.

An hour and a half doesn’t sound like much and maybe you spend more time than that eating; but, I eat quickly. I’d say that it takes me no more than 15 minutes each to eat breakfast and lunch. Dinner may take 30 minutes, leaving those other 30 minutes for miscellaneous snacking. Before I came to love healthful food, I loved just about any food! Barbeque chicken pizza, Twinkies, carrot cake, ice cream, chocolate, creamed potatoes, cornbread dressing, fried turkey, fried chicken, … Okay, I have to stop. I’m getting hungry. I loved the taste of those foods and for 90 minutes of the day, they lifted my spirits. But what effect did they have on my other 22.5 hours?

You’d think that the eight hours I spent sleeping would be unaffected. Wrong. I rarely slept the night through without some kind of indigestion, back or neck pain waking me. While asleep, I’m sure that it kept me from sleeping deeply since I always woke feeling tired and poorly rested. In the time of Before, I would have said that, like the princess sleeping on the pea, I needed a new mattress (which still may be true); but, now in the After, I don’t think my mattress was my only problem. In the After, I cannot even tell you the last time I woke had indigestion of any kind – waking or sleeping. And I can count on one hand the number of times in the last year (I can’t really remember further back) when I’ve awakened with any kind of body pain – back, neck, knee, whatever. I wake feeling rested and ready to go.

Before, I enjoyed my 90 minutes of consuming food; but, I had no idea the negative impact to my other 1350 daily minutes that food had. I couldn’t walk without quickly becoming winded, and forget running. My joints hurt. My feet KILLED me. I hated shopping because the clothes available for my size were usually either ugly or out of my budget. And I spent a lot of time in the doctor’s office. Those 90 minutes did not contribute happiness, contentedness or a sense of well-being to the other 1350 minutes. Now, they do! And, yes, I love that! And, I probably talk about it more than I should.

But, just so you know, I’m not planning on stopping anytime soon! 🙂

 

 

 

Food, Social Issues

Can It! (15 Times)

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Thank goodness I’m feeling much more like myself today! The bees are no longer in my stomach…and dark chocolate is no longer on my wish list! Thanks for all of your messages hoping for my swift recovery from my cacao-heavy poisoning. Now, on to today’s topic.

So, the other day, my friend Jean sent me this event invitation on Facebook. The event is Denise Heller’s 15 Can Challenge. The rules for this challenge are simple and completely doable:

  1. Every week when you do your grocery shopping, purchase one extra item. It could be canned food or something else non-perishable.
  2. Collect one item each week for the next fifteen weeks.
  3. Drop them off at the charity of your choice during the first week in December.
  4. Invite as many of your friends as you can.

Of course, you know that I invited every Facebook friend I have who hadn’t already been invited! So far, 20 of them have said that they will participate. 🙂 Add in Jean and me, and that’s 330 cans of food – just from my little world. As I write this, there are over 283,000 people around the world who have committed to participating. That’s well over four million cans of food. That can certainly have an impact on our communities!

Now, that’s not to say that only 20 of my friends are helping others during the holidays. That is to say only that 20 of them are participating in this particular event. Many cook meals for specific families they know. Others pick a family to provide food and gifts for Christmas. Still others have exchanged exchanging gifts amongst themselves for providing for the elderly or giving to charities like Heifer International. One little guy i know asks for donations of pet food for the local shelter. (He’s five and makes me feel like a total schlub.) There are more ways to give than I’ve even considered!

We hear so often of the evil in the world – the darkness. There are myriad ways to be a single point of light and there are so many of us that, should we choose to do so, we can push the darkness back….at least for some…at least for awhile.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
-Margaret Mead