Question of the Week: Are You Eating True Foods This Summer?

It is almost six months to the day since I vowed to eat real food, or what I call true food (a play on my middle name, True). I haven't gorged on mountains of chocolate, as I described in an article in the Seattle Times on April 11, 2008 (my epiphany had occurred on Feb. 18). To tell the truth, I thought that 'going public' through the article, and immersing myself in the real food movement, would be the answer I've sought for decades - the answer to being overweight. It is, and it isn't. First, the changes I have made. I cook more and entertain more, thanks to having a new home with space, so I enjoy having a place to cook. I try and watch my sugar intake - my downfall and 'drug of choice,' as they say. All the organic food in Seattle won't make up for too much Ben & Jerry's or a key lime pie or an entire pizza. I love summer fruits and vegetables and now try and enjoy food rather than trying to fill my stomach and a void in my life with pizza and hamburgers. Now, the changes that come harder: not turning to food when I'm lonely, bored, sad, happy, excited, relieved, anxious, celebrating, mourning. My portions are still too big, and I look forward waaaay too much to eating. But there is a better balance setting in. I wish I could be rigid, or 'good' about only eating real food - sometimes rigid works for me, sometimes it doesn't. I rebel a lot. Maybe my mistake, if I've made one, is to look at this experiement as the solution, instead of what it is: a way of getting healthier, a better way to live a life. How are you doing?