Act Your Way into Feeling

I have to admit... even I have a hard time maintaining my drive to eat and cook healthfully. It's not that I don't care about my health. I do. It's not that I don't like healthy foods. I love them, generally speaking. But I will admit that staying on the health tract takes effort. It doesn't just happen by chance in our society and it isn't always the easiest or most convenient route.

For me, there have been three culprits at work lately: 1) It's summer time, which for our family means that routines and schedules have changed. The days are long and full trying to take in all the summer happenings. With all of the activity, I have been less than motivated to cook... especially when the hot weather is in full effect. I'm ok with the summer craziness and I truly love the heat. I especially love that it goes hand in hand with delicious fresh summer-time produce that is abundantly available. Our family takes full advantage of this... but I still don't find myself wanting to cook. Which leads me to culprit number 2) I have been feeling bored of the typical salad, and I love salad! This has led me to eat less greens these past two weeks, which isn't normal in our home. The third culprit that is haunting me and threatening my healthy eating habits is that, 3) I am feeling tired and bored of my recipes. All of this has been begging me to ask the question, so now what?

I have made the obvious adjustment to doing more "cold" meals. Ones that don't cause me to melt by requiring the oven at the height of the heat. This has helped with using the oven less and has caused me to explore salads that aren't based solely around greens. I have also opted for more meals that require minimal time, since it is precious to all of us (especially those of us with two young kids). The other adjustment I have implemented is that I have started asking around as to what my friends and extended family dish up. I have found that other "circles" of people (those outside of the immediate family I grew up in) often eat differently than we do... use different spices, have a different twist, use a different method than what I am programed to imitate.

Yes, we all have food creativity slumps and times where eating healthfully isn't as inspiring as we wish. These are the moments when I remember my mom's wise words I heard my whole life: "Don't feel your way into acting... You must act your way into feeling". I wasn't feeling the way I normally do about food, so I acted as one who eats healthfully and one who is resourceful. I had to be honest and purposeful about my food slump and am pleased to see my health habits coming back around.