Teaching day, good news from Lawton, eating right

Yesterday’s class was a good one. Once again Red Shaw and I split the thirty-eight people between the two of us. That gave us two reasonable sized classes. I have done classes of over forty people, but it is not the best approach, so our company has agreed to let us split the classes in order to get keep a small group feel to the day of instruction. Even still, my voice was worn out by the end of the class. I had folks from California, Montana, Pennsylvania and Colorado in the class yesterday. As well as a few from Texas and our Southern neighbors. It was a diverse class, mostly quiet folks, with a few exceptions, but the material generated a lot of discussion, a lot of interaction. Everyone seemed like old friends by the end of the day. It is one part of my current job assignments that I really enjoy.

During the early part of the class I had to ignore a call from our realtor. He later texted to let me know that all the materials had been bought for both of our houses in Lawton and work was beginning with one crew in each house. He also let me know that there is a renter in the neighborhood who seems interested in the larger house – our Dover property. Good news on both counts. I believe, the expressed interest of a buyer will motivate our realtor to push ahead with the long-delayed remodel. I am encouraged by any increase in that motivation, whether this buyer comes through or not. I am praying that we have the finances to complete the work all the way to the closing on each house. God is good!

While I was teaching my class, Mama spent the morning reading through several books trying to coordinate diet suggestions in order to see if she could begin to set some new dietary standards for us. I think in the end she may have hit upon a strategy, but when she explained it to me, I was not enamored with the idea. What she was suggesting would certainly work short-term, but I am not looking for some austere short-term dietary punishment routine to kickstart a weight loss program. We may still follow the diet suggestions, but I would like a more simple, straight-forward, long-term program. We are not getting any younger and Mama and I need to start feeding our aging bodies in a way that is more conducive to general good health. Whatever that may be. But it certainly includes elimination of heavily processed foods and a severe reduction in refined sugar – in all forms. With today’s typical diet for us, those two actions will require a serious rethinking of our traditional grocery shopping, our normal eating out selections and the snacks we keep on hand.

Diet is one of those areas in our lives where we know what is right. We know what to do to eat right. To eat in a healthy manner. We just do not want to spend the emotional energy to do so. The older we get, the more of a challenge it is because, to put it simply, eating is one of the few activities we can enjoy together with relatively little physical discomfort. It’s easy. It’s fun. It’s necessary and normal. It just does not have to promote weight gain if we do it correctly. But that is so much less fun. One of the seniors at our church told me recently, eating is one of the only “guilty” pleasures left to us as we get older. That and gossip. Which is anathema to me. So, Mama and I must decide if we can still enjoy meals, enjoy eating even if we align our diet to match our physical and physiological requirements. Sacrificing our emotional requirements. An ongoing dilemma.

As long as any newfound conviction or adopted practice does not spill over into sharing those convictions with everyone we meet, I am okay with making any changes we deem necessary. Too often I have watched people take on a diet and when they meet with moderate success, preaching the benefits to everyone who talks to them. Then only to find a year later that person has gained double the weight lost after their initial success. That thought alone scares Mama away from every diet plan that might provide a solution.

For now, we are still talking it over.