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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
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Throwing food away

Captain's Log, Stardate 01.13.2011

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to stop feeling guilty about throwing food away if I don’t like it.

I don’t know if Mom told us to finish our plates, but I don’t think she did. I think this is just part of my own neurotic psyche. I have always been someone who wants things complete. Completely empty, completely smooth, completely full, completely whatever.

(Yes, I’m weird.)

The point is that I would always clean my plate. Even if I was eating something that wasn’t horrible, but wasn’t great either.

Now that’s a good thing if Mom was making me eat vegetables. But now that I’m older and eating vegetables voluntarily (and enjoying them, even), why this compulsion to finish whatever I have on my plate?

This is especially bad if I’m trying to eat smaller portions. I have a hard time taking less food, so if I can learn to stop eating and leave food on my plate, I think that’ll help with my weight loss.

Also, if I don’t particularly enjoy eating something, why bother finishing it? It’s stupid. I don’t know why I do it. So I’m going to stop. If I taste something and I don’t like it, I’m going to THROW IT AWAY. And I refuse to feel guilty about wasting food.

Life is too short to waste it eating something I don’t like. Why waste my calorie count on it, anyway? I’d rather eat something I enjoy. And hopefully this will teach me to savor my next choice of food a bit more, especially if I just threw away something I didn’t like.

I feel like a rebel.

How about you? Any problems throwing food away?
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Comments

Pamela J said…
My Mom DID tell me to clean my plate. I can't honestly remember NOT liking much EXCEPT breaded tomatoes. Now THOSE THINGS just made me feel like I would lose all I didn't like as well as all I did like that was already eaten.(If you get my drift) I still like almost everything so it wouldn't work to throw anything away, just put smaller portions on (which I desperately need to do). You can bet, though, that I won't be putting ANY breaded tomatoes on my plate to BEGIN with. Ugh.
BE A REBEL. I'LL JOIN YOU.
Thu Jan 13, 09:15:00 PM 2011
Camy Tang said…
LOL So breaded tomatoes are off the dinner menu, eh? Are they fried? I like almost anything fried.
Camy
Thu Jan 13, 10:47:00 PM 2011
Anonymous said…
Like the new look!
I think this is one of those things that's beaten down do deeply that it's almost impossible to overcome! You've GOT to clean your plate no matter what! But how silly is that? Calories are calories and they're so much worse if you don't even like what you're eating or if you're already full....you can do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thu Jan 13, 11:00:00 PM 2011
Camy Tang said…
Lynn, you hit the nail on the head--calories is still calories!!!
Camy
Fri Jan 14, 12:09:00 AM 2011
Sidney W. Frost said…
As I was reading this I remembered how I not only cleaned my plate, I would eat everything left by my three children, whether at home or eating out. Probably couldn't stand to waste the food. It took a long time to realize what that was doing to me. Now, I only eat what I want.
Fri Jan 14, 05:50:00 AM 2011
Camy Tang said…
Good for you, Sidney! I have a lot of friends with the same problem of eating their kids' food. Since I don't have kids, I was eating my husband's food. LOL
Camy
Fri Jan 14, 02:46:00 PM 2011
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