Would that I could tell you that today’s post title implies I’ve discovered a miracle diet that allows me to become slinky and svelte by doing nothing but sipping cocktails, yet alas, this most sadly is not so. In fact, it’s a very safe bet that numerous cocktails are, like certain bras, nothing more than alluring cups full of doom, being bad for both health and sanity if sampled in inappropriate quantities and circumstances. But to steer closer to my actual point, I must confess that despite my many food-and-drink-related loves and obsessions, I do get quite hungry and thirsty for a healthier change on occasion.
Like now. I seem to have been on a bender lately, eating too often, too much, and too badly in general, and my body is complaining. It’s not that I have grown morbidly obese, thanks more to good genes and good luck than good behavior, but I have grown a whole lot closer to outgrowing my attire and decidedly closer, as well, to just not feeling so great. It makes me squirm when I think of how unfit I will be in short shrift if I don’t just stop being such a spoiled child around food. And I have it on good authority that being horribly unfit is not the way to insure a longer, healthier life.
Drat.
At least I know that I can still have delicious food, but even if it’s better for me, eating too many helpings of ‘Waldorf’ slaw (sweet cabbage-yogurt salad with chopped apples) is just as dangerous to my eating habits as too many helpings of pretty much anything.
I must throw a bracing dash of cold water on my enthusiasm for overindulgence and get myself closer to optimal comfort. I don’t care if that makes me model-thin or gives me fab abs or any of that superficially pleasing stuff or not; what I want is to feel my best and have a good shot at the whole ‘live long and prosper’ proposition. I know from experience that among other benefits of returning to a more thoughtful eating agenda, my appreciation of all that I do eat and drink increases greatly, to the point where a simple slice of citrus and a glass of pure, clean water is a pleasing sensory experience as well as thirst-quenching, and a complete meal becomes a feast. So much more satisfying in the long run.
And I do want a good long run of it, after all.
Art-Colored Glasses 
I agree with you…it is very easy to let our eating habits get out of control. Sooner or later it has to catch up.
I guess I *really* got my comeuppance today: food poisoning. Ironically, it was apparently from either the restaurant’s plain iced tea or the lime wedge in it at lunch, not from any of my heavier, more indulgent foods. Go figure. In any event, it ended up being an instant don’t-overeat motivator for the day, if I’d needed one. Ha. Thank goodness for healthier days. 😀
Oh poor you…that is terrible. Feel better soon.
Thanks, Karen. 🙂 At least food poisoning seems to, ahem!, *pass* more quickly than the flu or other bugs, so though I’m a little tired tonight, I’m feeling ever so much better. 😉
Adore the citrus shots Kathryn. They remind me of time spent abroad and help to combat dehydration in temperatures up to 44C.
Those are some serious temperatures! Stay hydrated, indeed. We complain here in north Texas when the temp hovers around 40C for a long stretch of the summer. Suddenly I’m thirsty!
Sigh…all tasty things in moderation 😉
Some days, of course, I say even moderation should be experienced in moderation! 😉
Beautiful shots, and tasty too! Isn’t it amazing how when we actually bring our appetites under control, we actually enjoy those things more in their moderation.
Kind of amazing, isn’t it. Even *I* have been known to benefit from better behavior once or twice. Who’d’a thunk. 🙂
The bra analogy cracks me up!
Sometimes neither bras nor cocktails are all they’re cracked up to be! 😉
Aah yes, that big word – moderation. Oh well. We can’t eat healthy all of the time. As yours did, our bodies will tell us when enough is enough.
Have a beautiful day dear Kath.
🙂 Mandy xoxoxo
Thank you, my Sweet!! Looking forward to a nice, relatively quiet weekend. I’m missing R’s half of tonight’s concert because (though I feel ever so much better tonight) I got food poisoning at midday, so I will stay quietly at home and probably enter Saturday much more rested than I expected. And in a mood to eat sensibly for the near future! 😀
xoxo
Kath
Moderation is the key, Kathryn, but that Waldorf slaw sure does look tempting.
Just making sure I don’t overdo the helpings makes me feel I can get away with most foods, so I’m trying to renew my commitment to portion control rather than passing up too many good foods altogether. 🙂
That looks so tasty!
It is to *me*. 😉 Light, fresh and juicy. 🙂
Yummy shots, Kathryn, and I’m on the same page…trying to eat healthier, i.e. mellowing out on sweets (my vice). But, I don’t believe in deprivation, either, because that leads to failure. Anyway, cheers! Oops, well, in moderation! I’m enjoying some wine right now, but only a glass or maybe two. 🙂 Have a good weekend!
Thanks, my sweet! The weekend was good—and very quickly gone; already looking forward to the next. But since this is prime concert time around the university, we’re keeping well entertained (not least of all with the gatherings at home after for a debrief over a glass of wine and some chocolates). I guess all I have to do is keep attending all of the performances to keep me away from the fridge at the moment!! 😀
xoxo