Nashville Part 2; Thoughts on Freedom

On the way home from Nashville, we stopped at Fall Hollow Waterfalls.   I fully understand the name "Fall Hollow."   It was a little rougher terrain than I remembered.   "Unimproved" includes mud, overgrown roots, and steep hills. The path down.   It was a lot steeper than it looks.
This was the better looking part of the path.
Rooty Roots!


Small falls
The larger falls.   I don't think I could have made it down the path to get better  shots.   Very pretty, though!   I've made the trip down before,  a long time ago, but I am certain the path was not as treacherous.

When I first started planning my long weekend in Nashville, I made a mental note of the restaurants I wanted to visit.  One of those choices was the Loveless Café for breakfast.   Biscuits and jam!  Yes, I ate it, and no, it wasn’t low carb, but it sure was good!  I also ordered this omelette:     

I only ate half.  Definitely low carb.

I was working the puzzles while I waited for my food.     

I also went to my favorite catfish place, Cock of the Walk...I love that place.

There are some life-long habits I need to break.  One is eating too fast, but I usually forget to work on that until I've already gobbled my food.   Then I think, "I could have enjoyed that a little more."  But the big thing I find myself reverting back to is guilt...or a better term I learned in counseling: "pseudo guilt."    

Eating biscuits with jam and fried catfish isn’t a sin; overeating (anything) is.  That’s when I get into gluttony.  Gluttony is a choice, just like choosing to eat a biscuit for breakfast, or breaded foods for dinner.  So, just because I ate a little jam on two small biscuits, my brain wanted to tell me "You've blown it now."   I've learned to recognize these lies, and I now can put II Corinthians 10:5 to work in my thought process and cast down those arguments, and all the thoughts that try to exalt themselves against the knowledge of my God given Freedom, and bring those thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

(By the way, I can't "blow it" because I am not on a diet.  I have simply cut out all cookies, cake, and candy, the former mainstay of my diet, and strictly limited other carbs such as bread and jam.)

There are certain items I can’t eat without knowing that I am going to face cravings later on.  A little bit of jam on a biscuit this past weekend didn't set my cravings in motion.   For some reason, though, Mexican food does make me want to eat for no reason...

Let me state emphatically that cravings from Mexican food are not nearly as strong as the uncontrollable cravings I used to get while sugar was still a staple of my regular food intake.  Sugar cravings are much more intense, and much harder to withstand.  In fact, I never could manage to withstand them.  Cutting   sugar out makes a huge difference.  (Said after I ate jam this past weekend...)

Later in the evening after a Mexican dinner, when I want to eat when I am not hungry, being able to recognize it for what it is, I am able to stay strong and not keep eating.  

For sure, I’m no expert on this low-carb thing.  It's a learning process, and I am learning as I go.   I know for sure it's LOW carb, not no carb.   :::big smile:::  If I ever figure it all out, I'll be sure to share the info with you.  For now, I just don't want to appear like I'm talking in circles.  

To confuse you (me) even more about my sugar cravings, let me tell you about what I did in early January.  I rarely EVER drink soda, diet or otherwise, but I drank a full leaded Sprite by accident  (I thought it was a Sprite Zero...don't ask how I could do that...I don't know!!), but I didn’t realize it until the next day.  I didn't have any any crazy cravings.  It made me wonder if it’s all in my head, but then I remembered day after day after day of binge eating, a seemingly uncontrollable "need" to eat before I started low carb.  So I know the cravings are definitely real...but I have no answer for why the Sprite didn't bother me, because sometimes I unintentionally eat something with sugar and don’t realize it until later when the cravings hit, and I go back over what I've eaten and have an "Aha!" moment.  

I have already learned that the lower the carbs, the better the weight loss.  (I have also learned that I don’t like plateaus, but I thank God for them anyway, because I feel there must be a reason our bodies refuse to let go of pounds at times.)  I have also recognized that I probably won't ever be one of those people who will never eat bread or pizza again.   However, I have found it’s a lot easier to not overeat when I when I don’t eat those things.  Again, it comes down to choices.

By the way, after the semi-carby weekend, I think my plateau is finally over.  I am 74 pounds down.   

One last thought to share with you:  Freedom is real.   You can have it, too.  If ever I doubt that it's real, I only need to wake up the morning after a bad food choice (such as, for example, a fried catfish dinner) and be able to go right along as though I ate broccoli and broiled fish the night before.  Please never doubt that, indeed, you can be free from the shackles that bind you.