Tuesday, January 23, 2007

A Little Help from our Friends

Today I would like to discuss a very enjoyable experience that occurred last night. My lovely wife Linda and I were invited over for dinner at my step daughter's house. Of course we were happy to come over and visit with her, her boyfriend, the 2 little ones, and enjoy a nice meal.

Since we have started Weight Watchers we have told everyone and anyone about our goals for losing weight as well as achieving better health through improved nutrition. I am proud of all our friends and family for being super supportive of our efforts. Every time we see or speak to them we get positive feedback.

I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this type of encouragement. That positive re-inforcement validates our efforts and goals. Wednesday at 7:15 we come together at our Weight Watchers meetings to do just that. I absolutely love the little rewards (stickers and stars) and the applause that accompany them. That is why it has been proven that meeting attendees lose on average three times as much weight as the solo participants.

But back to our dinner. Ganny is an excellent cook and is known for preparing wonderful meals ranging from to die for manicotti all the way to chinese feasts. This time however, she was preparing her famous fajitas. In order to accommodate our Weight Watchers guidelines, she made some simple adjustments to her recipe.

Low fat tortillas replaced standard tortillas. Broiled chicken replaced fried flank steak. Fat free refritos were served on the side. She also loaded up on the red peppers, which she sauteed in just a touch of olive oil. Fat-free sour cream and low-fat grated cheese were offered as condiments. My favorite salsa is a point free food. The entire meal was just as fantastic as usual and no-one felt like we were being denied our culinary treats. Thank you Ganny, it was wonderful.

As a side bonus, her boyfriend John is a diabetic, and our healthy lifestyle goals have motivated him also to start eating better. As we all know, diabetics really need to be careful with food selections to avoid long-term health issues. So it was a win-win situation for everyone.

The bottom line is don't be shy in trumpeting to the world what we are doing. You will be pleasantly surprised at the level of support you will receive. Also like a shining beacon, we can motivate and encourage others to start the healthy lifestyle journey.

So like the Beatles told us, "We get by with a little help from our friends" (and family) !!!!

Healthy eating to all...

Dave and Linda

1 comment:

Fiver2 said...

Congrats to all! One of these days ill get off my but and stop planning my diet and start acting.
Who knows after reading this tonight may be the night.
If nothing else you helped insipre me to stop writing on here and finish planning. =)