{"id":379520,"date":"2013-09-16T02:16:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-16T02:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/16\/wanting-and-willpower\/"},"modified":"2013-09-16T02:16:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-16T02:16:00","slug":"wanting-and-willpower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/16\/wanting-and-willpower\/","title":{"rendered":"Wanting and Willpower"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Some weeks that\u2019s enough, Journeyers.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Another crazy busy, stressful week.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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But I did pause to note a few moments that felt good.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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If you\u2019ve ever battled a food addiction, you\u2019ll understand this all too well.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
One night last week we ran in to Sam\u2019s Club to grab a few groceries after Big Guy\u2019s practice.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Warren was working late, so my boy asked if we could do dinner at the store, since it was already late.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I ordered a sausage with peppers and onions.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I debated about ordering a warm and mouthwatering and oh, so soft and salty pretzel.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I opted to ask my son if I could have a bite of his.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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At the very end of my sandwich, I felt full.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The chatter in my brain went like this: It\u2019s just one more bite. What\u2019s one more bite going to hurt? You can\u2019t throw away food when there are starving people somewhere<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
But logic and Geneen Roth of the infamous Women, Food, and God<\/i> won out.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Food is fuel.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t put food into my mouth when I\u2019m not hungry, even if it is just a morsel.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I folded the food into my plate and tossed it into the trash.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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Near the end of our shopping, I noticed that my boy had left a piece of pretzel on his plate for me.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Annah, oh, Annah<\/span><\/i>, it seemed to be saying, I\u2019m especially soft and succulent today<\/i>.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A battle between my wits and my stomach ensued.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
In the end, willpower won out.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I wasn\u2019t hungry. Period.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I located the closest trash bin and discarded the food.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Done.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The reward for my efforts was so much sweeter at the end of the week than that ounce of food would have been.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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I\u2019ve shed fourteen pounds in the past two months.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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That makes me a happy, happy girl.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Saturday brought an unexpected delight, too.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
On our way to watch Beauty\u2019s out-of-town soccer game, we swung into this fantastic Amish market to grab our gal some mini gourds to decorate her dorm with.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I was almost giddy when I spotted the ornamental pepper plants!<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

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You see, a number of years ago, I spotted these unique, indoor plants and purchased one for a friend for her birthday.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

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She loves eating healthy, fresh foods, and I thought she might like the combination of color and edible.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I toyed with the idea of buying one for myself, too, but money was tight and the house was cluttered, so I only purchased the one.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
There are few material things that I regret not buying, but this was one of them.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
When I went back to buy one for me, they were sold out.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
When we went to Italy two years ago, I was so excited to see window boxes filled with these plants adorning Ristorantes everywhere.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019ve looked for these plants every year since, to no avail.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Until Saturday!<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
And guess what I did?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The cooler fall weather always lures Warren and I into the kitchen, him making his first batch of homemade chili and me whipping together vegetable beef soup.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Yep! Those peppers found their way into my soup\u2026<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
And now my kitchen has a touch more color for the coming darker days.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
What about you? What moment(s) brought a sense of joy or fulfillment or satisfaction to your week?<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Soon\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some weeks that\u2019s enough, Journeyers. Another crazy busy, stressful week. But I did pause to note a few moments that felt good. If you\u2019ve ever battled a food addiction, you\u2019ll understand this all too well. One night last week we ran in to Sam\u2019s Club to grab a few groceries after Big Guy\u2019s practice. Warren […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[316,317,233,488,1086,1087,320,1088,1089],"class_list":["post-379520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-happyhappens","tag-finding-happiness-in-your-day","tag-happy-happens","tag-healthy-living","tag-losing-weight","tag-pepper-plants","tag-random-happiness","tag-wanting","tag-willpower"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Uneaten-Sausage.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}