Author: Debi

Simple Diet Tip

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True confession: I have a tendency to eat two servings if I make two servings of something.

But I had a new idea this week. My new strategy has been to immediately put the second serving into the freezer for another day.

So tonight for example, for dinner I cooked up large pan of some chicken and peppers. Usually I would eat the whole thing. But tonight, before I ate my meal, I packaged half and put it in the freezer.

Putting it directly in the freezer before I even eat tonight’s serving really seems to be a game changer. If I just put it in the fridge, I know myself and I would eat it. The freezer feels so final. The food is no longer available. If that makes sense. Sometimes I have to trick myself.

New Year’s Resolutions in October?

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I was thinking about the formation of habits this morning. For the New Year, I always try to work on building a new habit or two rather than making a resolution. Once a habit becomes habitual, it removes the need to think about it anymore.

So today I had this light bulb moment. “What if I did my New Year’s resolutions/habits now rather than waiting until January 1st?” Would there be less pressure from a nondescript date? I developed the new habit of making my bed every morning at a random time of the year.

Hmm. I wonder if choosing to do a New Year’s self-examination and habit building exploration now would be any different than the same activity at the end/beginning of the year. There’s something inspiring about endings and beginnings, though, so I understand why the beginning of a new year inspires change.

I wonder if there’s a way to have an ending/beginning now. Maybe Halloween could be an ending of the early holiday season but also the beginning of the official holiday season?

I’m just thinking and wondering, here. No definitive suggestions. But I think I’m going to spend some time pretending it’s the New Year and I’m trying to come with changes or habits I want to instill. Maybe going to the gym? I never have gotten back in that habit after moving.

If you were making your New Year’s “Resolutions/Habits” right now, what would you be choosing to work on?

I keep forgetting my Gratitude Journal

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I keep a little daily journal/notebook. It’s a spiral notebook that I leave open on my table. When I take my coffee break or lunch break, I sit down by the journal and write in it. Not a lot, mainly just thoughts I’m having that day. (Some of those daily thoughts end up as posts on my Facebook page.) 🙂

One of the most difficult things I find journaling-wise is keeping a gratitude journal. Not because I’m not grateful, but simply because I forget about it. Well, I surprised myself and I found an easy way to solve that issue.

If I piggyback habits on top of each other, I find it helps me keep up on them. So, what I’ve started doing with my gratitude journal is I’ve added it to my daily journal. At the top of the page, I write the date, and then just below that I leave three spaces for listing three things that I’m grateful for. Big things, small things, random things. Some days it’s hard, but I can always find something, even if it’s just listing my cats and what I had for breakfast. Before I write my journal entry, I have to write my three gratitude entries.

When I want to review what I’ve been grateful for lately, I just go back through my regular journal and there are the grateful entries right at the top.

Since I was already in the habit of doing a short journal entry everyday, it was simple and painless to add in some gratitude journaling. But keeping a separate Gratitude Journal wasn’t working for me.

Is there a new habit you’re struggling to create? Maybe there’s something that you’ve already established that you can piggyback the new habit onto.

Newsletter

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I’ve been looking into starting a new email newsletter (essentially sort of a Simple Times 2.0). I published Simple Times for many  years, and stopped when I faced some crises.

There are so many options for email newsletters out there. I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed. Then I realized when exploring my blog’s settings today that the option to follow the blog can be used for subscribing to a newsletter! If I can set it up properly, it looks like I already have a free email newsletter option that comes with my blog. 🙂

Still not sure if I’m going to start a new blog or not. Might be nice to just have a clean slate and start fresh. I’ll keep you all informed here if I do something new.

Grandma’s Sour Cream Potato Salad

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My dad asked me to make my grandmother’s potato salad for a family dinner. The only problem with that request was that I’d misplaced her recipe! Oops. I dug around through her books and papers and found this potato salad recipe in the cookbook she used most often. The recipe had some notes in her handwriting — always a good sign it was a well-used recipe. So I tried it an it turned out well. Felt familiar. My dad liked it, so all is well.

From my grandmother’s copy of Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook:

Sour Cream Potato Salad

  • 1/3 cup Italian salad dressing
  • 7 medium potatoes, cooked in jackets, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 3/4 cup diced celery
  • 1/3 cup sliced green onions
  • 4 hard-cooked eggs
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon dill

Pour Italian dressing over warm potatoes; chill 2 hours. Add celery and onion. Chop egg whites and add to potato mixture. In separate bowl, crumble egg yolks, mix with mayo, sour cream, mustard, salt and dill; fold into salad. Chill 2 hours or overnight. Sprinkle with small amount of paprika and dill. Makes 8 servings. Optional: serve with deviled eggs.

New habits during new beginnings

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I just read that a change in circumstance can be a good time to start new habits. I’m hoping moving will provide me with the opportunity to get a strong start with some new habits.

I realized today that the new habits aren’t going to just magically appear. I need to plan ahead for what new habits I want to instill. I came up with these for starters: make my bed every morning, do a Ten Minute Tidy every evening, immediately pick up clothes left on the bathroom floor after showering, don’t let clothes pile up on the bedroom chair, don’t let dishes pile up in the sink, go through my paper piles (mainly mail) everyday.

Interesting that most of those things have to do with piles of something. Clothes, dishes, paper. Yep, I’m still a Piler. I need to keep in mind the idea that Pilers need to contain their piles. The dishwasher can act as a pile container for dishes and glassware. A laundry basket can also be a pile container. Maybe I can get a cute little basket to set on the counter where I’ll put my mail, with the goal to have the basket emptied by the end of the day.

A new start can also disrupt well-established habits because daily routines can be different in a new place. So I’ll need to guard against that happening. Also, if I don’t have an idea of what new habits I want to instill, I think I’ll just slip into new habits in the new house which won’t necessarily be positive habits if I don’t choose the habits ahead of time.

Also, instead of saying “don’t do” something, I think I’m going to need to rethink it into what’s the positive step or habit I need to do in order to accomplish the “don’t do it” goal. For example, don’t leave clothes on the bedroom chair becomes make a decision about what to do with the clothing by either hanging clothes up, putting them in a drawer, or tossing them in the laundry basket. The chair is essentially the “Chair of Indecision.” I need to make decisions about the clothes that would normally end up in the pile.

I’ll be without internet for a few days, so I might be in a place to establish new online habits, too. Like not playing Scrabble as much. 🙂

Tie a new habit to an existing one

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“When scheduling a new habit, it helps to tie it to an existing habit.” – Gretchen Rubin

I wanted to get in the habit of writing in my journal every day. I take my mid-day break from work sitting at a table by a window where it’s sunny, relaxing, well-lit, and comfortable. I thought to myself, “What if I tie my daily break with my journaling?” So, as a test, I started leaving my journal out on the table with it open to the next page and an uncapped pen ready to go. I was so surprised. It was almost magical. I’d sit down at the table with my coffee and immediately pick up the pen and start writing.

I do find I have trouble writing in my journal on days off, though, because I don’t have that built-it habit of sitting at the table. But five out of seven days is awesome!

I also tied in keeping a tiny gratitude journal. At the top of every page when I’m getting started, I list three things I’m grateful for. Then I start journaling.

It works for me. 🙂

My journal is just a simple spiral-bound notebook. Nothing fancy. And I don’t set a goal for how much writing to do or what to write about. I usually just write randomly until my break’s over.

I find that I get all sorts of ideas from this simple journaling practice. Writing ideas. Life ideas. Ideas to share with others. It’s been one of the most fruitful habits I’ve developed this year.

A Simple Change of Perspective

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When my furniture and the things I’m keeping are all moved into the new house, I’ll need to come back to my current house to clean it and prepare it for the new people moving in.
I’ve been sort of dreading that part of the move, but have recently started to change my thinking. What if instead of seeing it as a big chore and hassle, I saw it as an opportunity to say goodbye to my house? A chance to bless the house and to thank it for sheltering me for so many years. For giving me a safe place to celebrate, and to grieve, and to experience change. A place to live my everyday life.
I’m also seeing the final cleaning of the house as an opportunity to close the door on past circumstances, and then head off into an unknown and beckoning future.
Sometimes a simple change of viewpoint can bring about great changes in perspective, and can even change a chore into an opportunity.

Dieting Loopholes

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I was recently reading the book Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin. It deals with the formation of habits. Rubin has a section in the book where she talks about loopholes people use to get out of following or creating good habits. I found while reading that the loopholes all have applications to dieting and eating well. A loophole is a way of thinking we use to excuse ourselves from positive behaviors. If we become aware of the loopholes we use, Rubin says we can stop kidding ourselves.

Moral License — I can be bad, because I’ve been good. I’ve earned it. For example, someone’s been losing weight successfully so they feel it’s okay for a little cheat on their eating plan.

Tomorrow Loophole — I can be bad today because I start my diet tomorrow. It doesn’t matter how much I eat today because I’ll be good tomorrow.

False Choice — I don’t have time to worry about eating well because I’m too busy.

Lack of Control — With everything that’s going on right now, I can’t be expected to stick to good eating habits.

“This Doesn’t Count” — I can eat this treat because it doesn’t count if it’s the holidays or a birthday or a wedding or a one time thing.

Concern for Others — I’ll hurt their feelings if I don’t eat this slice of cake they baked. I’m keeping junk food around the house for other people’s benefit.

Life Affirming — You only live once so why deprive yourself of that slice of cheesecake?

I think I’ve found myself using all of these excuses at one time or another. The loopholes apply to any habit you’re attempting to make in your life, or behavior you’re trying to change. It’s just that the diet ones resonated with me because I’m still following my new meal plan and hoping to make it into a lifelong habit.

How to Feel Better

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I found an older notebook while decluttering today. I decided to look through it and see what was hiding in there. The first page had a little list —

How to Feel Better:
1) Clean your space
2) Eat something healthy
3) Play great music
4) Light a candle
5) Sleep a little
6) Drink a glass of water
7) Breathe

I took a few minutes to do all of these items, and you know what? It worked. I woke up from a short nap and after doing the rest of the list, and I’m feeling better. I wasn’t feeling awful, just sort of run down and a little sad. Now I feel more energetic and my mood has lightened considerably.

Sometimes it’s the simple things that make a big difference.