Perspective

For the past several days, the shootings at Fort Hood have been on most everyone's mind. As I consider this incident, and many other seemingly random acts of violence, I always wonder why they happened. What went on inside the person's head? What's at the root of the problem? I know I'm not the only person wondering these things, so why don't we have more answers than we do? It makes me wonder if our priorities are in order.
It even makes me wonder about the importance of self-centered endeavors like the one I'm on now, trying to eat better and get in shape. When I say self-centered, I don't mean that in a derogatory way. We all need to focus some of our attention on ourselves to be happy. However, it's always good to keep the bigger picture in mind. Being a healthy weight and treating our bodies right are important, but there are always more important matters that need our attention - friends who have suffered the loss of a loved one, our own families and what's going on in their lives, the feelings and needs of co-workers and employees, etc. It's easy for me to get caught up in my own issues. Trying to be more healthy can lead to big changes in habits and daily life. It's easy to spend so much time thinking about how many calories were in my most recent meal, or how bad I want a sweet tea but how I shouldn't have one that I forget to ask my daughter how her day was. Also, It's hard making sure everyone has something for dinner that satisfies them. Just because I've decided to eat more low-calorie foods doesn't mean everyone in the family has to do the same.
Lucky for me, my family is also interested in eating healthier and my nine-year-old daughter LOVES vegetables, possibly more than I do. She'd rather have a salad for dinner than a cheeseburger or pizza.
I'm off to a so-so start on the healthy eating. The first couple days after my first blog were not good. I actually got some hot wings and ranch the very next day. However, after a couple days, I started taking things more seriously. I started eating way more veggies and trying to keep track of how many calories I took in. I haven't started recording my calorie intake yet, but I think I'm doing ok.
My main problem is that I always feel hungry. I'm eating about 4 small meals a day, but I've really cut back on the amount of meat and cheese I'm eating. I don't know if I'm just getting used to the different kinds of foods or what, but feeling hungry even after I've eaten a meal is the biggest problem.
My weight has stayed pretty much the same over the past week, which I'm glad of. At least I'm not gaining any weight.
Hopefully, I can get myself into healthy eating habits that I can keep up the rest of my life and manage to lose one or two pounds a week.