Hello all -

I need some support today.

I've been working on the Steps for about two months now. I've gotten a lot out of the breakfast step, and I'm easing my way into journaling with the Step Two class. Two days ago I just had the greatest feeling of connection with my body while following my ups and downs through the day in the journal. I was trying columns, which forced me to think about physical and emotional feelings. i finally had let go of the constant judging of what I was writing. I was just observing, and it allowed me to feel connected to my body in a way that was new and really neat. Yesterday I had a weird food day and it was harder to stay connected but I just kept on journaling.

Then today I got myself into a bit of a panic. You see, I had requested several books on nutrition from the library months ago. One of them was Potatoes not Prozac. That arrived first and led to me joining this community.

Another one was a current bestseller exploring a theory about wheat as the culprit in America's obesity problem. Well, that book on tape finally arrived and I decided that I since I had waited so long for it I might as well listen to a bit of it on the way to work this morning.

Mistake!!!!!!

Before I knew it I was all wound up about what I've been eating, the weight gain I've had so far here on this program and lots of worrying about whether I should go back to the low carb approach that I had tried previously and decided I could no longer follow. Oh yes, and I started hyperventilating about the whole wheat bread I've been encouraging my 8 year old son to eat with his eggs for breakfast too. Yikes!!!!

Did I mention that my work's been especially stressful this week and breakfast was late this morning too? Talk about a perfect storm!!!

So here I am, dear forum. The wheat book is returning to the library ASAP. I'm re-focusing my efforts on learning these steps. Focus on the solution, not the problem, right? There are so many "brown" foods yet to try, and I get to make use of all of them.

I can better learn about the influence of wheat - or any other food - on my body if I refocus on breakfast and after I've gone further into learning how to journal, how to get adequate protein at each meal, etc. There will be plenty of opportunity for fine tuning once i"m steady. And I need to get steady first to be in a place to help my kids.

Whew!!! No more diet books for Gretchen!

Good night all and take care

-Gretchen