Wing Man. I mean, Woman.

For all the drama and frustration that Roller Derby brings into my life, (and there is a lot, I just don't discuss it because I don't want to cause more) I have met some really wonderful people.

You know that I will talk all day about how blessed I am to have my wife (and her sister) in my life. I can't say enough good stuff about Bratty. Which is good since I spend more time with her than anyone on earth. The dog doesn't count, he's not a person.

Last week, I went to a going away party for a lady who is a lot of fun. We were team mates and often partnered up for drills because we are about the same size. She's a woman who I have a lot of respect for and who is moving to Sacramento. Her boss, who is my dentist (although he didn't recognise me with my mouth closed) threw her a party at the bowling alley (kid friendly) and fed us all pizza and beer. (I stuck with root beer)

At one point, there was a pan full of pepperoni pizza. I had eaten an sandwich before I went and 1 piece of pizza while there. In all factuality, I was full. Not overfull, satiated. But that pizza was there, practically licking my elbow like the dog does when he wants my attention.

I finally reached for a piece. Enter Durty Minion who looked at me and said, "you don't want that". I was surprised. I'm not used to anyone telling what I should and shouldn't eat. In fact, the last time I can recall being questioned about what I was eating was when I was in my early twenties and about to bite into a donut and the boy at the time looked at me and said "you aren't going to get fat again are you?"

So, I was taken aback, but not at all offended because she was right. I didn't want another piece of pizza, I was just eating it because it was there. She suggested that I have a piece of gum instead. And you know what? it worked. (mint gum and root beer, not so good).

When Whoop, the guest of honor sat down and grabbed a piece and took a bite, Durty was there to say, "you don't really want that!" Shocked, I suggested that perhaps she did, but it turns out, Whoop didn't want it, she was eating it because it was there.

It's not just me!!

We all sat and talked and chewed our gum until it was time to go.

We have a grazing culture. Because food is plentiful and available, we just eat it. We aren't eating because we are hungry or because we need sustenance, we eat because it is there.

I could go into all sorts of ideas about how this is left over from the hunter-gatherer times when we didn't know when our next meal would be, but in all honesty, we're Americans. And overindulging is what we do. We go to all you can eat buffets and gorge. We have parties where the food is just there for the taking and so we take. and talk. and eat some more even though we are full. We eat bags of chips without a second thought. Munch cocktail weenies and onion dip like they are going out of style.

Then we wonder why we are fat.

So today, I am thankful for my friend Durty who wasn't afraid to be my foodie wing woman and remind me to eat when I'm hungry, not because it's there.

It's amazing, how great I feel since I stopped overindulging. My belly doesn't hurt and I don't feel as sluggish. I have to eat more often and I am still getting used to that (last weekend there were a couple of food emergencies. One while out garage sailing Saturday when I didn't eat breakfast and one on Sunday when dinnertime hit and I realized that I had ONLY had breakfast.) I feel more energetic. I don't know if it's helping my physique, but hey, in a week of trying, I think I'm already making good progress.