Eating issues

Yumm...... soggy cereal!

I'm pretty normal in that i'm the product of my past.  And when it comes to my current diet and the psychological way i view eating - i'm no exception.

My first memory regarding my views on eating is from the 80's - those 'save the children' commercials featuring skin and bones kids across the ocean.  I was moved.  I vowed never to take food for granted.

Fast forward to college.  I was lucky enough to be on an academic scholarship that included a stipend for room and board.  I was smart and thrifty so i moved into the cheapest place i could find with a bunch of guys and ate all the free food a college campus could offer.  When i wasn't eating free food i was buying groceries based on value in terms of maximizing calories per dollar.  I hardly ever ate out - money that could be spent on gas to climbing destinations or crucial pieces of (very expensive gear) could not be spent on such extravagances.  I became thrifty.

During those college years and the years following, I became a climbing bum.  I learned to scavenge.  I learned that licking out my bowl provided a few extra calories - something a body starved from 16 hours of straight climbing for the third day desperately needed.  I stopped wasting food - even scraps.

Now, over 15 years later - all of these elements still have a place in my life.  Thrift still allows me to follow my passions.  Appreciating food has led me to become more educated in how it supports my pursuits as a recreational endurance athlete.  And not wasting food - well that has been hard to shake.

Which only recently has become a problem - as the three half finished bowls of soggy cereal my two boys (yeah, i know, i should only give 'em each one bowl...) have left on the breakfast table stare me in the face, waiting to be dumped down the garbage disposal. Because, well, I am the garbage disposal.

Back when i was training 3 hours a week this wasn't as much of an issue.  But these days my reduced total calorie expenditure from exercise is little match for the fickle and fluctuating appetites of my growing boys and i seem to be putting on a few pounds.

Or maybe it's just winter, who knows.

Either way it's going to-----

Oops, sorry, going to have to cut it short - AJ just 'finished' lunch and three-quarters of a cheese quesadilla is calling my name.