I went to the supermarket today with a list of the few things that I need. Very few since I’m still on a full liquid diet. I wanted onions to make a French onion soup. Once the flavors have all simmered together, I’ll remove the onions and be left with a very flavorful broth. I needed milk for my protein shakes and Crystal Light for variety since I need to drink down 64-100 ounces a day. I mentally shored up my defenses because I knew how tempting the sights and smells of real food would be to me. I might not have much physical hunger, but my head hunger is sometimes strong.
Wouldn’t you know that today a local Girl Scout troop had a table set up to sell cookies? I’m very proud of myself for resisting the urge to buy a box of Thin Mints or the peanut butter-chocolate ones. Instead I gave them a donation and kept walking.
With so few items on my list, it didn’t take me long to shop. On Saturdays in tourist season, the supermarkets are packed with people who rent houses or vacation condos for a week and have to stock their kitchens. So the lines to check out were long. While I waited, I looked around and realized how many different, often conflicting, messages and images fill the racks on either side of the shopper. To my right — Chocolate Magazine, Food Network Magazine and Paula Dean — all displaying photographs of opulent sweet and savory dishes. Following the magazine rack, were shelves of chocolate bars. To my left, amid the star mags and tabloids, were magazines that touted the latest fat-burning carbs, a metabolism rev-up, and three different new diets to try. As if to drive home the point that excess weight is a major concern, one of the rag mags focused on unflattering photos of celebrities with close-ups of cellulite dimpled thighs and less than tight abs.
It’s no new revelation that America is obsessed with food, diets, and body image.
New to me today, however, was my mindset. Did every food item on the right look scrumptious and make me think that I’d love to try it someday? Yes, but I didn’t want to turn my cart around right then and load up on the ingredients. The timing isn’t right for me with the liquid diet. I scanned the chocolate bars, but decided the temporary taste wasn’t worth veering away from the doctor’s instructions. When I looked at the diet articles on the left, I didn’t feel the same tension that I used to experience. I didn’t have to dwell on the guilt that I should be doing more about my weight. I’ve already done something pretty impressive.
I guess that’s the secret to survival for me. I shield my mind with positive messages so that the ads, articles and photographs can’t infiltrate. Employing that strategy, I can proceed unscathed through the bombardment at the check out line.
Weighty Matters 