http://home.diettalk.com/dj/archives/October_.gif Well, the month beginning all the "food holidays" is here! I can't believe it, but here it is OCTOBER 1, 2002 All the Halloween candy is on the shelves..... have you bought any for your house yet? Do you have a plan for avoiding getting into it? I know for me when we used to buy a bunch of stuff early in the month, I'd pick at it thinking it didn't matter... you can consume WAY more than you think you are when you are mindlessly dipping into a seemingly endless "supply" of candy. One tip might be to wait until the last minute to buy it.... find out when your trick or treat day is and go that morning and get it. They'll probably be lots of sales anyway and you won't have as much time to "dip in", so you win both ways.

Something else to make a plan for is AFTER Halloween is over and your kids have scads of candy to pick at. What are you going to do then? You might want to formulate a plan for yourself and for them, too, so they don't eat too much at one time.

But along with any plan, there needs to be some kind of motivation to keep you focused and to keep you excited about your plan. Here's a reading that really motivates me and makes me ready to keep on doing what I'm already doing!
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Make it happen

What is one thing you've always wanted but you never thought you'd be able to do, or to be, or to accomplish? Just for a moment, drop all your doubts and consider that it is indeed possible.

It may not happen in exactly the way you envision it. Yet there is some way, some means by which the essence of your desire can and will be fulfilled.

Fulfilling your most treasured desires -- the ones you truly desire, not the ones the world tells you to pursue -- is not about selfishly getting what you want. It is about becoming the best you can be.

Just thinking for a moment that something could be possible is enough to raise your level of positive energy. You can feel it even now. That positive, empowering feeling is the first important step in truly making it happen. Your most sincere desire points the way to your most meaningful purpose. Listen to it, feel it, know it is possible, and you'll begin right now to make it so.

-- Ralph Marston
Great day.com (http://greatday.com/motivate/index.html)
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So, let's start making October 2002 a month we'll all remember as the most successful month we've had so far. If you haven't had any successful months so far, then make it your FIRST of many to come!! You CAN do it...... we can do it together!!

It drives me crazy when Halloween candy is in the stores in September...and people are buying it. We don't give out candy. But yes, my kids do bring it home. They generally don' eat much of it before it disappears though.

I like the thoughts there on Making it Happen...Believe in yourself and let your positivity shine thru. Anything is possible. Sometimes I forget that. We need to have that plan and act on it. Thanks Dj. :x

I only buy a few bags as I don't get many trick or treaters around me. I also only buy the stuff that I don't like and therefore won't feel like nibbling on it!
Happy October Everyone!
:rose:

Julie,

I'm with you! I do not buy early and I buy candy that I don't care for. That makes it less tempting. I make sure I give out all of the candy so that it is gone that night. In regards to my twelve year old's candy, I do not touch it. I figure he worked for it and it is his. By letting him have ownership of the candy I would feel selfish if I ate his candy. I know he won't be going out too many more years. He is so sensible. He eats one or two pieces a day. We still have candy from last Halloween. We always throw out last year's candy before Halloween rolls around again. (Well don't I sound NOBLE! Let me tell you I DID eat ALL the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers bars out of my son's candy he had to sell for soccer-there were several by the way. Next year I will make him sell that candy on the day he gets it so I won't eat it.)CJL

One of the great benefits of living in the boonies is that we don't have trick or treaters. So I don't buy any Halloween goodies at all. A few years back, I had a person friend that would bring her daughter up, so I would buy one of those huge Hersey bars for her. She loved coming to "Aunt" Sandie's house. I think this child could eat a candy shop dry, and not gain an ounce. She was born 3 months early, weighed a little over 1 lb, and managed to survive and is now doing quite well. She's a 16 year old now, and probably still doesn't weigh 100 lbs. She's tall and rail thin, and it's just the way she is.

There are some benefits to living way out anyway. This is one I am glad for right now.

Sandie :)

Good thoughts everyone....... we don't have many trick or treaters here either, so I usually give out pop corn in the little trick or treat containers (microwave kind) or apples. We live on the outskirts of a neighborhood, so we don't get many people out here.

For me, October and halloween is the beginning of the "party foods" months ahead..... so I want to be strong and develop some good alternatives to the BIG food issues involved with or associated with the holidays. We have a lot of covered dish dinners that go a long with parties and such and I usually bring several things that are healthy, so if there's just not any healthy choices there, I can eat my own stuff and know that I haven't totally blown it.

I found this reading and I loved what it said about "health insurance". Hope everyone is having a good day!
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HEALTH INSURANCE


Have you noticed how health insurance is like a hospital gown: every time you turn around, you find something that isn't Covered?

But health researchers are now discovering what many people have known all along - that getting healthy is about more than medicine and treatment. It also involves a healthy outlook on life.

Various studies have validated the mind/ body connection. Cancer is often diagnosed within months of the death of one's spouse. People who are cynical or angry have been shown to be more prone to heart attacks than those with a more positive outlook. And former "Saturday Evening Post" editor Norman Cousins has demonstrated for years how humor, laughter and hope can aid the healing process.

Not only is a healthy mental outlook necessary, but a healthy spiritual outlook seems to be equally important. Noted psychologist Carl Jung (1865-1961) made a telling observation about the connection between one's mental health and spiritual outlook. "During the past 30 years, people from all civilized countries of the earth have consulted me," he said. "Among all my patients in the second half of life - that is to say, over 35 - there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a (spiritual) outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them fell ill because he (or she) had lost that which living religions of every age have given to their followers.."

It seems that a healthy mental and spiritual outlook, like eating, sleeping and paying taxes, is not really an option. Not when one is looking for wholeness!

-From Steve Goodier's PRESCRIPTION FOR PEACE
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Have a good weekend everyone!

With the leaves starting to change and everyone thinking about the change of this new season upon us, I thought this reading was a great one! It's always up to us and lots of us never get that concept.......

Change begins with CHOICE! (YOURS, of course......)

Any day we wish, we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish, we can start a new activity. Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves." We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of the good life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.

We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.

And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life—If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life—and it all begins with your very own power of choice.

To Your Success,

Jim Rohn

Great posts Dj.. And I plan on eating the candy. I mean, the baby plans on eating the candy. ;)

Corinna

Great post DJ,

I have been copy/pasting them. I want to keep them for reading over and over, and possibly for sharing with other friends that are struggling over things. These posts don't only apply to weight loss, but to everything in our lives and how we affect them by what we choose to do or believe. Thank you very much.

LOL, Corinna...... tell that baby of yours candy will rot his/her teeth! When do we find out that his or her status by the way? Tell him/her "Aunt Dj" is too old for this kind of suspense. *grin*

Thanks, Sandielynne..... I'm glad you'll be able to use the posts again. And sharing them is great! They have great messages and I'm so glad there are so many resources and great people on the internet that we can find these kinds of things to share with each other. I agree..... these are things that can apply to many areas of our lives. I think that weight loss and getting healthy is very intertwined with everything we do anyway and when we get "right" with ourselves everything starts to fall into place naturally. It's hard work most of the time to get to that point, but well worth it.

I don't know how much I'll be on here until Sunday since we are swamped with last minute things to do with my daughters wedding. I hope you all have a great weekend and a HEALTHY one at that! :D Talk to you on Sunday!

Hi DJ,

Hope the weather and everything else cooperates to make the wedding a success in every way. Have a wonderful weekend, and try not to cry too hard. OK?

Take care

LOL, Sandielynn..... I lost it when I sat down from lighting the candle. I looked up and saw my son pulling the white runner down the isle and then my other daughters walking down the isle.... I was already crying before the bride even got within eye sight! Here's a picture one of the kids took with the digital camera. I'll share more when the other pictures are finished. Thanks for the thoughts everyone! The day was beautiful!!!!

This is my daughter, Christen, her husband, Rob and his grandparents.
http://home.diettalk.com/dj/archives/Christen_train_6X8.jpg

This one is Christen, Rob, my ex-husband Charlie and me in black.
http://home.diettalk.com/dj/archives/Charlie_me_half.jpg

Great pictures.. even though I've seen 'em before. You look FABULOUS! And happy. That is the important thing.

Corinna

Thanks, Corinna...... I didn't know you'd seen them before. I was very happy and am going to try to continue that feeling. It's a much better way to get through the day than the alternative. There's so much to be said for being positive!

This is a great reading about enthusiasm! Are you enthused about whatever program you are following? Do you excite others just by telling them about what you are doing and how you are feeling? So...... how many pounds of enthusiasm do you think you're worth??

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TWO POUNDS OF ENTHUSIASM

Someone quipped that there is a name for folks who are not excited about their work -- unemployed! People value enthusiasm.
I'm reminded of that great 18th century founder of Methodism, John Wesley. When asked how he drew such large crowds of people to hear him preach, he responded, "I set myself on fire and they come out and watch me burn!" People are drawn to enthusiasm.

Where there is no enthusiasm, there is no passion. Where there is no passion, there is no great living. Are we meant simply to be lukewarm?

From antiquity to the present, indifference in any realm has prohibited people from living whole and happy lives.
One woman went to the market and asked for two pounds of sausage. The clerk yelled at the butcher, "Two pounds of enthusiasm!"

"Why do you call it that?" the bewildered customer asked.

"Because he puts everything he's got into it," the clerk said.

In your daily activities, in your various relationships, and in your
spiritual pursuits -- what would happen if you "put everything you've got" into it?

-From Steve Goodier's RICHES OF THE HEART
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Let's get enthused about our new healthy life styles..... let's get enthused about helping each other reach our goals..... let's be enthused about life in general!!!

What a beautiful family you have, DJ, and your daughter looks sooo much like you. I can hardly wait to see your grandchild!!! I hope they don't decide to wait for years and years like some young folks are doing now. I''m so glad it was a wonderful wonderful wedding. love rella

Ah, thanks, rella. That means a lot! The wedding was just so much fun and everyone really enjoyed themselves. The reception was a terrific party!

I don't know about grandkids, but you know I'll be here whooping and hollering when the time comes. I know they are planning on waiting until they get their house finished and get settled a bit more, but you never know. Those kinds of plans seem to set themselves sometimes.....lol

Thanks again!

I started many years ago a tradition and I have found it to be a good way for me to start the holiday season ..... and I would like to share it with you.

After Halloween .... I donate all my candy to either a Food Bank that feeds the homeless or to the Children's Hospital.

I feel it gives joy to others ..... (and before I became a diabetic ... it prevented me from eating my children's stash ..... multiply that with what I bought to give out at Halloween) and is the perfect way for me to start the holidays.

Wow, Monica! That's an awesome idea.... that's one I hadn't thought of or heard before. All kids love candy and those are some that probably wouldn't get any. I really like that.

Thanks for sharing that with us!

It is a great suggestion! :x I think I'll call our local hospital on Monday.

Corinna

We have a special service in my neighborhood that takes care of all the leftover Halloween candy. It was started about 5 years ago by one really sharp trio of boys.

These older boys, 13-15 or so, who could no longer trick-or-treat without eliciting scorn from their peers, came around about an hour after the last little ones had finished their fun. They carried pillow cases and kitchen garbage bags.

When I went to the door, the ringleader, who had a wonderfully devilish twinkle in his eyes, said that they were volunteering to take all the leftover candy because they knew people wouldn't want to eat it and gain weight. I was delighted with their audacity and the way they managed to save face while 'cleaning up' in the candy department and I emptied the bowl happily.

Now, as each year another set get too old to don costumes, they continue the new tradition and we all happily tip the bowl into their bags. And, I give thanks to God that these young teens can continue the joy a little longer while enjoying a 'just between us' joke with the adults whose world they are realizing they'll soon be a part of.

My pleasure, DJ. I love your tradition Monicapink, now if I can sneak it past my husband:D rella