¿An obsessed non-Domincan?

I'm sitting in Jean's computer lab at her liceo (high school) while she does some work, and after horsing around on facebook for a bit and given Jean has more to do, I thought I'd do a quick post.

We're having a wonderful time, and my mind and heart are so full of impressions, experiences and thoughts that it would take months to chronicle even a portion of the total. But given the promised brevity of this post, I thought I´d talk about my food and eating and the related emotional detritus that has unfolded during our time in the DR thus far. This blog is, afterall, about my journey to fitness and weightloss.

My daughter has no scale, and also did not inherit her mother's food issues. She's healthy and lean and has a normal relationship with food. Within minutes of running into each others' arms at the Santo Domingo Airport last Monday, she noted my weightloss and congratulated me. Soon after, (Tom was seeing to the rental car) we asked someone to take our picture, and upon seeing it I whined, "How can I look so fat after losing so much weight?" (I'll post pictures once back in the states.) Jean rolled her eyes but had the good sense to say nothing. Wednesday late morning, less than 48 hours after we arrived and just following an ambitious climb to the top of the highest mountain peak in Janico (Jean's town)and the subsequent descent, I reported to Tom and Jean's uninterested ears that I could really feel the muscles in my hips from the workout. This prompted Jean to say to me, "Mom, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings or be critical, but you are obsessed with food and dieting." Offended (not really), I staunchly replied that my comment was merely noting that my body felt the results of our epic climb and not a commentary about food, weight or dieting. She said, well maybe not this time, but you've talked about it a lot. Harumph! I have not said one more word about it since. Cross my heart and hope to die.

But I have thought about it. (Yeah, she totally busted me.) It's now Saturday late afternoon, and I have not binged at all, in any way since we've been here and it feels great. I also haven't restricted my intake in any way. We've had incredible meals at the homes of some of her Dominican friends where the family members watch closely to make sure you're eating enough. Ahh-mazing food. Lots of fresh avacado, beans, rice, chicken, salad and vegetables prepared in Dominican style, washed down by utterly delicious fresh fruit juices made with whatever fruit is on hand. And lots of bottled water. Lots. We've also had also had a few meals out including one today at TGIFridays (in a neighboring city) to give Jean a welcome dose of American cuisine. We've walked a lot, including a lot of hills. I've eaten to full, but never stuffed. And we've skipped dinner when we had big midday meals and just had some dried apricots or something. So I have no idea of where my weight is, and there isn't much to do but surrender it to the universe. I've been moderate. No eating between meals. It'll be interesting to see the results of normal binge-free eating.

It's just occurred to me that I've just written a blog post essentially about food and eating while I'm on holiday in the Domincan Republic. Maybe I am still a bit obsessed. Darn that Jean for calling me on my sh*t! This has been an experience that has overwhelmed all of our senses, and will provide fodder for my writing for a long time to come. I expect you'll be hearing about it, smile smile.