Choice

choice [chois] noun

1.an act or instance of choosing; selection: Her choice of a computer was made after months of research. His parents were not happy with his choice of friends.

2.the right, power, or opportunity to choose; option: The child had no choice about going to school.

3.the person or thing chosen or eligible to be chosen: This book is my choice. He is one of many choices for the award.

4.an alternative: There is another choice.

5.an abundance or variety from which to choose: a wide choice of candidates.

adjective, choic·er, choic·est.

9.worthy of being chosen; excellent; superior.

10.carefully selected: choice words.

11.(in the grading of beef in the U.S.) rated between prime and good.

12.of choice, that is generally preferred: A detached house is still the home of choice.

Attention Class-

Today I want to talk about Choice and what it means or can mean to us.  Looking at this word in the Dictionary.com format gives you the idea that there is a lot to this word.  It is packed with a lot more nuanced meaning than I realized.

My earliest recollection of seeing this word after I learned to read was on our kitchen countertop. Dad always laid a package of meat out to thaw before cooking it.  We never worried about no stinkin' salmonella or bacteria.  If it didn't smell bad well, cook 'er up!  I would sometimes run my fingers over the cool plastic wrap on the bloody cut of beef and read the label noting the cost and the date the store put it out in the butcher case. If there were other stickers on the package, they indicated the superior cut or quality of the meat.  We didn't often buy meat with a shiny bright sticker reading "Choice", so when I saw it, it meant the meat probably cost more and that we'd better appreciate it when we ate it.

In life we have more choices than we know what to do with. So we(well, maybe just I) often avoid making them.  You might think that a decision is like a choice, but if you don't decide, then it remains a choice.

Living my life now is a daily choice.  How I live, what I put into my body, how I spend my day and enrich my mind, even what I think about: these are all choices.  Back in my former life when I was a wife, even then I had nearly total freedom on how to run my tiny day in my own tiny way. Those choices were different, based at least partly on what my better half wanted or needed.

My choice to start losing weight is a satisfying one for me.  The choice I've made on how to go about it is more interesting than satisfying.  It has pushed me to think about food in a whole new way. It has led me to want to read and learn more about how I and the rest of us all got to this crazy state of obesity that we live in.  

Yet again, the choice of learning to live this way in this day has led me to more people whom I've gotten to know by letters and phone conversations. I am scrunching my face up as I write this, thinking of how this is just so strange and wonderful!  There are people out there, all over the country who are interested in what I do and think about, even when it comes to how I lose weight!  One of these people was brought to me via the company whose diet plan I follow.  She is my counselor, phone friend, nutritionist(she IS a nutritionist by trade) and mentor.  She is in Arkansas and I would LOVE to meet her in person someday. We talk once per week on a conference call about food, nutrition and soooo much more.  She is on my mind more than she knows. 

I think I'm lucky to have the choices I have, although it is hard to confront them and actually take action to make the choice and turn it into a decision followed by action. I defer a lot of these.

Last night I took my neighbors out to eat to thank them for watching my house in my absence. We went to, of all exotic places, Chili's.  So salad, it was.  My neighbor lady is 'on' Nutri System.  Just like anyone and everyone else, they all think their choice of a diet plan is the best and my choice is wrong for me.  tch tch "No bread? That's not sustainable, you know..."


"When will you start eating 'normally' again?" I get asked again and again. Well.... the word 'normal' has about as many meanings as 'choice' does to me.  Uhhhh, if 'normal' means going back to eating salty, sugary packaged foods, processed, dried, frozen foods that truly cannot even be classified as 'food', then I choose to never eat what would be termed 'normal' again.

I've made quite a few changes from the person I was when Gary died.  I will never stop changing now.  I can't. Why should I?

I have an opportunity to go see an author whose book I have yet to read, but one I'd like very much to.  It is called Second Firsts. It seems like a good omen that this author will be speaking next weekend in Sedona and so I don't want to miss her.  I am not looking for answers from this book or the author as much as I am looking for affirmations that the choices I am making now are still the best ones I can make.

My new way of treating my body has rewarded me with a loss totaling 50lbs now.  I need to lose 35 more pounds before my mental goal is complete. It may not be a sustainable weight, but if not, I need to discover that for myself.  It will be my choice.