I bought two pounds of green beans at the farmers’ market today. That’s a lot of green beans. It’s been a hot summer and I’ve realized that sometimes the best meals are the simplest meals. I’ve been doing a lot of lunches that are simply carrots, beans, cauliflower, or broccoli and hummus with maybe some summer sausage and cheese for added calories. It’s been good to fill myself with such simplicity and lightness.

How we fill our bodies is reflected in our being. It’s easy to put in the heavy, the rich, the sweet. But, eventually our bodies and our spirits wear down. We put in the light, the savory, the healthy and our bodies and spirits lighten. It takes a while. It’s taken a long time to do the damage we’ve done to our bodies. It’s not realistic to expect change overnight.

My weight went down a little in the last few weeks and it went back up. So, I’m about where I started right now weight wise. I’ll blame that largely on two things. The first was a five day conference with tons of bad for me food and not a lot of healthy fruits and vegetables. The second was that I just started to work on re-hydrating my body. I know that I have a history with dehydration. I also know that the doctor saw that I was dehydrated again when I went in a few days ago.

I’ve read that water can both help in weight loss and cause weight fluctuation. I’m confident that if I keep taking in a healthy amount of water and get out of my pattern of repeated dehydration that it will help me keep at a healthy weight and just help me keep healthy overall. I’ve read different accounts on how much I should drink. It’s somewhere between 1/2 and 1 gallon a day. Today, I think I hit 1 gallon. I feel pretty good.

I did well with my fruits and veggies too. It was a day with mixed berries and bananas, green beans, carrots and hummus, and some currants too. All totaled I took in about six cups of veggies and fruits today.

I also, for the second day in a row, found myself using some walks as a sort of meditation. I walk to work, walk my dog, and walk just about everywhere I go in town so I can often spend more than hour a day walking. The last two days, on some shorter walks I just repeated to myself some words of prayer, nothing profound or complicated. It was a little different each time and changed as I needed it too, but basically just saying something like “peace, patience, gratitude, guidance.” It helped me focus myself and slow my being. It was good. I wonder if these last 25 days of improved eating have helped me get to this place of being ready to meditate again?