My Vacation Break-Up with Mangoes and Pecans
My Weight Loss Story, Weight Loss, Wellness, Health, Personal Change, Name My Shadows, Face My Shadows, Fight My Shadows, Understand My Shadows, Reframe My Shadows, Food Addiction, Trigger Foods, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Failure, Success, Travel, Shadow Boxing, Live in Color, Eat in Color, Eat Plants, Unprocessed Plants, Special Occasions, Out-of-Routine, Plan for Failure, Avoid Addictive Foods, Recover from Failure in a Timely Way Tania Lyon My Weight Loss Story, Weight Loss, Wellness, Health, Personal Change, Name My Shadows, Face My Shadows, Fight My Shadows, Understand My Shadows, Reframe My Shadows, Food Addiction, Trigger Foods, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Failure, Success, Travel, Shadow Boxing, Live in Color, Eat in Color, Eat Plants, Unprocessed Plants, Special Occasions, Out-of-Routine, Plan for Failure, Avoid Addictive Foods, Recover from Failure in a Timely Way Tania Lyon

My Vacation Break-Up with Mangoes and Pecans

Inviting Failure Foods into My Life

As I said in my Facebook and Instagram post, dried mangoes and pecans caused too much drama this week. I need to cut these ties for awhile.

To be fair, this drama is caused by my own design. Of course, I have a success plan. But, an important part of my success plan is that I also have a failure plan.

Part of how I succeed is that I always have failure foods at home. These are my off-ramp foods—foods good enough to go off-track with but mild enough to make getting back on-track possible.

Keeping failure foods on-hand is counter-intuitive and may go against the advice of experts. But, this journey is an individual one, and this is my journey.

I live in a house full of food triggers that I no longer eat. And, if I did eat them, I would have skyrocketing failure — a degree of failure with which I have a lifetime of experiences. This is a way of life I no longer want.

My failure foods have kept me in check so far. Without salt, oil, and sugar in my life, I live an all-or-nothing life.

Failure foods help me avoid the all-or-nothing mindset that comes with this all-or-nothing life. This is important for my success.

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The Equation of My Soup — Packing it with Plant-based Power
My Weight Loss Story, Weight Loss, Wellness, Health, Personal Change, Name My Shadows, Face My Shadows, Fight My Shadows, Understand My Shadows, Reframe My Shadows, Food Addiction, Trigger Foods, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Failure, Success, Ongoing Learning, Travel, Shadow Boxing, Live in Color, Eat in Color, Eat Plants, Unprocessed Plants, Soup, Freezer Foods, Nutrient Density, Nutritional Diversity, Messes in Kitchen, Increasing Number of Plants Tania Lyon My Weight Loss Story, Weight Loss, Wellness, Health, Personal Change, Name My Shadows, Face My Shadows, Fight My Shadows, Understand My Shadows, Reframe My Shadows, Food Addiction, Trigger Foods, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Failure, Success, Ongoing Learning, Travel, Shadow Boxing, Live in Color, Eat in Color, Eat Plants, Unprocessed Plants, Soup, Freezer Foods, Nutrient Density, Nutritional Diversity, Messes in Kitchen, Increasing Number of Plants Tania Lyon

The Equation of My Soup — Packing it with Plant-based Power

I recently wrote a short post for Instagram / Facebook where I referenced making a large pot of soup to freeze into individual containers. And, in this post, I mentioned that I had used more than 25 different kinds of plants in it, and I was asked for the recipe.

I do not follow recipes. There are benefits and drawbacks to my approach. But, recipes cause me stress, and adapting what I have on hand suits me. Instead, I use concepts to guide my cooking. And, I have gotten better at using the concepts over time. So, what I will focus on here is detailing the concepts.

Overall, I find plant-based cooking to be a forgiving form of cooking. And, keep in mind that I am several years into this lifestyle. So, if you are just getting going, you may want to consider taking a concept and experimenting with it in small steps rather than trying to do too much at once.

A significant part of my journey has been a deep dive into understanding my hunger drive and how I feel my best. Eating a soup like this is not something I would have done early into my transition – for a variety of reasons.

But, seeing what others do has helped me find my way, and seeing what I do may help you find your way as well.

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Big Rocks and LIttle Rocks: Navigating Terrain Shifts
My Weight Loss Story, Weight Loss, Wellness, Health, Personal Change, Name My Shadows, Face My Shadows, Fight My Shadows, Understand My Shadows, Reframe My Shadows, Food Addiction, Trigger Foods, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Failure, Success, Ongoing Learning, Travel, Shadow Boxing, Live in Color, Eat in Color, Priorities, Action over Inaction, Gratitude, Routine, Balance, Eat Plants, Unprocessed Plants Tania Lyon My Weight Loss Story, Weight Loss, Wellness, Health, Personal Change, Name My Shadows, Face My Shadows, Fight My Shadows, Understand My Shadows, Reframe My Shadows, Food Addiction, Trigger Foods, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Failure, Success, Ongoing Learning, Travel, Shadow Boxing, Live in Color, Eat in Color, Priorities, Action over Inaction, Gratitude, Routine, Balance, Eat Plants, Unprocessed Plants Tania Lyon

Big Rocks and LIttle Rocks: Navigating Terrain Shifts

Since I last wrote, a lot has changed in my life – as I anticipated it would. The changes are good, and I am grateful for that.

I have now started my new job, which has come with a lot of apprehensive excitement. A steep learning curve usurped my capacities for routine and for writing.

But, I am finding my way back, learning how to live my new life, facing myself over and over again in a whole new world.

I am starting to sleep just a little better as I am adjusting to everything. Sleep helps everything.

I am now pausing, taking stock in what it means to navigate my health and wellness through a major turning point in my life.

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Keeping My Footing in the Seas of Change
My Weight Loss Story, Weight Loss, Wellness, Health, Personal Change, Name My Shadows, Face My Shadows, Fight My Shadows, Understand My Shadows, Reframe My Shadows, Food Addiction, Trigger Foods, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Processed Foods, Failure, Success, Recover from Failure in a Timely Way, Ongoing Learning, Travel Tania Lyon My Weight Loss Story, Weight Loss, Wellness, Health, Personal Change, Name My Shadows, Face My Shadows, Fight My Shadows, Understand My Shadows, Reframe My Shadows, Food Addiction, Trigger Foods, Salt, Oil, Sugar, Processed Foods, Failure, Success, Recover from Failure in a Timely Way, Ongoing Learning, Travel Tania Lyon

Keeping My Footing in the Seas of Change

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

I am in the midst of change right now. A lot of it.

Since I last blogged, I retired from one career, traveled several places, and am on the edge of starting a new career. All of this is good.

Changes, even good ones, can be unsettling and upset the balance in my routines, in my life. These changes turned my foundation into a slippery slope – more than I expected.

To keep my footing, I have had to catch my balance several times in the past weeks. Catching my balance always means failure in some way.

I enjoy the beach much more at half my size. I feel younger, better, and more energetic than I ever have in my life, even though my age now gets me some senior discounts.

And, I have failed. More I than planned, and more than I would like to admit. Failure works that way.

But, failures are a natural part of the self-improvement process, the ongoing process of being me, of facing myself, of understanding the shadows that shape my life.

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