It was the last day of the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, Fat Tuesday, my friends and I walked down Bourbon Street observing and enjoying the rich colorful gaieties of the city. We wore colorful beads of various shapes and sizes around our necks to display our successful catch. Fat Tuesday was the grand finale to devour food to our heart’s content before the forty days fasting of the Lent period.
We got to our destination and had to wait in a long line to get seated at one of the tables at the famous Cafe Du Monde. From that day my daughter and I watched the Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog, I wanted to eat “… some of those man catching beignets”. Beignets are fried dough similar to a donut but without holes and are eaten with dustings of confectioner sugar. They were the best beignets I had ever eaten, lol. They were hot and sweet.
I ate so many beignets, my stomach felt uneasy, as if I gained ten pounds. When I got up to leave the table, I decided that I would stop eating bread during the period of Lent. I knew that this was not going to be easy to maintain because I love bread. So, I did the next best thing, instead of not eating bread, I decided to stop buying bread for my household for the forty days of Lent.
At first, it was difficult to resist, but I remained determined to succeed. It has been over one year, and I have surpassed the goal of not buying bread and have no intention of buying. I can walk through the bread aisle at the store and look at the selections of bread without any interest. Even my daughter got on board.
I held myself accountable every week when I went shopping. I read somewhere that eating bread is attributed to weight gain and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. And since diabetes runs in my family’s history, I felt compelled to continue being accountable. I am responsible for food shopping in my family, and this was within my control to try and avoid.
To achieve optimal health, wealth, and happiness, it is your responsibility and you cannot blame others for what is in your control. Holding yourself accountable for your actions is a factor that encourages you to achieve your goals.
Ok, I said it!