Sorry this is late. Since every day is so much alike around here, I often loose track of what day of the week it is. Today I woke up thinking it was only Tuesday.

I am not really sure how best to ask this.
1.How do you look at your day? Is it with joy and great expectation or do you dread getting up in the morning and facing “yet another day”?

2.Do you wake up thinking about what you are going to eat (or not eat) during the day? And does what you are planning to eat (or not eat) affect effect the answer to question #1?

Diet is generally defined as “The usual food and drink of a person or animal.”

Is this what you think when you hear the word “diet” or do you immediately associate it with a “weight loss plan”? For example: If you are having a medical check-up and the doctor (or nurse) asks you, “What is your diet like?” do you say something like “I am not on a diet.”, or start describing your diet (if you are on one) to them?


What are some ways we can avoid letting what we are going to eat (or not eat) during the day affect our outlook for the day?

Everyone has the day where they wake up and think, "No, I just don't want to face it today," but I think that if you're experiencing a long period of days like those, it would probably be a good idea to talk with your doctor and get a referral to a mental-health professional.

P.S. I've been to therapy myself and can highly recommend it for getting through a tough time.

1.How do you look at your day? Is it with joy and great expectation or do you dread getting up in the morning and facing “yet another day”?

Normally, I look at the day with excitement, and the idea of what can I do today, to make it better. But I have to admit, that in the last month, I have been waking up and saying...ick, I woke up again. My mental and emotional attitude stinks, and I need to get in touch and get ahold of it.

2.Do you wake up thinking about what you are going to eat (or not eat) during the day? And does what you are planning to eat (or not eat) affect effect the answer to question #1?

I don't think about the foods I am going to eat, they are already planned the day before. I have to plan ahead, or lose my way.

Is this what you think when you hear the word “diet” or do you immediately associate it with a “weight loss plan”?

I use the definition of "diet" is what you eat, whether you eat ribs and fries, or healthier foods. My docs know better than to say the word "diet", they use WW, "how is WW going".

What are some ways we can avoid letting what we are going to eat (or not eat) during the day affect our outlook for the day?

I swear by planning, if you make even a slight outline of what you are going to be having during the day before the day begins, then there should be no questions...your day is planned and you can just go by your plan.

Most days I look forward to my day. I may not want to get up as early as I may have to get up, but it isn't with some sense of dread, it is just because I'd like a little more sleep, or don't want to crawl out of a nice warm bed (more of a winter issue.)

I do not get up thinking about what I'm going to eat. I generally have a pretty loose idea from my meal plan. Now that I'm taking lunch most of the time, that has been thought out too, if not already packed.

When I hear diet, I think of the food one generally eats, unless someone uses the word in the "diet" sense. If a doctor asked me what is your diet I'd say fruits and veggies, lean meats, whole grains...and the like.

My food doesn't make or break my day.

Dawn

1. How do you look at your day? Is it with joy and great expectation or do you dread getting up in the morning and facing “yet another day”?

This is really variable for me. Right now, I am running a 3-person office by myself, so every day is a whirlwind of rush projects and deadlines as well as routine things that still need to be done. As a result, most work days lately I wake up thinking "I don't want to go there today."

Some days, I'm actually excited about going to work and some days, I just accept that I need to go, but I'm neither positive or negative about it.

Weekends are completely different. I wake up happy to be free to do what I want and I think "It will be so cool to be retired."

2. Do you wake up thinking about what you are going to eat (or not eat) during the day? And does what you are planning to eat (or not eat) affect effect the answer to question #1?

No, I rarely wake up thinking about what I'm going to eat or not eat during the day. And no, I can't think of a situation when what I'm planning to eat would affect my answer to #1.

If you are having a medical check-up and the doctor (or nurse) asks you, “What is your diet like?” do you say something like “I am not on a diet.”, or start describing your diet (if you are on one) to them?

If a doctor asked me, I'd think they meant diet in the true sense of the word (as you defined it), so I'd talk about how I eat every day.

However, because this society is so diet-obsessed, I get a little annoyed when, 4 years into my journey, I still have people come up to me and say "How's your diet going?" or "Can you have that on your diet?" I know it's a small thing, but it just annoys me.

What are some ways we can avoid letting what we are going to eat (or not eat) during the day affect our outlook for the day?

N/A for me.

How do you look at your day? Is it with joy and great expectation or do you dread getting up in the morning and facing “yet another day”?

Most days I enjoy, except for my dissertation work, which I really dread. Some days it's just frustrating. I've been trying to use the timer trick to make it less painful.

Do you wake up thinking about what you are going to eat (or not eat) during the day? And does what you are planning to eat (or not eat) affect effect the answer to question #1?

I don't think about what I'm going to eat that day much in the morning either, unless I'm making a special breakfast like waffles. Usually I have coffee, sprouted-grain toast with peanut butter, and a banana. Having a standard breakfast definitely streamlines my mornings. Like Laura, I tend to plan my meals out for the week. Every now and then, I've found that I'm not excited about the dinner I have planned. If I can prepare things a different way to make it more appealing, I will -- pan-frying fish in a little olive oil instead of broiling it, for example. I'll also try not to plan that meal again unless I'm sure I really want it.

Diet is generally defined as “The usual food and drink of a person or animal.” Is this what you think when you hear the word “diet” or do you immediately associate it with a “weight loss plan”? For example: If you are having a medical check-up and the doctor (or nurse) asks you, “What is your diet like?” do you say something like “I am not on a diet.”, or start describing your diet (if you are on one) to them?

I do often use the term "diet" to refer to my weight-loss-oriented plan. To me, it's just an easier way to communicate with other people than talking about a "healthy lifestyle." My doctors have been asking about my weight loss this year, and I just say I'm on Weight Watchers.

What are some ways we can avoid letting what we are going to eat (or not eat) during the day affect our outlook for the day?

The only time that I feel this really affects me is if I feel overly restricted in what I'm eating or if I planned something I really don't want because it sounded "healthy." I try to maintain a balance between my weight-loss goals and what I actually want to eat so that I don't get frustrated and unhappy. There's no reason that I shouldn't be able to incorporate most of the foods I love into a healthy diet.

I don't exactly wake up thinking about what I'm going to eat or drink. I usually pack my lunch the night before, and 99% of the time I eat the same breakfast (waffle & yogurt). This stuff is also ready to go the night before.

Dinner often is "planned" in that I either defrost some meat or fish ahead of time, or know that I'm going to eat something pre-prepared from the freezer. Everything in there is pre-portioned so that I can eat quickly when I need to.

Diet in my head doesn't really mean a weight loss program, so, I guess it's more what I eat. I haven't really thought much about that particular word.

What I do know is that whenever I go to Coldstone Creamery, every single time I am asked if I want to upsize my ice cream for 30 cents more, my usual response is "I don't want to work off that much ice cream tomorrow". And they always chuckle.

The only time my food really affects my day is when something goes wrong and I go out of control. I do start to panic for a day or two before a family holiday where I'm expected to eat two full meals with both families. And then I usually end up liking the food at my family's better (dh's family has gone to pizza or other take out, or frozen Stouffers for most holidays).

I love when I cook Thanksgiving, it's probably the only holiday meal where I don't have too much to worry about the food.

1How do you look at your day? Is it with joy and great expectation or do you dread getting up in the morning and facing “yet another day”?

Most days I look forward to getting up and getting going. Of course there are exceptions but usually I enjoy starting another day.

2. Do you wake up thinking about what you are going to eat (or not eat) during the day? And does what you are planning to eat (or not eat) affect effect the answer to question #1?

No. I generally plan my food for the week so don't need to think too much about after my trip to the market. It also does not impact my mood.

[/b]Diet is generally defined as “The usual food and drink of a person or animal.”
Is this what you think when you hear the word “diet” or do you immediately associate it with a “weight loss plan”? [/b]

I use "diet" to just describe my overall food and not something restrictive. How I "hear" it depends on who's doing the asking and the context.

[/b]What are some ways we can avoid letting what we are going to eat (or not eat) during the day affect our outlook for the day?[/b]

I don't think I do let my food choices impact my mood. I plan to eat things that I enjoy from the get-go. I may look forward to a special meal out or a party a bit more than cooking at home but it isn't that big of an issue for me.