Recently I enjoyed this dish just hours before delivering a motivational talk to a weight-loss group. Big mistake! Moments before I was scheduled to speak I had to make a quick—really quick—trip to the bathroom. I thought this stop would do the trick, but I was wrong. Five minutes into my talk I excused myself and rushed to the bathroom again. I did this again before explaining to the group about my menu disaster. Luckily, the group was all-female and it treated me to sympathy and understanding. I made it through the evening with multiple trips to the small stall across the hall!

Sauerkraut isn’t the only food that delivers misery to my system. Too much fatty food hits my digestive system with a severe punch in the gut. But what do I do? Well let’s just say if a large plate of greasy onion rings is in my proximity, I indulge in this unhealthily prepared vegetable. (I’ve always reasoned that that this is, after all, “a vegetable!”) And there’s bacon…or friend chicken…and, yes, spareribs prepared any way. These foods call to me although I know that serious consequences are sure to follow.

Now I’m a smart woman. I know that fatty foods and vegetables from the cabbage family are not my friends. Many of the selections that I love not only wreck my system, but most assuredly destroy my healthy diet. But do I stay away from them? Usually not!

This is the year, however, that I plan to reform. Spending the time in the bathroom either on the toilet or on the scale is no longer fun. And I’m tired on spending money on TUMS. This year will be different! I know what I shouldn’t eat. Healthy and body-pleasing foods will be my choices this year. I’ve learned…Oh how I’ve have learned the hard way how to travel through life a better way!