Which Came First?

Does mood affect your eating? or Does eating affect your mood?

I've had a great week this week. I jokingly told my kids that I was giving up "yelling" for lent. Surprisingly, I really have had to nag them to get ready in the morning, scold them for not throwing wrappers away or putting their dirty clothes in the hamper, or mumbling under my breath as I carry a 1 yr old, three school bags, two lunch bags and an assortment of school projects because they have carried it all.

Seems that my eating has been a benefactor of my mood. Or is my mood affecting the eating? Still can't figure some things out even after living a fairly healthy lifestyle for over 4 years now. Maybe it has nothing to do with either and all to do with my exercise. I have made a point to walk more this week and have ridden the elliptical everyday. I've gotten back to trying to stay active during nap time, which I had done when I first started staying home, but somewhere along the line resting sounded good to me too.

It does seem that I am usually in a better mood when I eat well and I'm always "grumpy" after I've eaten something I really didn't want and racked up the points. This week, I focused on eating filling foods and enjoyed them. I did snack on fruits and my evening snack has been all but eliminated. I may have a snack on the weekend, but I think I'll try my wife's trick of dessert only on the weekend with my snacks. Our kids don't even ask for dessert on the weekend anymore.

Getting ready for a Weight Watcher Open House. The center that I'm working at today has had 2 people and 4 people walk through on the two previous weekends. Could be a long afternoon. I'll wear comfortable shoes so I can wear a path in the carpet all afternoon.