I think about a lot of things while I'm swimming. Today as I swam back and forth, I got to thinking about yesterday's dilemmas. I don't want to be an avoid extremist. By that I mean that I neither want to take avoids casually nor do I want to panic at the thought of an avoid.

Yesterday I gave avoids to my husband and kids for Valentine's Day because I knew they would like them. Today I found myself reviewing my decisions. Could I have done better?

If I had it to do again, I would still give my kids the Bible Verse candy. I so rarely buy candy, and this was such a cute idea. They know what I think about sugar. They made money when they were little selling me the candy they got at birthday parties and at school. I stored it in the freezer and handed it out at Halloween. I have watched them in situations where candy dishes are available. Both of them will take an occasional piece of candy, but neither of them has a sugar addiction. So I'm content with my decision on the candy.

I could have done better on the crab au gratin. There is a fish market where I can get monkfish, but I have to order it a week in advance. If I had planned, I could have substituted monkfish for the crab. That would have been beneficial for my husband. Since I knew I was giving him an avoid by giving him crab, I took shortcuts on the au gratin sauce and the breadcrumbs. If I had taken a little more time, I think I could have come up with a substitute for crab au gratin that would have tasted as good and been all beneficial or neutral.

A few weeks ago I wrote about making a green tea/lemonade combination for my family to drink. At the time I regretted that there was so much sugar in the lemonade. I got comments saying that several of you combine green tea with fruit juices. Since then we have had green tea with grape juice and green tea with pineapple/grapefruit juice. Both were very favorably received. I'm going to serve green tea with cherry/apple soon.

As I continue to live out the BTD lifestyle, and experiment with foods, I continually find ways that I can do better. Like Paul I'm "Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching for those things which are before, I press on toward the goal." (from Philippians 3:13 - 14).