So I thought you might want an update on my new eating plan. THIS is my breakfast. It is kindly called a "veggie smoothie." I take all kinds of green vegetables, like fennel, bok choy, cabbage, spinach and broccoli, and throw in some mint and/or parsley, a handful of strawberries (tops and all), 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds and a scoop of Chia seed. Then I go outside and grab a handful of grass clippings and a small tree branch (just kidding!). I add about a cup of water and try to force my blender to mix it all together. Then I add about a cup of chopped ice, because, let me tell you, the only way you are getting this down is having it cold. Too warm and you think of vomit. I squeeze the juice of one lime into a 32 ounce plastic cup. Then I pour the "smoothie" into the cup. If you are luck, all you taste is a lot of lime.
The fist time I made it, Cole took one look at it and said, "that doesn't look like anything you would want to eat." Truer words were never spoken.
Actually, I've kind of gotten used to drinking this in the morning and now I only mind the time it takes to make it.
I've learned a lot about healthy eating and myself. One thing I learned is that I don't really like vegetables. I thought I did, but I never really ate them that much. Maybe I would have a salad with lots of dressing, or some steamed broccoli that I made for the kids, but that was really it. I was fooling myself. There are lots of different vegetable and tons of ways to prepare them, but frankly, if they don't have cheese, ranch, butter, sugar or bacon grease on them then I am really not interested. I got tired of eating vegetables really quickly.
I also learned that any radical change in diet is a "crash" diet that is doomed to fail. I thought this radical change was okay because it was for my health, not just to lose weight. But when you try to change everything about the way you eat, your body just sits and waits it out. It knows that you will go back to your old ways eventually. It knows so well.
I gave up meat which, for me, was not hard at all. I don't really like meat. It grosses me out - not a problem cutting out the beef and bacon. But if you cut out meat and you don't like vegetables, well that only leaves fruits (sugars) and grains (carbs).
My taste buds are fine with this. My thighs are not.
So right now I am incorporating some of the new with some (okay a lot) of the old.
Although I haven't yet, I will probably start eating chicken and turkey. It is difficult (not impossible) for a person to get enough protein to lose weight without eating meat. For me, it was just too hard getting my protein from edamame and tempah and all sorts of weird Japanese soy protein sources. Perhaps when I lose the weight I have recently gained, I will be able to maintain it as a vegetarian.
One of the last straws of this healthy eating came when I visited a Williams-Sonoma store. I really like to cook and bake. Thanksgiving and Christmas goodies are right around the corner. Is all that stuff off limits to me the rest of my life? I left in a really bad mood. I mean, I was pissed off!
I know. I know. Moderation. But I don't really do moderation that well.
So now, I drink my veggie smoothie in the morning and take two handfuls of vitamins.
I have really cut back on the amount of diet coke that I drink and sometimes only have one can a day (that going from about 80 ounces a day to 12 ounces a day). I try to chose water most of the time.
I think twice when reaching for that carb and sometimes grab a vegetable instead. Really trying to come to a truce in my war with vegetables.
But I've got a long way to go. Like here is my food log for the day.
Veggie Smoothie (Yay! with extra tree bark!)
4 hot Krsipy Kreme doughnuts (did I mention they were HOT off the line??)
1 skinny vanilla latte
1 Halloween cup cake
1 Midori Martini (free!)
2 more doughnuts on the way home from Bloomingdales where I nearly cried at the size of the clothes that I had to try.
2 forkfuls of eggs left on Luke's plate.
But I drank lots of water and didn't even have 1 diet coke!
Babysteps I say. Babysteps.