You read that title right...after 8 minutes (I timed it) of feverishly grating these two limes for my second Forks Over Knives recipe, I said, "Screw it!", cut one open and proceeded to drink a rather stiff vodka tonic (heavily garnished with one of those rediculously looking "shaved" limes) to calm the nerves I have been carrying around this entire weekend.
Once adequately buzzed, I went back to cooking long enough to become frustrated, yet again, that the meal wasn't coming together the way I had hoped. Hungry, tired, and surely affected by the changes in my diet, I finally gave in and cried on my boyfriend's shoulder about this stupid project. I felt silly for crying about a diet, but the release was just what I needed. Readers, please note the following: this diet is not for the weak, the impatient, or those on a very tight budget. Nor is it for single parents working a full-time (or multiple) jobs or people with social lives, ten fingers, ten toes, or a belly button (OK, I'm exaggerating a bit). And, if and when you start this change in lifestyle, I HIGHLY recommend a thorough game plan prior to starting.
Here's the thing: of all I have learned so far, the most important lesson is that in order to be 100% true to the diet you must prepare almost EVERYTHING from scratch at home. Even if you plan to just have a salad at a restaurant, your choices are either to sprinkle the salad with citris juice or vinegar, eat it plain or bring your own home-made dressing because anything a restaurant has will not match the diet's specifications. On Friday, that was a fun, novel thing...to make my own dressing. I did it with Sarah and it was no problem. But doing it day after day get's rough. And since I haven't done much research about convenient, on-the-go meals and snacks that I can eat, I'm left with a hungry belly, some expensive ingrediants and a recipe that will most-likely disappoint. I hope I am wrong. If you are reading this and have any pointers or good food ideas for me, I excitedly welcome your input. I want this to work and I want to have a good attitude about it but this little lifestyle project is kicking my shrinking ass.
Once John sat me down and took over cooking duties, he noted that perhaps this Forks Over Knives way of life was so successful in helping people loose weight because it took so long to actually feed yourself enough food. Between the marathon grocery shopping, the recipe reading to find something that sounds kind-of good, the cooking with new techniques & equipment (Cuisinarts, vegatable broth sauteeing, blenders, mandolins) you've practically carrot-sticked your way through the whole day before a hot meal is available. The weight loss occurrs as you cook.
After a few good laughs, I opend-up with him about some of the other things I was experiencing. For example, I am 4x as "regular" as I was prior to Friday. I'm not running to the toilet all the time, but let's just say I'm logging more hours in the bathroom. And I'm gassy too. I also just don't "feel" right. I liken it to the way someone might feel after being up for over 24 hours straight. You're awake and you can function, but your head is not fully in the game. That's how I feel. I don't think it's too off-base to entertain the idea that I'm going through a little withdrawl. Since Friday, there have been at least a few times where I would have cured my frustrated/anxious/sleepy/blue mood with some form of food. Maybe a Jolly Rancher, maybe pretzel sticks in peanut butter, maybe a Quarterpounder w/ Cheese. So perhaps I'm off-kilter because I'm experiencing a) a lack of crap-food in my system that my brain had grown accustomed to receiving when "things got rough" and, b) greater frustration/anxiety/sleepiness/depression because I can't vamoose these moods the old-fashioned way. Hummmmmmm....this is worth looking into. And that's just what I plan to do. Stay tuned...
What I ate today:
Breakfast: large bowl of oatmeal with fresh berries, banana, flax seed, chia seeds and maple syrup
Lunch: leftover Southwestern Mac and "Cheese"
Snacks: frozen grapes (AWESOME!), celery dipped in peanut butter, banana
Dinner: Curried Rice Salad (it's got potential)
**I also started day with orange juice to get my sugar levels up quickly. Yesterday I was too weak getting out of bed. Today was much better in the morning.
Once adequately buzzed, I went back to cooking long enough to become frustrated, yet again, that the meal wasn't coming together the way I had hoped. Hungry, tired, and surely affected by the changes in my diet, I finally gave in and cried on my boyfriend's shoulder about this stupid project. I felt silly for crying about a diet, but the release was just what I needed. Readers, please note the following: this diet is not for the weak, the impatient, or those on a very tight budget. Nor is it for single parents working a full-time (or multiple) jobs or people with social lives, ten fingers, ten toes, or a belly button (OK, I'm exaggerating a bit). And, if and when you start this change in lifestyle, I HIGHLY recommend a thorough game plan prior to starting.
Here's the thing: of all I have learned so far, the most important lesson is that in order to be 100% true to the diet you must prepare almost EVERYTHING from scratch at home. Even if you plan to just have a salad at a restaurant, your choices are either to sprinkle the salad with citris juice or vinegar, eat it plain or bring your own home-made dressing because anything a restaurant has will not match the diet's specifications. On Friday, that was a fun, novel thing...to make my own dressing. I did it with Sarah and it was no problem. But doing it day after day get's rough. And since I haven't done much research about convenient, on-the-go meals and snacks that I can eat, I'm left with a hungry belly, some expensive ingrediants and a recipe that will most-likely disappoint. I hope I am wrong. If you are reading this and have any pointers or good food ideas for me, I excitedly welcome your input. I want this to work and I want to have a good attitude about it but this little lifestyle project is kicking my shrinking ass.
Once John sat me down and took over cooking duties, he noted that perhaps this Forks Over Knives way of life was so successful in helping people loose weight because it took so long to actually feed yourself enough food. Between the marathon grocery shopping, the recipe reading to find something that sounds kind-of good, the cooking with new techniques & equipment (Cuisinarts, vegatable broth sauteeing, blenders, mandolins) you've practically carrot-sticked your way through the whole day before a hot meal is available. The weight loss occurrs as you cook.
After a few good laughs, I opend-up with him about some of the other things I was experiencing. For example, I am 4x as "regular" as I was prior to Friday. I'm not running to the toilet all the time, but let's just say I'm logging more hours in the bathroom. And I'm gassy too. I also just don't "feel" right. I liken it to the way someone might feel after being up for over 24 hours straight. You're awake and you can function, but your head is not fully in the game. That's how I feel. I don't think it's too off-base to entertain the idea that I'm going through a little withdrawl. Since Friday, there have been at least a few times where I would have cured my frustrated/anxious/sleepy/blue mood with some form of food. Maybe a Jolly Rancher, maybe pretzel sticks in peanut butter, maybe a Quarterpounder w/ Cheese. So perhaps I'm off-kilter because I'm experiencing a) a lack of crap-food in my system that my brain had grown accustomed to receiving when "things got rough" and, b) greater frustration/anxiety/sleepiness/depression because I can't vamoose these moods the old-fashioned way. Hummmmmmm....this is worth looking into. And that's just what I plan to do. Stay tuned...
What I ate today:
Breakfast: large bowl of oatmeal with fresh berries, banana, flax seed, chia seeds and maple syrup
Lunch: leftover Southwestern Mac and "Cheese"
Snacks: frozen grapes (AWESOME!), celery dipped in peanut butter, banana
Dinner: Curried Rice Salad (it's got potential)
**I also started day with orange juice to get my sugar levels up quickly. Yesterday I was too weak getting out of bed. Today was much better in the morning.
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