The train wreck happened...

and you know what? There were no fatalities. Casualties, yes, but nothing I can't recover from.

Here's what I have learned (or rather, been reminded of):
When oldest dd has school holiday(s), all bets are off. Normal life, whatever that is, will be resumed after, and only after, she returns to school and her much needed routine.

Yesterday, my options seemed pretty limited: (1) keep everyone alive, stay somewhat sane, and eat whatever could be easily procured or (2) very possibly commit mass murder, but stick to my food plan. Faced with these choices, I picked the former as the hands down winner. I have no qualms, no regrets, no second thoughts. I am happy to say that we all made it through the day, and were even intact and in relatively good spirits throughout. I did have to pull my mom voice a couple of times, and explain in no uncertain terms that my patience rope was short...and that I was near the end of it.

So, food yesterday? Well, it could have been worse. I think that may be rationalizing on my part, but there it is. Egg and cheese wraps, and then pizza. Ok, a lot of pizza. And yes, I did get my coffee. Here's the interesting thing: I didn't even drink much of it! My small victory was that I ingested not one sugary morsel.

On the other hand, I hooped, and laughed, and my kids hooped, and we even introduced hooping to a friend!

Observations: five days of precisely following The Plan = My body felt great!!! Two days of mostly not being on the plan = I am already achy.

Adopting this way of eating is clearly an incredible boost to my body. It takes a LOT of work, at least right now, but feels totally worth it. At the same time, I have one incredibly challenging family, which demands a great deal of my energy. I am not sure exactly how this new food plan will all work out; it appears that it will be yet another thing to juggle in my life. What I *do* know is that I am convinced of its importance, and am going to keep working on incorporating it into my life. One day, perhaps sooner than later, it will feel seamless and natural.

Okay, enough of the philosophical musings, and on to real life. Realistically, today doesn't bode well for following the plan to the letter, either. However, I'm betting I can get pretty close. Cross your fingers!

can I have a do-over?

Ok, Thursday was officially a day that I would rather forget, but I promised dh I would blog. So here I am, on Friday morning, diligently checking in.

Woke up late and literally ran out the door for a parent-teacher conference. No calm cup of warm water, no cup of tea, no centering, no stretching. Ate an energy bar; proud that I didn't get coffee. Came home and was busy without getting anything on my list done, including eating my morning snack. Suddenly, it was time to leave again for the next conference. Broke down and ate, in rapid succession, three pieces of zucchini banana bread, slathered with orange marmalade. Still didn't give in to coffee. Directly after conference, went to grocery store for cat litter. Back home, then right into a major "big talk" with oldest dd. Can you say stress? Ok, then I'm off to an appointment to learn how to "properly build and maintain a fire in my woodstove." Theoretically, this will be nice and relaxing, and might even be construed as a date with dh. Of course, we get into a rare spat as soon as we get in the car. I immediately realize it's 3:00 and I've had one energy bar and an apple so far for the entire day. To my husband's consternation, I deliberately drove our vehicle right, smack into the drive through lane of the closest Wendy's. Two spicy chicken wraps, one small fry, and a small chocolate frosty later (but still no coffee, or iced tea, LOL), plus some effective communication resolution, we went in for our meeting, smiling again. Came home to utter chaos. Don't even remember what, if anything, I ate for dinner. Fell asleep upstairs in bed with a little.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
Here's hoping that Friday will be better. So far, it's no perfect, but not a train wreck (although it feels like that is a distinct possibility.) Will keep you posted.

beet juice and blood

Did that get your attention? It got mine, right around 12:30 today, when I was busily peeling beets for lunch, and ended up slicing off a sizable chunk of my finger <sigh>. My consolation prize? It was a clean cut, thanks to my new and very sharp vegetable peeler. I soldiered on through lunch prep and, with the help of several bandaids, thoroughly enjoyed lunch with my dear friend, Marge. Then I picked up my two littles from a big day of outdoor 
activity, leisurely came home, and realized that my finger was *still* bleeding.

After a visit to the local urgent care clinic and a surprising amount of pain, I now have a synthetic clotting material lodged on my finger, and the whole lot is covered by a large pressure bandage. I even had my choice of colors: would you like a middle finger conspicuously wrapped in lime green, red, or purple? I chose purple, that most stylish of colors.


With a pain med prescription in my pocket, snowy weather, and ridiculous traffic, I had a serious inner war about the merits of stopping at a fast food place (any of them, I was feeling desperate--hungry, tired, and a little faint) vs. sticking to "The Plan." Now, dear readers, just this morning I was discussing the benefits of feeling accountable to all of you...who wants to publicly confess in a blog about a downfall involving an eclair?

In the end, I stopped and got my favorite salad from our local grocery store: it's called a "Nature's Market Salad" and is composed of salad greens, broccoli, feta cheese, kalamata olives, garbanzo beans, edamame, grape tomatoes, brown rice, tamari almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds, tossed with a curry yogurt dressing. I'm telling you, I could live a long time with this as a mainstay of my diet.

Was it cheating? No. I prefer to see it as being flexible in the face of life. And I must say that I am darn proud I didn't get any of the 4,000 calorie so-called comfort foods that were calling my name. See ya' later, guys...I'm in with the cruciferous crowd these days.

I survived refreshments!

Yes, today was a Solstice celebration, complete with goodies afterward. I put not one bite into my mouth, though my children and everyone around me was happily munching. I recognize that this is a very black and white attitude on my part. While I hope and plan for eventual flexibility (read, willpower), at this point, I really
really appreciate and need the "rules" to follow: eat x at y time. None of this "choose 2 from Column A and 1 from Column B" for me, no sirree...down that path lies all little cheats and invisible calories.

So far, I have followed the letter of the law almost exactly. Yesterday, in the middle of a huge marathon of hauling firewood up to our porch, I added an energy bar to my intake. It was exactly what I needed.

I am pretty astonished at the sheer quantity of food that I am consuming. You know those lists of "free foods" that pop up in nutrition books? Well, this must be the free food mecca, plus a few added yummies. To wit, today's breakfast was a smoothie, consisting of a whole peach, a whole mango, a whole banana, and a tub of blueberries. I kid you not. Lunch was miso soup, followed by a mega-salad: a whole red bell pepper and a whole yellow bell pepper, a carrot, a whole avocado, 3 radishes, 2 big handfuls of lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, some pine nuts, and olive oil and vinegar.


Yes, I am still longing for an extra large coffee with skim and sugar. And a soft peppermint candy. Ok, and maybe some dark chocolate. I even have passing thoughts of cheesecake. And yet, I am moving forward with relative ease, and am five whole days into this! I don't lick the spoons after I make the kids' food, I'm not snacking on unplanned foods (I have two planned snacks a day!), I am really thinking about every bite of food that goes into my mouth.

And honestly, I feel terrific. How's that for a brag?

Let the Juicing Begin

Oh. My. Goodness. I am swimming away, peeing like there is no tomorrow. I left my house for the afternoon, and literally took a full gallon of juices with me to consume. Plus all those before I left, plus those after I got home. Ended with a salad, which was good, but frankly, not very exciting. That's okay, though. I keep reminding myself of the reasons that I am doing this, and am again, unspeakably proud of myself for sticking with the plan for the whole day.

I've learned a few things: green juices are not my favorite, so far. As in, hold my nose and drink them down. Blech. Juicers are easier to clean out immediately after use. I wish we had the money for a VitaMix. I really appreciate that the book has not just food plans, but times to eat. For some reason, this is really helping me (as opposed to the standard "mid-morning snack") to stay focused.

Also, knowing that this is not forever is helpful. Well, the lifestyle changes are intended to be permanent (or at least long lasting!), but the 100% following the food plan will relax after these first 31 days. You may know, I am not one to adhere to any rules 100%, so that part is pretty challenging for me.

I can just feel my cells shouting out, "Thank you!"

Welcome to my life, dandelion tea

Well, I did it! I got through the whole first day, stayed on course with the foods exactly. Kept my hands off the coffee, only daydreamed (and salivated) about peppermints, and later, dark chocolate. I am tired, but immensely proud of myself. And I learned that carrot (plus other stuff) juice isn't half bad.

Tomorrow's the big day

Actually, since it's 1:08 am, today is technically the big day.

Here's the skinny on what this is all about: I am faced with a nasty case of fibromyalgia, my joints are aching, I've inexplicably gained tens of pounds this year, and my health is going somewhere in a handbasket. Rather than motivating me, this has led to a "what the hell" attitude towards food, and a somewhat lackluster physical activity regimen. Gone are the days of daily swimming, sweaty workouts, and leafy greens at every meal.

Then, this fall, I discovered hula hooping. Seriously. Now, I can do a lot of things, but I had never, not once in my entire life, successfully hula hooped. All that has changed, and I am squarely on the road to being a hoopdancing diva. I have learned to love the sound of the hoop hitting the floor, and have whooped and grinned my way through learning new tricks in the company of friends, both old and new.

Meanwhile, I had kind of let the ball drop on nutrition...sort of. Stopped reading the books, stopped paying attention, pretty much just closed my eyes and sung, "La La La." Sound familiar to anybody else out there?

Because things always happen when you least expect them, this weekend a book jumped into my hands at the bookstore. There I was, on a date with my husband, looking for a fun word game, and suddenly, my nose was buried in You Are What You Eat. Here was a book that concisely and accessibly presents all the information that I have ever accumulated. It is the book that I would write, were I to take the time to sit down and synthesize all the nutrition-related knowledge that is swimming around in my head. Instead of agreeing with some, and not with most, I have found a book that has won my wholehearted attention and commitment.

Before the excitement begins in earnest, I'm going to catch a few zzz's. But first, let me start this blog in style, with the post I just wrote...

Tomorrow’s the big day. I am actually excited and looking forward to it, rather than feeling dread and dismay. At the same time, I have been keenly aware and thoroughly enjoyed my food choices over the last couple of days. Ahh, the last sips of coffee, chocolate chip cookie, soft peppermint candy, and french fries were delectable.

My juicer is waiting patiently to get taken out of the box for its inaugural use tomorrow morning.

My flax seeds are soaking in hot water, my dandelion tea bags are at the ready.

My marathon grocery store trip has resulted in a refrigerator full of an astonishing quantity of fruits and vegetables, all of which I am evidently going to consume in the next ten days.

When I made my shopping list, I went through the menu for each day and noted the ingredients needed. At the end, I wrote the total number for each item next to it. Here are some that stood out for me: 4 fennel, 14 cucumbers, 53 carrots. No, I am not kidding, and I am not exaggerating. No matter what else happens as a result of this plan, I will not be in any danger of consuming less than the recommended 5-9 fruits and vegetables a day.

My only flub so far is that G. recommends going to bed by 10:30…while this is usually a no-brainer for me, tonight, the choice was bed or grocery run. I chose the groceries, and hopefully can have a low key day tomorrow.

Let the games begin.