GOSH – since I last posted more and more people have been commenting on my weight loss.
Cheryl said sometime this past week, “People have been asking me if you’ve lost weight and I’ve been saying Y E S! Why they’re asking ME, I don’t know, but FYI,” with a sweet smile.
Beth said this week she was so impressed with me, eating the same thing for lunch every day. I told her that I actually don’t. I vary this, which helps so much – I couldn’t do it if it were just a salad (which is true!). She said, “But still I’m impressed,” so I thanked her with a smile. I have a huge bed of greens and two smallish tomatoes, along with something to provide flavor and texture. I’ve had ground beef, sweet and sour chicken, stir fry, nuts, cheese, bruschetta, and other things – a very small serving, really, but it makes the salad more interesting and palatable. I also make a point of having a small plateful of blueberries and blackberries as well daily. The thing is that’s what I truly WANT. It’s what feels good now. It’s what’s tasty.
That leads me to think… I’m just amazed at how EASY this is for me. Really. Before going to Cafe G 5 days into the detox last January, I was climbing the walls, feeling like all I could eat was raw fruits and vegetables. Cafe G helped me expand my food horizons and realize, no, that’s not all there is. And incidentally, eating this way is satisfying and delicious. It also helped to have Mom doing it with me – it was a source of support. It was still somewhat hard until after 2 weeks into the detox, but around then, I started thinking mostly raw would be a good way of life and I’d be OK with it. That’s when I REALLY got into research, buying a food processor, finding recipes, and so on. But since that turning point where I started thinking I’d be fine with this way of life, it’s been easy. Really. I don’t feel deprived. I don’t crave junk. I would still like burgers, hot dogs, a plateful of Chinese food, sandwiches, See’s Dark Bordeaux and Milk Peppermint Patties, and mint chocolate chip ice cream, but … I just am not interested enough to have them, knowing what they do to my body. Simple. I also find myself craving tomatoes, berries, and a bed of greens. They just sound fabulous to me. I find that with eating mostly raw, I’m just fine without meat (for the most part), dairy, or sugar. I’m satisfied and fulfilled.
A typical day at work finds myself eating along these lines:
Breakfast: One egg cooked in olive oil with veggies (tomatoes, mushrooms, sometimes spinach, garlic, sprouts) tossed in at the very last minute to keep the enzymes alive but to warm them up
My Berries & Cream shake
Snack: A tiny handful of almonds or a Larabar or a Prana Bar (I’ve been feeling like I should include fruit or veggies tho)
Lunch: A huge bed of greens (at least partly spinach), 2 smallish tomatoes, and some small something (see above)
Blueberries and blackberries, along with something sweet like my raw chocolate ice cream, my fruit sorbet, a take-out dessert from Cafe G, or a Jocalat Larabar
Snack: A tiny handful of almonds or a Larabar or a Prana Bar (I’ve been feeling like I should include fruit or veggies tho)
Dinner: Similar to lunch and I often have a shake too – fruity or my banana chocolate shake
After dinner: For the last 2 weeks I’ve had to have a whole bag of baked snap pea crisps… it’s driving me nuts and I’m working on weaning myself off of that. Grr.
But in general – no sugar, no dairy, no cooked starches, rarely meat, and not much at all in the way of processed/cooked foods.
When I look back at how sick I was last December and how I was lying in bed, thinking to myself, “food is killing me,” I’m amazed at how much has changed in three short months. Food is now revitalizing me and nourishing me. Thank god for that because I could not possibly have continued in the direction I was headed. Food was crippling me and sapping me of my vitality, and yes, my very life. Thank god for that chance outing to Cafe G that time with Sina and Roberta, for Mark H’s detox plan, and for Mom.
Speaking of Cafe G – went to celebrate its third anniversary on Thursday. They were celebrating at its flagship restaurant in the Mission District, and hey, any excuse to go to SF and to eat there… *devilish grin* We walked almost a mile from BART to Cafe G, and I enjoyed a sun burger. They were giving away tiramisu free!!! And considering how hard it is to make… gawrsh. We gladly accepted, and I ordered my fave pizza and tiramisu to go. It was so much fun doing that, especially on a weeknight. Oooh. ‘Tis so nice to have so much more energy and not to spend my nights and weekends sleeping.
Y’know something… I’m feeling like a boring person because my whole life right now is revolving around the changes I’ve made and all I can think about is how good I feel, how much weight I’ve lost, and the changes I’ve made. I’m not a brilliant conversationalist at this point my life, I’m afraid. I don’t like that because I think I’m an interesting person who is interested in many different things, but I think this is what I need to do for right now. I’ve been neglecting myself for far too long. I need to take care of myself. If that makes me boring, so be it. *shrug* Still doesn’t mean I like it, though.
For the last several days, I’ve been making a real point to include exercise. Actually 3 weeks now, but off and on. I’ve been trying to make sure I walk over 10,000 steps daily. Last Saturday I walked all the way to the Safeway across the bridge and Sunday I walked all over the main drag, hitting the bookstore and the natural marketplace. Both were so much fun and relaxing! Yesterday I went to water aerobics. There are only 2 teachers I like in town at the moment, and one teaches Tuesday mornings. :/ The other one teaches Friday evenings and for the past several weeks, I haven’t been able to go. I was absolutely determined to go yesterday and I battled traffic to do it – I was 10 minutes late, but I went, I went! Today I walked for 45 minutes, coupled with 2 interval bursts. It was longer than I’ve walked on a treadmill before, and I hadn’t done interval training on the treadmill before. I’m determined to swim. I feel like I’ve gotten so flabby since I’ve lost weight and not exercised, I can’t stand it. Swimming will help tone me overall, and hey, I love swimming. I’ve also been trying to spend time in the sauna every time I go to the gym, because I want toxins out of my body. See, we all have tons of toxins built up in our cells from years and years of the standard American diet, and when we eat well, those toxins are released into our bloodstream, with nowhere to go unless we sweat ‘em out. I’m convinced those toxins are what made me contract strep throat and what made me sick last Janaury/February. Out, damn toxins, out. Exercise is helping my energy levels, and I look forward to continuing.
Something very exciting happened today. I got to thinking about how some of my clothes that didn’t fit well are fitting and how a couple that did not fit are fitting, and I started wondering if I could find stuff that I couldn’t wear before that would fit now. For example, yesterday I wore a short blue cotton dress that I love because it is very cool and comfortable. But it was a bit small before, and I had to tighten the tie in back yesterday because it was too loose! I went through my storage containers and a section of my closet for work dresses. Amazingly enough, I found 20 pieces that I can wear right now. The rest are too small but close. Wa-hoo! I’ve started washing ‘em so I can start wearing them, a bit at a time. I don’t want to look like I went clothes shopping or something, but hey, I wanna ENJOY THIS! *huge beam* Time to check the machine and see if the first load is done so I can hang it up! Taters…
