I'm looking on the horizon, and I do believe those are stormclouds I see.
I've been ruminating over this Vegan project of ours quite a bit over the past 16 days. (That's actually a rather convoluted pun, if you take the time to think about it.) Anyhow, the topic of my rumination has been, basically - at the end of 30 days, when I am completely Vegan, will I stick with it? Or will it just fall by the wayside?
I recall a conversation I had with Cousin Queenie on July 2nd, when I told her that on August 1st, I was celebrating the end of my Vegan journey with a steak. At the time, I meant it. We do, after all, have other projects to work on, right? As the days began to move on along, and I started giving up certain animal products, I discovered that this wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated, and perhaps I could become a vegetarian - still eating eggs and dairy. Now I'm even thinking I could live without those as well.
HOWEVER...and you knew there would be a 'however', didn't you....
I am an inherently lazy person. So, rather than preparing a variety of "Vegan meals", I've become the Smoothie Queen of Okanogan County.
Hungry in the morning? Throw a handful of spinach, half a nectarine, half a banana, and a little juice in the blender. Lunchtime? A little more of the same. Dinner? What the heck, it's too hot to cook, are there any nectarines left?
You may recall a few days back, I did enjoy a tuna sandwich...but realistically, that's the last time I think I ate "real food" that I actually liked. Since then, I've noticed that food just doesn't taste the same, even good healthy stuff. I've noticed that I seem to be hyper-sensitive to salty food, for example. Yuck. And, I don't know how else to say it - nothing SOUNDS good. I have tons of recipes - a cookbook today, in fact - but nothing.sounds.good. Just gimme my smoothie and send me on my way.
Oh, and don't forget that I wolfed down some Mickey D's the other day...but seriously, an actual meal here and there doesn't constitute a pattern of meal eating, now does it. And on what planet would Mickey D's be considered "real food" anyway?
While I'm enjoying the super-easy weight loss - who wouldn't - I'm concerned that one day soon, I'm going to go ballistic and eat everything in sight..animal, vegetable or mineral....because I've fallen off the smoothie wagon and it has metaphorically backed over my spleen.
So, let me hear from you - any experience with a "boring diet"? Did you end up binging? How long did you keep it up?
PS - I also sense storm clouds in my love life, but I firmly believe you should never blog about your personal life when you are either a) drunk, or b) tired, so that's a post for another day.
PPS - I'm not drunk, by the way. It's 1:35 a.m. and I can't sleep. You always assume the worst about me, now don't you.
Hey T!
ReplyDeleteJust follow your instincts on the smoothies. If you feel the absolute unmistakable desire of a binge coming on, you can always binge on vegan food. I don't recommend binging, but having a HUGE burrito with beans, rice, lettuce, tomato, salsa and guacamole (or two or three!!) is much preferred to binging on fried foods, meat or dairy. Plus, you'll wake up and be able to feel pretty good knowing that even though you binged, you binged on healthy food. :)
Also, remember your taste buds are changing (not sure if you got to that point in the book yet.) THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!! I always say that the secret of a vegan diet is that your taste buds will change, and when they have, the most simple foods will start tasting delicious - biting into an apple will be amazing, and corn will send you over the top! This is how vegans can stay vegan for the rest of their life - we are not wistfully dancing around the cheese table at cocktail parties, wishing no one was looking so we could belly up and eat 5 pounds of cheese - NO! Once your taste buds are cleaned out, you simply find that over time, you just don't want those foods anymore. It still astounds me that I can walk through the bakery at the grocery store and not even noticed I've just done so. This is massive progress for me! Looks like you are discovering the secret of the vegan diet. No willpower required, once you clean out your taste buds!
I was planning to celebrate my liberation with that pizza I told you about. I think I'll stick with the vegan thing instead, though. I feel much healthier, and even though I was sad I couldn't have bbq and cake at the wedding I went to last night, I certainly didn't miss feeling like a stuck hog in the morning. I get what you mean about how nothing sounds good, too. I used to have cravings for odd things all day, every day. I haven't had any cravings at all for a while now. It's strange, but it sure is nice. I no longer feel like life revolves around food.
ReplyDeleteYou know what I always forget about? Beans. I seriously keep forgetting that I can eat beans.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sarah -you are right on about the taste bud thing. I made 2 poached eggs for lunch today (mostly because I still can) and didn't even eath 3 bites. It was HORRIBLE.
I'm pretty stoked about my new cookbook, "Vegan with a Vengeance", that I got yesterday. I read through it a little this morning. I think the secret may be to have a well-stocked pantry, so you can just make whatever you want, without making such a big deal out of it.
And I'm totally having a smoothie for dinner.
Ah, my dearest cousin, who somewhere around July 4th, was ready to burn me in effigy for roping her into this - I'm so, so, SO glad you are into this and doing well. I just posted an idea on your FB page. I love you!
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