The last two days have been marked by more socializing: friends from Australia were in town so we've eaten out at least once each day for the past two days. Eating out poses new challenges: while I haven't had any trouble eating vegan, eating raw generally means eliminating anything that makes a restaurant salad interesting -- namely cheese. If I'm truly being healthy, then I'd also need to eliminate things like cranberries (usually sweetened with processed sugar or corn syrup) and candied pecans (undoubtedly so). What I'm left with, if I'm lucky, is a $2 pile of mixed greens for about $15. If I'm unlucky, I'm greeted with a pile of iceberg. If, on the other hand, I opt for cooked vegan food, I'll more than likely consume highly processed starches like pasta or bread. I think when I can get to the point where I'm eating out as a luxury rather than a daily event I'll feel better -- that way I can limit even the cooked meals to less processed items and feel less guilty when I do go out with friends.
The other challenge I've been facing is that I haven't yet begun preparing a variety of dishes in advance. When I did this before, I very quickly got into the pattern of (un)cooking over the weekend so that I had a refrigerator stocked with an array of dishes for the rest of the week. Before long, my pantry was also loaded with an assortment of raw breads, crackers and cereals. This makes day to day eating easier.
By far, however, the most difficult challenge has been dealing with the cravings: when my husband was making pancakes the other morning, it was awfully hard not to partake -- the scent was just heavenly -- so I made a particularly loaded smoothie. When I know there will be temptations it helps to have a satisfying alternative on hand.
My caffeine withdrawal headache finally hit on the afternoon of day two -- it started in my neck and at first I wasn't sure if I'd just been sitting on the couch wrong, but by day three it had progressed into a full-blown headache. It lasted all day, but as of this morning it seems to be gone.
What I ate:
Day Two -
- Obsessed with more Target post-holiday shopping and forgot to pack snacks. Didn't eat until noon.
- noon: Massive salad (2 homegrown satsumas, half a bag of organic mixed greens, avacado, sprouted lentils and sunflower seeds, walnuts, shredded organic zucchini and baby carrots, all tossed with some of yesterday's raw hummus and a bit of Bragg's Liquid Aminos. Realized quickly that I still don't like this hummus - that raw garlic is just too much) with a glass of lemon sparkling mineral water.
- 3 pm: Raw green smoothie (organic apple and pear, banana, large handful of organic spinach, water)
- 5 pm: Larabar, cherry pie flavor (not my favorite)
- 7:30 pm: Dinner at Bella Sera in Monrovia: water, bread, bruschetta, and gnocchi in tomato sauce sans the mozzerella.
- 10:30: Keep-me-away-from-pancakes green smoothie (2 bananas, organic pear and apple, a bit of mango, juice of one homegrown lemon, massive amounts of organic spinach and a bit of watercress)
- 2 pm: Larabar, apple pie flavor (oh boy, this one is good)
- 4:30: Early dinner at Walter's in Claremont: water, bread, Black beans, rice and "salata"
- 7 pm: Snack of raisins and almonds
- 5 am (ie, right about now as I'm writing this entry): Larabar, apple pie flavor *yum*
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