The real food challenge has been … well, challenging. It’s not the food itself–that’s been delicious, although I have struggled to figure out what fits this new diet (just how “unprocessed” is yogurt that I’m scooping out of a plastic container, even if it’s plain? Or what about canned beans? Is that cheating?)
No, the biggest hurdle has been the sheer amount of time involved. Shocker: it takes a lot longer to stir-fry chicken and peppers than it does to stick a frozen pizza in the oven (and then try repeating that process three times a day three days in a row). I also didn’t do enough meal planning at the beginning of the week, which meant that I ended up eating many of the same things over and over. As I discovered, there are only so many apples and nuts a girl can snack on before wanting to dive head-first into a box of Lucky Charms.
Of course, there’s the fact that old habits die hard. I stuck one of my daughter’s goldfish crackers in my mouth without even thinking about it, and when my husband helped himself to ice cream after dinner last night, I couldn’t help but have a spoonful … or four. Sigh.
All that said, I’ve enjoyed this experience. Yes, it’s a time-suck, but cooking rivals yoga for relaxation if I actually set aside the time to do it.
But the biggest revelation? Unlike my beloved Lucky Charms (I can scarf down bowl after bowl without blinking), it’s really hard to overeat unprocessed food. Which makes me suspect that the numbers on the scale might be the tiniest bit lower by the end of the week.
Monday
Breakfast: Eggs with spinach and feta; two cappuccinos. No big change here–this is what I almost always have.
Snack: Plain yogurt with almonds and sunflower seeds.
Lunch: Grilled chicken breast over salad greens with lots of veggies. It was good, but took a long time to make.
Snack: An apple with a handful of walnuts; later, a chunk of cheddar cheese.
Dinner: Peppers, onions and tomatoes stir-fried with chicken, served over white rice. Delish.
Tuesday
Breakfast: The usual: eggs, a cappuccino.
Lunch: Skipped it; didn’t have the time to make anything. Very difficult not to eat the meal replacement bar in the fridge.
Snack: A late lunch of black beans with chopped tomatoes and cheddar cheese. Worth the wait.
Dinner: Went out to BLT Fish with a friend. With all that seafood on the menu, ordering seemed straight-forward–I chose a Caesar salad with shrimp–until my dinner came and I realized that croutons probably didn’t fit the bill, and I had no idea where the dressing came from. Hmm.
Snack: A glass of wine. My husband called me a big cheater, and I (incorrectly) informed him that wine only had one ingredient.
Wednesday
Breakfast: Same as always.
Snack: A pear, some nuts. Tasty, but I really wanted a frozen waffle.
Lunch: Fell off the wagon. I was so tired from my daughter being up three times the previous night that I needed carbs, and fast–and waiting for rice to cook or bread to bake was not going to happen. Had a big bowl of Bear Naked cereal (so good–but alas, so many ingredients!) and an iced Americano.
Snack: Made a big pot of rice, and had some with black beans and sauteed broccoli. More of a meal than a snack–I didn’t have an appetite when dinner rolled around.
Dinner: Hummus with tabouleh. I didn’t make either, but they were both homemade. That counts, right?
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Camille