In the spirit of full disclosure, I provide at the end of this entry, my daughter’s sites on nutrition: Living Roots, her Facebook page, and Some Like It Raw, her blog. I do this because, as I tell my tale, “Ten Days to Better Health, or Who Eats This Stuff”, I will exaggerate for the sake of a better story.
There are several reasons I was receptive to changing my eating habits at this moment: my age, family heart history, having the time currently to devote to the endeavor, and my “last chance pants”. I’m sure everyone has their version of this garment: the item of clothing you can always squeeze into even when those holiday or Super Bowl calories have prevented you from wedging into your normal wardrobe but, that one day, the button isn’t up to the job and you pray the zipper teeth will hold until you get home. For me, this is my black knit slacks that seem to have a
3-size range, just for me.
Because my pants were down to their last chance, and because my daughter had done the legwork (Julie has done much more reading and research on nutrition than I will ever do in a lifetime – I would never have the ambition to read research “white papers”), I was ready. So trusting her knowledge, and relying on her guidance,
I began a 10-day long “de-tox.”
The terms of this de-tox were, in short, to eat nothing but plants and grains. No dairy, no sugar, no carbohydrates (apple, yes; bagel with cream cheese, no), and no animal anything (meat, eggs, butter, etc). Right out of the gate, this eliminated some pantry staples: chocolate, cookies, and Pepsi. Many of my fallback foods that I always thought were healthy would be off limits: egg salad sandwiches, orange juice, and peanut butter on a spoon. Now I’m not a big meat-eater, but what would I put in the center of the plate if I couldn’t even swap in an omelet, macaroni and cheese, or spaghetti with red sauce?
I knew the answer to this question. It was just too horrible to face…
I knew the answer to this question. It was just too horrible to face…
those scary foods in aisle six.
You know the foods I mean. Aisle six is that short stretch of unfamiliar cans and boxes of foods that your mother did not buy. Packages with brand names I had never seen advertised during Saturday morning cartoons. Things like jars of grey pieces of something in liquid, exotic kinds of beans – none of which were pork and beans, and sacks of grains I had never heard of but which were about to take the place (for 10 days) of my blue box of Kraft. Incidentally, don’t ask me to buy “healthy” ice cream ever again. A.) That’s like creating a nutritious substitute for frosting.
You know the foods I mean. Aisle six is that short stretch of unfamiliar cans and boxes of foods that your mother did not buy. Packages with brand names I had never seen advertised during Saturday morning cartoons. Things like jars of grey pieces of something in liquid, exotic kinds of beans – none of which were pork and beans, and sacks of grains I had never heard of but which were about to take the place (for 10 days) of my blue box of Kraft. Incidentally, don’t ask me to buy “healthy” ice cream ever again. A.) That’s like creating a nutritious substitute for frosting.
B.) Ice cream should never be made from legumes.
So, grocery bags filled with aisle six fare, and more produce than I typically consume in a year, I head home to learn the de-tox tricks, recipes, and food substitutions.
I provide these here:
· there must be 50 ways to serve beans and greens
· the naked salad – learning to live without crumbly blue cheese and other
So, grocery bags filled with aisle six fare, and more produce than I typically consume in a year, I head home to learn the de-tox tricks, recipes, and food substitutions.
I provide these here:
· there must be 50 ways to serve beans and greens
· the naked salad – learning to live without crumbly blue cheese and other
garnishes that add flavor to an otherwise tasteless dish
· one potato, two potato, three potato, four – 7 minutes to a complete
· one potato, two potato, three potato, four – 7 minutes to a complete
microwaved meal (minus the ribeye, gravy, and buttered bread)
· almonds – without dairy, I relied on this nut for my source of calcium – and not
because they were covered in milk chocolate
· tortilla chips – a satisfying snack when you crave salt and crunch. Or a pound-
· tortilla chips – a satisfying snack when you crave salt and crunch. Or a pound-
bag of peanut MnMs. Or a big ol’ hunk of buttered corn bread on vegetarian
chili night. (I think you can actually live on them for a short while if you get
locked in at Walmart.)
· smoothies – yeah, uh, not the concoction with ice cream and peanut-butter cup
· smoothies – yeah, uh, not the concoction with ice cream and peanut-butter cup
pieces – that would be the OTHER concoction sold by, you know, that franchise.
So, how did I do on my de-tox? I wasn’t a miserable failure – l actually started having fruit & flaxseed smoothies for breakfast, and they didn’t suck. Also, three things happened: My cholesterol went down, I learned that fiber works, and I actually managed to abstain from Pepsi without becoming a rooftop sniper. (I always wondered about that.)
And anyone can do anything for 10 days, right?
So, how did I do on my de-tox? I wasn’t a miserable failure – l actually started having fruit & flaxseed smoothies for breakfast, and they didn’t suck. Also, three things happened: My cholesterol went down, I learned that fiber works, and I actually managed to abstain from Pepsi without becoming a rooftop sniper. (I always wondered about that.)
And anyone can do anything for 10 days, right?
Photo: Julie serves beans and kale (a.k.a. beans & greens). Recipe can be requested via her websites: www.facebook.com/Root.of.Life and
http://betterinthebuff.blogspot.com/
Copyright 2012 – No statements here should be taken as professional advice on nutrition or survival when getting locked in a store. BTW.
Copyright 2012 – No statements here should be taken as professional advice on nutrition or survival when getting locked in a store. BTW.
