Days 26 - 30

Sorry. I did NOT fall off the wagon. Just had a few days at home when I wasn't able to get a post up, then days 28-29-30 were out of town.

I won't list everything I've eaten for the past five days...I will share a few challenges. It's pretty easy to keep this up at home. With the addition of a handful of convenience foods like sliced turkey, fruit and nuts and Larabars, I feel pretty confident a decent version of this is a good longer-term solution. Going out of town posed its own issues. My first meal out of town was Friday lunch at a restaurant. Almost nothing on the menu would be 100% compliant, but I opted for a chicken salad on green salad with my own dressing. Probably the mayo was made from soybean oil, but that was it. It was really, really good. It was hard to sit at a table with 10 other people, who ordered all manner of incredibly yummy looking foods. I think everyone at the table had something different, and it felt very sad to be relegated to four salads on the menu. That's just honesty.

I was fortunate to be a conference center for the remainder of the weekend, and had called ahead to work out "Shelley's diet" plates with them. It mostly consisted of their salad bar, and they'd bring me some really plain chicken breasts with a veggie cooked in olive oil. Friday night I had a sweet potato, so that was awesome. Again, it was difficult on Saturday night when they served fried okra. FRIED. OKRA. Maybe my favorite version of any vegetable. This morning, they had biscuits and gravy. I really don't eat that very often, but that would be my very favorite breakfast. I had to end well, though. Couldn't go blazing out on day 30, right?

My only area of non-compliance has been the occasional "something" in my coffee. I had no way to refrigerate my coconut creamer concoction, so I had a packet of sugar each day in my coffee. Bite me. I needed a cup o' joe. And I can't drink it black.

Impressions on Day 30:

I did it!! And it wasn't nearly the hardest thing I've done. Parenting is much harder! Meal planning will always be my nemesis, but at least I've been able to look into a new category of menus and meals. I don't have crazy cravings, and the fact that I've been able to turn down foods for 30 days that I wouldn't have thought twice about eating before is monumental for me. Saturday night, there was a bonfire with s'mores. And not just any s'mores, like Ghiradelli and nutella and caramel s'mores. And giant marshmallows...and my dinner had been crappy...and I was REALLY hungry, and there were just s'mores everywhere. The smell! I nearly had to curl up and rock myself.

I'd be lying if I said this experience wasn't a little isolating. Our society does somewhat revolve around shared meals and foods. I enjoy talking about why I'm doing all this, but in a group setting, sometimes I just wanted to eat what I wanted to eat and not be all special.

Tomorrow I get to have DAIRY. My block of cheddar (not that I'm eating it all) is ready, as is my natural cream/milk/sugar coffee creamer. I'm pretty sure that unless my intestines just explode that I will still want some sort of creamer. I'm stoked about dairy day. I am supposed to otherwise eat "clean." Just add dairy to my entire day. Will have to watch sugar, as I don't want that to creep back in.

DAY 30!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!