sorta-detox, day 9: Nearly there, and Lent nearly here.

Nearly there

The sort of detox is nearly over. Tonight we are having an encore of the favorite new recipe, chicken curry over brown rice. And then tomorrow night we are all going out to eat where we will not scour the menu for something that fits within our guidelines. I'm looking forward to my Pink Lady Sushi Roll of Crab, Masago, Cucumber, Avocado, Crunch, Soy Wrap, with Creamy Spicy Sauce. Drool! However, I will not order a diet coke- a new habit I want to keep- I still crave a big fountain soda, but no more pop for yours truly.

My goal was to post more throughout these ten days, including our recipes, victories, and defeats. I will likely post the successful recipes a little later, but for now, I simply give you a very simple, blank meal planner that you can hopefully print for your own healthy eating goals.

Meal Planner
	Breakfast	Lunch	Snack	Dinner	ingredients needed	prep ahead tonight
Saturday
Sunday
M
T
W
Th
F

I've found it takes far more time than expected to eat whole, or clean, or whatever you want to call it. It's a lot harder to get more calories than you need when there is no instant gratification and when you plan your meals. I haven't felt deprived, other than when I want something specific (cookies, ice cream) or just immediately (drive throughs). We've ate like kings yet we've lost weight. But the absolute best thing is that I haven't had headaches. Usually I get a headache every other day. Sometimes more, sometimes a little less- but through these ten days I haven't had more than an, 'I'm hungry headache' that went away within five minutes of eating. I don't know if the headaches are synced with my hormonal cycle so I've made another meal plan for the next 10 days and see if I can keep this thing going. I'm really curious to see if I'll go another stint without a headache.

Lent nearly here

Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is really early this year: February 13th, in fact. I suspect my Lenten exercise will have something to do with this little sorta-detox experiment. I usually try to pick one of the seven deadly sins/heavenly virtues to work on in a specific way. Wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Last year was greed, only spending what I had to so that I would give the extra to a charity. Before that was sloth, getting up as soon as the alarm went off, not putting off tasks, exercising, and other ways of practicing diligence.  Sometime before that was pride, avoiding mirrors- (I think I misunderstood pride a little back then.) It's been awhile since I've hit gluttony, and I think this year I should revisit it. The last time I worked on gluttony/temperance I simply fasted, to better understand hunger, which so many of my brethren live with, and to practice the ancient tradition which I had never really fully embraced. This year, perhaps I'll continue on this path of whole foods and change it a little to make Lent special. I've learned that when you only eat what you've prepared and only whole foods, it can shift your thinking from living to eat to eating to live. I've not once ate out of boredom or regretted eating something these past ten days. I've been truly hungry each time I've ate and each meal has nourished me, not just filled me up. I plugged in a few of my days to my fitness pal, curious about the amount of potassium I was getting instead of trying to squeeze the most out of my caloric alotment. (Turns out I was coming in under the caloric budget every day, even with snacks)
Often when I say grace, I try to quickly realize where each food comes from, what it took to get in front of me, and pray for that farmer, or thank God for the animal, etc. With this practice, that process can happen earlier are allow you more time to consider it when you are cooking, and sometimes even when you are shopping. You feel and wash each item. When you do buy something packaged, you read the ingredients. Any ideas on how I could incorporate this eating exercise into a Lenten practice would be welcomed in the comments section.