I’ve been dreading writing this post all week! I had a really bad week when it came to my diet. I had been doing VERY well during the first weeks of January, thanks to the challenge Jerry and I did. Since my health goal for this year was to eat more vegetables, I suggested Jerry do that too. He’s not a fan of vegetables, but I told him that maybe if he keeps trying them, he’ll eventually like them. I think our taste buds change based on our current diet, so maybe if he starts including vegetables here and there, he’ll start to like them a lot.
The problem is that I feel so bad preparing food that I “know” he won’t like it. I love mushrooms, but I almost never make anything with mushrooms because Jerry and the kids don’t like them. The same goes for many other fruits and vegetables. So, he said that if I promise to make recipes that I think he won’t like (recipes that include vegetables that I like but rarely make), then he will eat them and *try* to like them.
I’ve been looking at Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen checklist to try to include those items in my daily diet, and one of them is leafy greens. I never eat leafy green vegetables; Of all the vegetables, they’re just not my favorite. They’re listed only slightly above celery, and that’s pretty bad.
Instead of trying to be creative on a daily basis, I decided to simply eat a small salad (suggests at least two cups of leafy greens a day) before dinner. I don’t make anything fancy, just a mix of mesclun and a homemade dressing (I got the recipe from the How Not to Die cookbook).
I was very surprised to discover that I really like to eat salad before dinner! Salad for a meal is a disappointment (an unpopular opinion, I know), but eating it before dinner was a game-changer for me. I actually really like the taste of it and the extra volume of food makes it easier to eat less food overall. I also feel full for much longer, making it MUCH easier not to snack at night.
Anyway, besides the salad, we have also eaten a lot of other vegetables. Unfortunately, over the last week, Jerry and I started eating a lot (again). Less vegetables. Druggie food. It’s not just the food, but our attitudes; In general, we have been lazier, more carefree and even frivolous. Not at all like responsible adults! Ha ha ha.
A lot of things changed at once: going from down on my luck over a period of a year and a half, to paying off the house and car, to Noah moving out, to Jerry’s new work schedule, to Eli turning 18… .and our attitudes certainly changed along with it. There have been so many positive changes (like Jerry’s work schedule and house payment) that it seems like we’ve both been able to take a deep breath and relax after being so nervous for a year and a half. We were constantly waiting for the next thing to go wrong. Obviously we can’t prevent bad things from happening, but we loved this break 😉
My weight, however, is not. In fact, I’m not going to post a weigh-in today. I hadn’t planned on skipping it, but I forgot to weigh myself this morning. Since I was afraid of it anyway, I’m going to give myself a week to try to regain control before weighing myself. Jerry and I mentioned that we feel really bad (physically) since we’ve been eating so badly this week, after two weeks of eating healthier than ever. So today we are back at it: we continue with our challenge of eating more vegetables. And act like mature, responsible parents instead of carefree teenagers! Ha ha ha.
