Day 24

For years I had two pieces of eating wisdom on my refrigerator.

One said, "Never eat more than you can lift." the the other said, "Eat less food."

One was a quote from Miss Piggy. I'll bet you can guess!

The other, "Eat less food" was something a girlfriend told me about five years ago. My friend, Camy has seven children.
She eats extremely well and lifts weights. She is disciplined and looks amazing. One afternoon I gave her a call.

"Camy, I need to do something about my weight. What is the best method? Low fat, no carbs, blood type diet, G.I. diet?
And to this she said, "Eat less food." And I smiled and knew she was right. Not what I thought she would say, but so Camy.
(I think she also told me to lift weights. But I have conveniently forgotten that part of the conversation.)

So when I saw Michael Pollan's instructions to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I had a little deja vu.
Yup. Camy would approve.

Can I tell you something? I don't feel like I eat a lot.

I do however know two people who eat a half a sandwich for lunch. I know this because it seems so odd to me.
A half a sandwich! I suppose I should try it.

And when we go out for steak, you are not going to believe this, but sometimes my husband gets the petite fillet and I get the regular fillet.

A petite fillet. humph. Why bother?

Well. That's what I use to think.

One time we went out to eat for my birthday and I got an appetizer and a salad and a entree.
The service was very slow and I think it was an hour before we got our entrees.
My husband, the light eater, sat and watched me eat for that whole hour and he did not eat a thing.

Is it any wonder he stays the same weight year after year and I go up and down like a trampolinist?

I'm happy to say, those days are gone.

Smaller portions, here I come. I shall savor each bite. I shall change my thinking.

I shall. I will.

Day 23

Today I was shocked by a label I read.

Here in Wisconsin, we have a bakery called Natural Oven's Bakery.
Whenever I would try to eat healthier, I sought out their bread products.

I would think to myself. 'If I am going to have one piece of bread a day, it's going to be THIS really
healthy, wonderful, good for me, bread."

This afternoon at the grocery store, I checked the label on a package of whole wheat hamburger buns.
(I was trying to make a good choice.)
The second ingredient in the healthy, expensive, Wis made buns was high fructose corn syrup.
I gasped. I grabbed a loaf of their bread and checked that too....and it had HFCS in it.
How dare they try to trick us!

I see I can not trust the words' healthy' anymore. Learning to bake my own bread is on the horizon.

I hope I can do it!

Day 22

Rule # 8 in Michael Pollen's book says 'Avoid food products that make health claims.'

He says it needs a package to have a health claim written on it and wants us to realize that the fresh produce is the healthiest thing in the store and it holds no label.

This reminds me of Oprah's friend Bob Greene and his 'best life' label.

I think Bob is probably a super healthy guy, but he puts his 'best life' label on Yoplait yogurt; the one with NutraSweet.

I hate that NutraSweet is put in diet foods and considered healthy.

There is nothing healthy about putting a fake sweetener in your food.

I knew it all long when I was drinking Diet Dr. Pepper.
I was not fooled. I knew it was a slightly risky choice. I remember when NutraSweet came out on the market in the 1980's and my girlfriend showed me all sorts of information on how bad it was for me. I believed her....but I didn't care.

Sometimes we just don't care.

What I do care about is claiming a food is good for you,
when it really isn't.

Even in my state of denial about most of the foods I was eating, when I looked at the label on the Yoplait yogurt, I knew Bob was wrong about this.

Both Bob Greene and Michael Pollen have been on Oprah's show.
Just not at the same time.
Some of their ideas are very contradictory.

I kinda think that Michael and Bob need to sit down and talk.

Day 21

Today is my birthday. It is the perfect day to talk about what I plan on doing on holidays and birthdays.

The only birthday I get to celebrate with cake or treats is my own.
If I celebrated on every one's' birthdays...then I would be eating cake non-stop.
This would not be healthy!
This is in fact how I have gotten into this 'predicament'.

I love cake. I love to bake cakes. I'm pretty good at making a carrot cake and a red cake and a chocolate sheet cake and a cake with Twinkie frosting.

(No. I will not share those recipes here. Don't even ask.)

The problem occurs when the party is over and half the cake is left in the pan and I am home alone and it calls my name and I eat tiny fork fulls, all day...until the kids come home from school and say, "Where did all the frosting go? You ate all the frosting off the cake!" Oops. Sorry.'

You know there are no calories if you don't put it on a plate and eat it standing up, don't you?


Anyway.

This year I thought about how I would approach by birthday and other holidays and I decided that I would have a piece of cake if I wanted.

Just a few days ago, my sister Cindy sent me a box of my very favorite toffee.

I freaked out a little. I freaked cause I love it and I freaked because I wasn't sure how to handle it.

I decided it was my birthday treat. It is made of all wholesome ingredients so I am happy on that account. But it is too much. So here is what I did, over the last three days I nibbled on that delicious toffee. I ate less than half of the box.

Then yesterday, late afternoon, I put it in the freezer.

I felt very naughty eating it but I savored each buttery, almond filled bit.

But that's it. That was my birthday treat. I will savor the words of love and friendship and fun that come my way today and revel in those!


For Thanksgiving and Christmas I will cook and eat the traditional meals I have made for 30 years. I will shop consciously and buy the most wholesome ingredients I can find. And I will be eating gravy....On Thanksgiving, I will be eating gravy.

And with Christmas dinner there will be bearnaise sauce. This I know.

All the other holidays are not filled with traditional food at our house.
New Years and the Fourth and Easter and Valentines are not days I think about food.
I can easily manage those days.


Halloween on the other hand may prove to be a problem.

Day 20

I sit here with a growling stomach.
This is a new feeling for me. My stomach is rarely empty enough to make any noise.

The first food choice of the day is here.

Because I am prepared I have good choices on hand; good eggs and whole wheat bagels.

And because I am prepared it makes life so easy.

The problem is when I don't have something quick and easy to prepare or an idea or a recipe ready to go. It does take more effort to eat this way.
Sometimes I don't want to cook! I'm tired of cooking and thinking and planning.
I want a chef.

I could live like that.

But it looks like I am the chef.

(Patrick and I watched Julie and Julia again Friday night. This movie inspires me to cook and find the joy in it. I may be watching it over and over this year!)

Last night I made Betty Crocker's Mandarin Orange Salad. This is one of the few homemade salads I love. (Emma and I agree that making your own salad is just not the same. That reminds me...I want the chopped salad from Wildfire in Chicago...right now.)

I completely enjoyed my dinner last night and it was because I made this fantastic salad.

I made a few changes to cut down on the sugar. Instead of browning the almonds in sugar. I just didn't do it. Renegade. I know!

The rest I left the same. Yes, there is some sugar in the dressing. But that's okay.

I think like this. Mandarine Salad vs. Chicken Pot Pie.

Salad wins. By a long shot!

I am not going drastic here.
I'm in it for the long run.


Mandarin Salad by Miz Crocker

1/4 C sliced almonds
1T + 1 tsp sugar
1/4 head lettuce
1/4 bunch romaine
1 C celery chopped
2 green onions thinly sliced
11 oz can mandarin oranges, packed in juice

Sweet and Sour dressing;

1/2 C oil
4 T sugar
4 T vinegar
2 T snipped parsley
1 tsp salt
Dash pepper


skip this.
Cook almonds and sugar over low heat, stir until sugar is melted. Careful not to burn. Cool and break the almonds apart. Set aside.


start here.

Place lettuce/romaine celery and onions in a plastic bag. Pour in dressing and orange segments and shake, shake, shake,....shake, shake, shake,...shake your salad,
shake your salad, yeah.
Add almonds. Serve.



I have a lot left over for today. It gets pretty wilty...but hey! I just thought of something, I can add more lettuce to it. Yum! Can't wait till lunch!

Day 19

Once upon a time I did the liquid diet.

After I gave birth to Emma the weight was not coming off very well.

I weighed 175 pounds. (I would like to weight that much now. In fact. That could be my goal weight.
No goal weight has been set. But I know the weights of all starts and finishes of diets. And that was my start weight.)

The doctor who monitored this liquid diet wanted you to be 50 pounds overweight in order to be on this diet; it was called Medifast. Just like Oprah.
I pretended that I wanted to weight 125 pounds. I really never planned on weighing 125 pounds. I hadn't weighed that much since maybe sophomore year in high school. It was unrealistic but it was the weight I needed to say to get the Medifast.

I drank three large glasses of powder and diet red soda a day (mixed together).
That's all.
In ten weeks I lost 40 pounds.
It was great.

At 135 I felt ready to start adding food to my diet.

Patrick and I went out for dinner and I had a big huge plate of veggies( it was a stir fry of sorts)

The veggies got stuck.

In those ten weeks, scar tissue from my previous surgery (the awful horrible nearly killed me ruptured appendix) decided to wrap itself around my skinny, empty intestines.

I had a bowel obstruction.

Who knows if the liquid diet had anything to do with the scar tissue wrapping around my intestines. I think it was just bad luck.

But I had surgery and recovered. It was a horrible experience.

I eventually edged my way back up to 180 and stayed there for many years.

Until I started homeschooling.

When I think back on that liquid diet all I can think about is the terrible outcome of having a surgery the day after I started eating food. And today I marvel at what I was consuming. All chemicals and crap filled diet soda.

Oh goodness. That had to be the craziest diet I ever tried.
How I would love to lose 40 pounds in ten weeks again. But I must remember that that diet did not work for very long. I was regaining in six months.



I am afraid it will have to be slow and steady wins the race for me this time, and I have got to learn to LOVE it.


One day at a time. One meal at a time. One year at a time.

Day 18

Top ten


I don't eat between meals
I don't eat candy bars
I don't drink diet Dr. Pepper
I don't drink raspberry lemonade
I don't eat at fast food restaurants
I don't eat chips in the afternoon
I don't eat white flour bagels
I don't eat cookies
I don't eat bacon
I don't have cravings


I don't feel deprived most of the time and this is wondrous.

It's all about mindset.

The sweets are not a huge problem once I have gotten the sugar out of my system.

It's weird, the more you eat sugar, the more you want to eat sugar.

I bought some natural cinnamon bread from Whole Foods. It has sugar in it.
(All good, whole ingredients) But the sugars must be high because I have noticed that once I had a piece or two of that bread,
I start craving more sugar throughout the day.

I'm wondering if it is worth it. I don't like that feeling of being drawn to sugary and salty foods.

The salty foods for sure went with drinking Diet Dr. Pepper.
How I loved eating chips and pop corn with that fizzy drink.

But once I take away one, the other is gone by association.

That's good.

My caffeine drink now, Iced Grande Chai Nonfat, does not go with any food.
I want to keep it that way.

As far as the bagels go, I have allowed myself to eat whole wheat bagels from Bagels Forever.
I use organic butter and organic cream cheese.
In this case, I have made changes that allow me to keep my favorite breakfast pretty much the way I like it.

Now that bacon. I have not cooked it. So I have not eaten it.

There are a few recipes that call for it and I will cross that bridge next week.
I like bacon in my broccoli/cauliflower salad and in my potato soup.

While there is nothing healthy or redeeming about bacon, I may make the decision to have just a tiny taste.
Pretty sure of it right now.

Who knew I would feel so attached to bacon and willing to include it in the few things I would make allowances for....

Salty chemical laden fat.

Why do I cling to thee?

Flavor possibly?

Day 16

Just got home from a nice little bike ride around the neighborhood. I came up the big hill and my heart is pounding and I can feel it in my throat.

My knee does not hurt. I could feel the burn and fatigue in my thighs but not my knees...so I think I will stick with the bike riding.

I'm doing great with my eating.
I think I will go to Whole Foods after school with Katie and find something for dinner.

I fixed another flop last night.

The dish was called Thai Peanut sobu noodles.

I used rice noodles and prepared the rest of the dish according to the recipe...and it was blah.

I love peanut sauce but this did not have enough flavor. I threw the rest of it out.
I really hate to waste food but I could not eat it. blah.

(Is it really a crime to use I in eight sentences in a row? Really?)

These cooking failures are frustrating but I consider myself a baby in the cooking dept.
The only way to fix this...is to make something I know how to make.

That Mandarin orange salad. That's it. I'm making that next!

Day 15

Two weeks today.

Official weigh in this morning.

-5 pounds.

I forgot to exercise last week.

oops.

I am having a most delicious Greek Salad for lunch. I made it myself.
tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, kalamata olives and feta cheese.

Olive oil from Whole Goods and that organic cider vinegar and kosher salt.

the chai is helping tremendously with the sleepiness.

Now I just have to get exercising.

Day 13

Over the summer, Emma would bring me Iced Chai's from Starbucks.
I don't drink coffee and she thought this might be something I like.

I did like it, but not enough to go to Starbucks and pay for it! Until I started eating more healthy.
Without Diet Dr. Pepper to keep me awake I was unbearably tired. And depressed.

Then one night I read in What to Eat that caffeine is not a terrible thing.
Marion discusses Chai and even the Chai from Starbucks. Her only concern with Starbucks is the high amounts of sugar in many of the drinks.
This made me feel free to go and get something as long as I was careful. A Tall Nonfat Iced Chai has 150 calories.
I really needed the caffeine.

The amount of sugar does not disturb me because I am not adding or eating any other sugar in my daily diet.

After drinking my first Tall Chai, I decided it was just too small.

The next size is a Grande and it has 200 calories.

This is what I have been doing this week. I have been totally and completely enjoying my Chai.
It is really the highlight of my day.

But. It's expensive and inconvenient to go to Starbucks even once a day for me.

(Emma told me that a woman comes thru the drive up at her Starbucks four times a day. EVERYDAY! Can you imagine?)

So I was wondering if I could make this savory drink on my own. I saw a product on the Starbucks website and thought that might be the ticket. But then just yesterday Emma spotted this container at Target. It was only $4.00!
It is exactly the same brand they use at Starbucks and it is even organic!

So I bought some and today I made some for myself and it was wonderful.

(I had a little indigestion this afternoon and I hope it is not from my drink.
I will know tomorrow if the same thing happens after I make my daily Chai.)

Chai is black tea with spices.
The drink I have has skim milk in it and ice cubes.

I love it.
It has been a really life saver for me!

Day 12

We went to a wedding tonight.
This is as close as I got to the cupcakes.

Aren't they lovely?

I really do get so much satisfaction from taking pretty pictures.

And they are zero calories.


I ate a plate full of delicious food. I skipped the bread and had mostly proteins and veggies.
All delicious.

I have been doing so well not eating in between meals.
Today we were so busy that I didn't give it a thought.

Isn't that nice? Being home all day by myself, while I really do enjoy the quiet, it is more difficult to keep my mind off of food tho.

I'm hungry now. Time to make a conscious decision about what to have.

It's not so bad. Really it's not.

Day 11

We went to Pizza Brutta tonight.


When we use to go to Pizza Brutta I had my own 'pie' and a root beer. Now I have two small pieces of pizza and a small Greek salad. (This salad is not small but it is on the plan so I enjoy it thoroughly. The pizza is very much like the pizza we ate in Rome, it is very fresh and flavorful.

Along with my pizza I had a Greek salad and a glass of water. A glass of water I tell you!
This is huge for me for me and I didn't even feel sorry for myself.

This is the only restaurant we have gone to since I have been eating healthfully.
It's the perfect place. They make their own cheese and take great care to buy ingredients locally.
I take great care to limit myself and I leave very satisfied.


Dear Pizza Brutta.
I love you.
Donna

Day 10

Have you ever heard someone say that lots of times we eat to stuff the feelings down.
Kind of like a drinker drinks to escape those bad feelings.

Well. It is so true for me when I am on a diet.

I am so depressed today. I am on the verge of tears, and all because one of Katie's teacher's wrote to tell me she got a 40/100.
Apparently Katie did not understand the multiple choice questions.

I know she studied for nights.

And this makes me want to cry and it makes me angry about other things at the school and I want to homeschool her so I can choose the best math program and geography program for her.

And I know I am feeling this way because I am not able to eat something to shove down my sad and upset feelings.

So out they come, bubbling up to the surface. And what am I suppose to do with them?

I suppose I could cry some more.

Who knew the healthy life was one of tiredness and tears?

Day 9

I woke up yesterday with such good intentions.
Journal the news about my first week of weight loss. The big total.
But the big total wasn't so big. And I tried to cheer myself up and remind myself this was
just the beginning of a year long change.

-3

That's all.
The day before it was -5 but yesterday morning it was -3.

So my day started with a disappointment and then I got a headache that wouldn't go away.
My had a lot of business to take care of and it was taking away my ability to go and get a Chai and
I was not able to plan for meals very well.


I realized that I comfort myself with food when I am feeling bad.
Emotionally or Physically.
The urge to eat is very strong.
But yesterday I held back. I did not over eat nor did I eat something unhealthy, but I felt crummy and depressed all day.

I had

Organic Eggs for breakfast and local bread.
Granola from the farmers market as a snack.
Cucumber Salad for lunch.
Homemade applesauce for snack....

but what was I going to do for dinner.

I wanted to not think about it. I wanted to go purchase something.
And I did. But not for myself. I bought Patrick and Katie ButterBurgers and Chicken tenders from Culvers.

This solved the cooking something for my family dilemma. They were delighted to have something to eat.

I on the other hand finally figured something out. I have a jar of Rao's spaghetti sauce in the fridge.
Rao's sauce is my very favorite spaghetti sauce. According to the jar it is made with all whole ingredients. No long words I don't recognize. Every ingredient I can see growing. This passes Michael Pollen's test.

But the noodles. They had words that I could not identify.

I ate them anyway. I had a little cottage cheese on my plate and my meal was very good.


I'll be thinking about this connection I have with food and disappointment and deprivation and depression this year.
All of those things that brought me pleasure are now off limits.

That glass of bubbling Diet Dr. Pepper is not my friend anymore. I miss it. It helped me get thru a rough day.

What I will replace it with, I don't know yet.

There is not much I find more pleasurable than eating sugary and salty foods with a lovely little glass of Diet Dr. Pepper.

Not even losing three pounds makes it better.

Day 7

What about exercise, you ask?

In the last week I have ridden my bike twice and gone for a one hour walk.
The walk killed my left knee. It hurt after ten minutes, but I kept going.

Riding the bike does not hurt very much at all. I am encouraged to stick with that.

I have searched for and found the five pound weights we had in the house.
Last night I lifted and hoisted those for a few minutes.

But they have been dusted off. That is my start.

Part of the reason I have started this project is because I feel so out of shape.
In May I participated in a 5K. (Brain Cancer Walk)
It was a very slow stroll, but I was in pain before we even started the walk from standing around for a few hours.

This is just pathetic.




In 2007 I walked every day for 115 days. It was my version of a streak.
I did this so that I could keep up with my husband, daughter and her friends as we toured Paris, Florence and Rome.

And I did it! I was never tired nor was I sore. It was me who coaxed our group to climb the 400+ steps to the top of St. Peter's dome.

I was not much thinner than I am now. But I had endurance.
That was because of the streak.

I want to get back to that place. It was only three years ago. I know it is possible.

Losing weight will help with the pain in my knees. I am sure of it.
Exercising will be the key to losing the weight. I am sure of that too.

This week was a rather weak start as far as exercising but I am not going to be too hard on myself,
I have made many amazing choices and changes so far.

Exercising will come.

Day 6

Trying something new and making it yourself can actually be very enjoyable!

I was watching a new show on the Food Channel called 5 ingredient Fix last week and saw a recipe I thought would fit my new way of eating.

It was called Fresh Cucumber Salad.

• 1 English cucumber, peeled and diced
• 1 cup (1/4 whole) honeydew, finely diced
• Kosher salt
• 2 cups Greek yogurt
• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely minced

I used ½ of a large English cucumber, two cups of honeydew,
yogurt to cover and a teeny bit of jalapeno. I am a whimp when it comes to spicy.

But I am so excited to share how much I loved this odd salad.
I haven’t purchased a honeydew melon in so long I can’t even remember if I have ever purchased one! And a jalapeno…first time ever!

I liked this so well that when I finished my lunch today I made a second batch with the left over ingredients. Very exciting.
It tasted cool and sweet with just the right amount of spice. (practically none)
Next I think I will try Claire Robinson’s Toasted Israeli Couscous ; it has apricots.
Woo!

Day 5

Day 5


I'm never going to be perfect. ( yes. Those who know me can stop laughing... I'm very far from perfect.). But by not pretending that I am going to be the perfect health nut, I give myself freedom. Freedom to make a mistake and not call it a mistake . Today I made hamburgers for the family for dinner. I did s lot of things very right.

I made the hamburgers with grass fed ground beef from whole foods.
very good
I used whole wheat bread instead of a white bun.
Very good
I used lettuce and a heirloom tomato I bought from the farmers market.
Super good.
Where I failed was in the condiments.
I just forgot to buy organic and I didn't even think to make my own.
So I ate a little Hellmans mayonnaise and a lettle squirt of Heinz ketchup.
But I just can't cancel out the other good choices I made.
It was a delicious hamburger and the only red meat I have had this week.

Not perfect but perfectly acceptable.

Day 4

Not only is this the year of living healthfully. It is going to be the year of cooking more than I have ever cooked in my life.

I am going to have to cook things myself.

I love and collect cookbooks and I adore watching the Food Network but I haven’t put into practice much of anything I have read or watched. Oh! I have searched out Guy
Fieries Diners Drive ins and Dives. Oh yes I have. But that’s not going to cut it this year.

So today I cooked.
I am used to cooking one meal a day: dinner. Breakfast and lunch are assembled or toasted.


I am realizing the effort it takes to prepare delicious, whole foods for myself. But since I had great success with an apple dish I made yesterday, I feel happily optimistic.

This quick apple dish tasted like the inside of an apple pie. It was so much better than applesauce from a jar.
It's the best thing I have eaten this week!

Here is the recipe:


4 apples peeled and cut in big chunks off the apple.
1 Tbs. brown sugar.
1 tsp. organic butter
sprinkle cinnamon

Toss in crock pot.
Cook on low for about four hours or until soft and mushy.

Eat.

Enjoy the taste of fall!

****

I peeled apples and cored apples and then I peeled and boiled potaotes.
It took time but I had wonderful baked apples for a snack and tasty mashed potatoes with a portion of home baked whole chicken from Whole foods for dinner.

more effort + time waiting = delicious success!



I wonder how many calories are burned preparing meals?

Day 2

I have given up Diet Dr. Pepper a few times before in my life. Every time I am shocked and saddened by how my body reacts to the missing caffeine.

I am so sleepy.

It’s just after lunch and I want to take a nap. I hate to nap. I never nap.

With caffeine (four cans of Diet Dr. Pepper a day) I can go all day.
Sleep for six hours at night and not feel tired or cranky.

Without it, I am super tired. I want to nap in the afternoon and I go to bed at 9:00 at night.

So does healthy mean sleepy for me. I don’t like it.

I think I will go and ride my bike around the block. Perhaps the exercise will perk me up.

I’m back. That got the blood flowing. It was just a fifteen minute ride around our neighborhood, but it was a start and I think it will be a good plan to ride or walk (ugh) in the afternoons. It’s very quiet out there. I didn’t pass one person on my ride. No one saw my big butt from behind and no one saw my knees bumping into my large belly. But I felt it. Bump. Bump. Bump went my knees into my belly.

It has got to go.

Part of living healthfully is not only being very picky about what I am eating, it’s watching portion sizes. So far, I don’t have anything in the house that is both healthy and enticing enough to pig out on. But if I had some nice nuts in the house,
I bet I could over eat those if given the chance. And cheese, a good wholesome delicious cheese; I could over eat there too. Marion Nestle says to be careful of those tasty cheeses (saturated fat you know). She doesn’t know that I live in America’s Dairy land. I wonder if she has tasted a cheese curd. I wonder how many are a sensible portion, probably one ounce.

Must stop thinking about cheese curds.

I will instead tell you quickly that I weighed myself this morning. I am not comfortable yet telling you how much I weigh. It’s about the most I have ever weighed. But if it were me reading this diary, I would really want to know. So I will place the before/after chart at the end of the book and I’ll wait while you go look.

What I can say is that I would not be out of place on The Biggest Loser.
I could never be on The Biggest Loser because I could never leave my family for that long of a time and I could never ever in a million years wear a sports bra on National Television. And that Jillian is mean. She is way mean.

But weight-wise I need an intervention. And so I invite Michael and Marion into my life for a year. It’s a long commitment, but I like them, they won’t yell at me, they are sensible and funny and they will never require that I wear a sports bra in public.

It’s like the Bradley method of getting healthy; relaxed, natural, focused, supported. Exactly like the Bradley method just missing the naked birthing and the baby in the end.

Day One

And so begins my quest. I can’t write journey because my son, Patrick, will close this book and stop reading immediately. This is no journey. It’s a diary that begins with a fragment that I have been encouraged to rewrite.
What a way to start! But start I have.

After dropping Katie off at school, I winded my way over to Whole Foods to choose some things to eat.
With Michael Pollen’s and Marion Nestle’s words humming in my brain I chose carefully. I looked at labels. I looked at prices. I chose local. I chose simple.

I bought strawberries and pineapple. Neither are local. But what’s a girl to do? I don’t think there is a Wisconsin grower who has pineapples in his field. And I like pineapples and strawberries. If I am going to start eating fruit, I will have to start with the flown in kinds.
We have apples in the house and those are local. It’s fall. I think I will be eating lots of apples.

Organic eggs were on my list. They say Certified Organic. They are brown.
I read last night that it does not matter a bit what color the shell is; that’s nice to know. No use spending extra on color. In this year I hope to find a really local source for eggs. I have 364 days to do that.

What else did I buy? One container of Greek yogurt: plain.
I intend to mix homemade strawberry jam into the plain yogurt.
Seriously, if I am going to do this, I have to be honest with myself.
I will never eat plain yogurt. But I shall try this.

Oh yes! I bought grass fed ground beef, (two small packages) and a whole chicken.
Both on sale.

Michael Pollen says, “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
(Thus the small packages.)

This simple philosophy will help me keep focused on eating whole nutritious foods and not eating too much.

It is thought that eating healthy is much more expensive than eating cheap.
I am hoping that by eating less, that cost will even out. It just seems logical.

I know myself well enough to know that if I deprive myself of the food I long for,
I will be unhappy. I am determined to do this for a year. But I don’t want to be depressed for a year. How I will have a healthy spirit….remains to be seen.
I will be preparing my “treats” so I have more control over the ingredients and I will not be obsessive.

I will do my best. And then I will be merciful with myself.
But I will persevere.

Day one is always a good day.

Except for the headache that comes with caffeine withdrawal.

I better go look up the most healthful way to deal with a caffeine headache.