One week into this challenge, I’m noticing a theme. I’m awfully forgiving. Forgiving of the restaurant where cheese is all over my dish, forgiving of the recipe where oil is needed to pop the mustard seeds, forgiving of the coconut oil on my pop corn because it just tastes better. And perhaps the first 7 days into changing a habit, you need to be a little forgiving of yourself, otherwise the behavior change seems too challenging, too much to take on.
In the Engine 2 book, Rip gives readers two option’s. The first, the cadet, allows a 28 day dieter to eliminate unhealthy foods one week at a time, the first week no dairy, the second, no meat, the third no oil and the fourth no heavily processed foods. The second option, the captain requires a cold turkey elimination. quitting oil cold turkey has proven harder than I wanted it to be. Eschewing meat and dairy is something I do 85 percent of the time anyway, so not much of a problem to go without for 4 weeks. Oil free and minimally processed, however commands a whole new approach to dining both in, and out of the house. Honestly, I’m just not there yet.
A second thing I’m noticing is that I’m really busy, too busy in fact to prepare food so that I actually have something that I want to eat when I’m hungry. Getting to a state where I’ll just about eat anything loops me back to observation number one: I’m really forgiving.
FOOD DIARY DAY 8
Breakfast: 6:30 AM in a downtown Seattle Starbucks with LOADS of Seahawks fans awaiting the Super Bowl homecoming parade, I have an oatmeal with dried fruit and nuts, no sugar, and a grande americano.
Snack: While grabbing props for our next video shoot, I quickly scarf down some coconut rice, sweet potatoes and chickpeas from the Whole Foods Market hot bar.
Coffee: More coffee. Black
Lunch: Just having arrived at our last film shoot of the day, our chef asks if I’ve eaten. \ I say, “oh, yes, I’m fine.†But Meeru knows better and commands me to go sit in her dining room and eat lunch so we may work on “full bellies.” Moments after dropping into a chair, a plate of rice pilaf, chick pea masala, and sprouted mung beans appear before me. It was magical and exactly what I needed. Oil for sure.
Dinner: Still incredibly full from lunch I make it back to the airport and home, only having one class of wine, where I have one last cup of my coconut dal, some roasted cauliflower with cumin, tossed in 1 tablespoon canola oil and salt, followed up with a sliver of the coconut chocolate banana tart.