Today, right now, in this moment, I’m feeling pretty good about this eating plan and what I’m able to achieve. I cringe a bit when I read my earlier entries because to be honest, I thought I wanted to navigate this diet perfectly, so I can prove to you and me that it can be done. The reality however, instead of perfection, I’m simply making better choices based off that strive for E2 purity. So instead of having a chocolate croissant, I choose toast with peanut butter, and instead of chili fried chicken and sticky rice, I choose vegetarian paella.

Yesterday when I checked into my hotel, the front desk attendant handed me a package and said, “Here’s your warm cookie.” Surprised I said, “oh, that’s nice. Thanks,” I really wanted to hand it back to her and say no thanks, but I didn’t want to be rude. “It’s the best part, right?” she asked rhetorically as I walked toward my room. I flipped over and read the ingredients: butter, milk, oil, white flour, and 340 calories. FOR ONE COOKIE. It smelled like heaven. I considered eating the whole thing, then coming her and telling you, opps- I cheated, AGAIN! (yeah, like I did with the iced cookie the night before). Instead I just made the best decision in the moment. I broke the tiniest bit off the edge of the cookie, you know- the crunchy bit, and popped it into my mouth while tossing the rest into the garbage can. It sated the craving, and saved me about 300 calories.

Food Diary Day 16
Breakfast: One piece of Dave’s killer bread with a tablespoon of peanut butter at home and an americano from Starbucks. Then another slice of toast, this time cinnamon raisin with peanut butter and an americano at the airport.

Lunch: Lentils, Sweet Potatoes and Kale that I had actually packed for my breakfast, but never had time to eat until the afternoon.

Snack: Always a snack- today I tried raw onion rings that had been tempting me for some time. Onions are sliced thin and coated in a spice and ground sunflower seed paste, they dehydrated. Overall they were tasty, but very strong, like breath minds up in here strong

Dinner: Transformative chips, salsas and guacamole at a little restaurant in Bend names Barrio (OMG- I am salivating thinking about that guac, I don’t know what exactly was in there, maybe just mixing it around with the green and red salsa, but it quickly became dubbed “magicomole”, as it was indeed magic), and a vegetarian paella brimming with peppers, tuscan kale and sliced carrots. Green salad with a Jalapeño Cilantro dressing that had some oil in it (I know, I know, so did the chips AND the paella).

Drinks: Red wine, 1 glass.