The Hunger Games

I am going to be honest... I was HUNGRY this week. I couldn't stop looking in the fridge or going thru the cupboards...secretly hoping that I would come across a vegetable that would taste like a cheeseburger. .ANYTHING. Its been 3 weeks and I was doing so well.. then my mind turned on me. The mantra I was repeating over and over, "Food is fuel, not for fun. Food is fuel, not for fun!!" Wasn't working anymore .. was I  too naive to think that this wasn't coming.???. Everything has its pitfalls. Even the most positive plan have negative points...and did I mention in earlier posts that I jumped into this without a ton of the "basics" ?? Let me explain:

1. First and foremost ... I miss meat... Kinda like a smoker misses the smell and feel of a cigarette. its a comfort to smell a roast cooking and to taste the juiciness of a perfect steak... you know it's bad for you but it calms you down. You, and by YOU I mean me, may even breakdown and have chicken pasta with cream sauce at a out of town restaurant. This is NOT a good idea. There is a scene in the 1995 movie French Kiss..where Meg Ryan is on a train traveling thru the country side of France and decides to eat all of a cheese platter cause it tasted good.. then it shows her holding onto a  handle and screaming "SPASM! SPASM! OH, GOD, HERE IT COMES...LACTOSE INTOLERANCE! " then the scene breaks to her coming out of the bathroom... yep I was there.. that very moment and on a date!

2. You never realize how meat is the center of attention in EVERYTHING. Making meat free meals..then throw in dairy free as well((no cheese)) is tougher than you think. We base a meal off of a meat staple most of the time. whether its fish then rice...or chicken and potatoes or steak and um..steak. well, you get the point.

3. Changing your lifestyle means changing your kitchen. This was a tear- it -apart week long process. stressful to say the least. Ridding the cupboards of processed food, oil-based products and making it a Vegan friendly atmosphere is exhausting and may require a stay at a mental hospital and several nights of take out Thai food. There were tears shed. There is a never ending list of items we are missing to create simple dishes so we are constantly heading to the market. It's learning all the Lingo and about foods you may have never heard of before..what the H is Quinoa or nutritional yeast?? it stepping outside of your NORMAL and learning to change. not easy or very enjoyable sometimes.

Enough complaining now. There are tons of tools to use in order to get thru the headaches. The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn has a wealth of information and recipes ... also there are many Vegan websites that make simple dishes and give you tips to change. If you "cheat" don't  give up. No matter what change your trying to make.. Food, financial, spiritual or all three...( Lord knows there is a blog that would really open your eyes to my crazy life) never give up.  It almost makes you a better person to share you failures than to do it perfectly. After all, we are just human and this is not a crazy dystopia where we are thrown into an arena to fight to the death.((( Unless we are winning a steak.. there are some days I would kill for a steak. ))