Today marks the first of eating “clean.” And let me tell you, I am hungry.
Sarah Whipple, longtime best friend and fitness guru, has graciously agreed to be my nutritionist for a week. She has presented me with a full week long meal plan and a stack of healthy recipes.
The goal? To see if replacing chocolate cake with carrots and hummus will put a spring in my step. I am hoping to have more energy and feel more virtuous.
It’s not like I was eating astonishingly poorly before. I am not someone who eats a Whopper, cream cheese pizza, or even Hamburger Helper at every meal. But I am someone who will eat tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich, an apples, and four freshly baked cookies in one sitting.
My current diet doesn’t involve a lot of processed foods, aka I don’t generally eat things that come from a box or can or bag, except cereal. I turn my nose up at grocery store cupcakes. The problem is, if the cupcakes came from my mother’s Kitchen Aid, I would wolf them down in a heartbeat.
I eat freshly prepared homemade food and plenty of fruits and vegetables, supplemented with cream cheese donuts, cupcakes, and chocolate chip cookies.
Sarah eats freshly prepared homemade food and plenty of fruits and vegetables, supplemented with lean protein, 100% fruit smoothies, and plain Greek yogurt.
One of us feels pretty good about our diet.
Initially, I was supposed to cut out sweets, carbohydrates, fat, and sugar starting on Monday, March 4. But yesterday was a forensics tournament, which translates into pizza, emotional donut consumption and celebratory goldfish. Topped off with a steaming bowl of pho and some flourless chocolate cake my mom baked, Saturday’s food was not something to be particularly proud of.
So, I rose this morning, resolute that I, Hannah Moran, would begin eating well today.
As I write this, it’s 5:59 pm and I am starving. But I have made it through the day.
Sarah suggested that I eat a lot of little snacks throughout the day, like applesauce and celery. Unfortunately, transitioning from eating two slices of toast slathered with Nutella to eating one 50-calorie applesauce packet leaves my stomach growling.
I am also foregoing my delicious 2% organic milk (that tastes like heavy whipping cream) in exchange for the less desirable 1%.
I exchanged my bread and pasta for a large salad, and my dessert for tonight will be a single naval orange.
If I am going to make such a drastic change in my diet, I might as well go the extra mile and throw exercise in as well.
Today, I turned my monthly jog into a daily activity and slogged through 5 miles of slush and road salt.
Previously, I would use the “I went running today!” thought to justify another scoop of ice cream.
Today, I stare longingly at the container of Alden’s famous organic vanilla bean ice cream.
Sarah says that the mere prospect of high fat/sugar/calorie foods is no longer appetizing. I have a long, long way to go before I reach that mental state.
Right now, there are Dove chocolates in my sister’s bedroom. But I will ignore them and proceed downstairs to eat some shrimp creole with brown rice. And I am very much looking forward to my orange.
-HKM
