Week One, Day Two

It's been a rocky beginning so far. Not so much adhering to the diet's restrictions but the work and the cost required to change gears and commit to eating this way. I have friends who will snicker at this point (you uber homemakers know who you are) because if there's one thing that's always been true about my life it is this: I can handle almost anything outside the home but housework and domestic goddess stuff is mostly beyond my capabilities. At least, it is from a June Cleaver standpoint.

Like many ADD'ers, it takes me twice the time and triple the effort to do the same thing the average person does without thinking. Like grocery shopping or preparing a meal. Oh, I can cook and I do that very well, but making one dish is different than orchestrating a meal. I remember all the times, growing up, when Mom and I used to eat our meals in stages, according to whatever came off the stove first. If the potatoes were done, we ate that. When the roast came out of the oven, we ate that. And so with the green beans and the salad that usually came last because Mom forgot about it sitting in the fridge until she started to put the leftovers away. I thought that kind of thing was wildly exotic and wonderful. Not so anymore. It really is a complex dance of organization, making the meat, the veggies, the salad and the starch all come out together (and still hot). I just find it mind boggling and exhausting.

To prepare for my first week, I wrote out a meal planner to cover all the breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and desserts for 6 days. Once I had that, I made a list to put on the fridge detailing the options I could choose to make, each day. Then I cleaned out the fridge and the freezer, even the cupboards, of non-productive and temptation food. I checked my staples and made a list of grocery items I needed. That took 2 days. Then I went grocery shopping and got most of the items on my list. Three hours later, and $142 lighter, I dragged myself home in a state of sticker shock. I don't ever think I've spent that much on groceries at any one time. It was nerve wracking. What have I done? I can't afford this diet!

So today I settled into the notion that I have to take the time to prepare everything I want to eat. No short cuts. No restaurants or fast food drive thrus. Somehow, I have to live without Taco Bell. And it's not that I mind the cooking and prepping. It's just that it takes sooo looong. Make something, wash the dishes, make something else, more dishes. When do I actually get to eat?

And then there's the question of schedule. I'm a third shifter. I go to work at 10pm and get off at 7am. I don't eat breakfast when I come home, I stagger to bed and collapse. My schedule isn't exactly normal, so I have to restructure my eating times to include 3 meals, 2 snacks, and one dessert. Sigh. That usually means eating breakfast at dinner time and squeezing in a snack while trying to cook the two meals, snack, and dessert I'm supposed to eat during work.

I ended up making a good amount of the dishes for a main meal and eating on that same thing all day. Today's was Indonesian Beef Patties with peanut butter on top, Japanese cucumber salad (really yummy!), and deviled eggs. The meat wasn't spiced strongly enough for me to taste it and so I found the patties quite bland and unappetizing. But the other two items are tasty and, in the case of the cucumbers, are all gone. Still have several deviled eggs left to carry into tomorrow (yeah!). I had my cup of
V-8 and some nuts as my first snack and some cheese and a sugar free jello as the later snack. I'll have my cup of milk when I get home in the morning. As for my water intake, I only hit 45oz instead of 64. Hope to improve on that tomorrow.

So far, no cheating whatsoever. My only problem is an aweful Nutrasweet headache. I got it within 2 swallows of the sugar free Ocean Spray Cran-Grape drink. Ugh. And I even watered the stuff down quite a bit. Have to declare that stuff off limits and stick to plain water. Used Splenda twice today and had no problems, though, so at least there is some recourse. Hopefully phase one will go quickly and I can be onto phase two with a lot more choices and flexability. I'll keep everyone posted.