One week from today is Day 31.
Next Sunday, I can have peanut butter. Or pizza. Or pie. Or pizza and peanut butter pie slathered with whipped cream and chocolate chips and fudge chunks and kit kats and–
Now now, Jean. One week from now or one month from now, you got to stay the course.
Even my mom, who wasn’t enthused with our venture at the outset but has since grown impressed with Bo’s dedication, put a pretty important question to me:
“How are you going to stick with it?”
Because dammit, we have to.
Now I’m not saying I’ll never let myself have peanut butter again. But it can’t be a daily staple for me, either, just like ice cream, or cocoa, or heck, even bread. Even Bo’s accepting that label-reading in grocery stores has to continue so we can keep our sugar intake down. We both want to enjoy sugar, but on our terms.
That means creamer for coffee–yay!
But no sugar in our pasta sauce or canned goods.
That means the occasional pizza–yay!
But dairy’s off-limits in the daily fare. These past few weeks have made me realize just how many culinary sins I used to cover up with shredded cheese or wads of butter. Bo and I have always been pretty easy-going in our tastes–meat’n’potatoes folk, if you will. So long as we have clarified butter and a few good spices to mix up with the meat and veg, we’re good.
That means a nummy submarine sandwich–yay!
But grains cannot be a staple in meals. Bo’s got to keep taking salads to work. No more noodle-based casseroles during the week. All those carbs in the evening are just going to sit in our guts and do nothing.
Don’t forget dessert! Dessert CAN BE REAL DESSERT AGAIN! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Eh. No. No, Jean.
When I was in graduate school, I could only afford oatmeal packets, rice, frozen vegetables, and creamed soup to eat. Ten bucks would buy me enough of those things for the week, with a little leftover to restock my coffee when that ran out. When I got married, Bo and I loved having all sorts of sundaes, brownies, cookies, cakes….we looooooooved our desserts.
But you know…that made them, well, not all that special.
I want that piece of apple pie to be special. I want to appreciate that sweet treat, not take it for granted.
Which is why, of course, I must eat an entire apple pie in order to appreciate it properly.
Ahem.
Now I better scoot. Trouble’s brewing upstairs over a certain 3rd grader’s Science Fair project.
In the meantime, enjoy a tasty dish of adventure with Charlotte and Liam before they wreak havoc with Arlen’s pies. 99 pennies will get you the whole novel plus some kickin’ bonus stuff. It doesn’t get sweeter than this!
Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!
Jean Lee's World 
Eventually it does get less painful. I don’t miss dairy much now. Things like soya milk on cereal is quite nice now. Black coffee is now ingrained. Yes pizza is a miss, dairy free cheese is just not good… But hopefully it is doing some good. I certainly feel stronger during exercise now. So good on you both. But don’t forget to occasionally enjoy yourselves.
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Exactly. I think it’s important to not beat ourselves up when we do “splurge,” but to not be stupid about it.
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Hooray! You’re almost there! (And it’s Social Studies Fair over here this year… 🙂 )
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Is it weird we never had these fairs as kids?
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My school did a Science fair sorta kinda twice- we had to build a solar system model (during which I discovered that our encyclopedias were VERY out of date…) and we did something in 7th or 8th grade… but that’s about it 🙂
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Yeah, we never did anything when I was a kid. Apparently Blondie’s school takes turns between Science Fairs and…something else? I can’t even remember. Ugh, this winter’s such a blur…
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We do Science and Social Studies. (We’re running to the library today to look for books on Sacajawea.) When I first moved out here I ended up restarting Science fairs- mercifully now that I’m not full time and it’s bigger someone else does it 🙂
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Hmm. I think Blondie will have Social Studies next year, but my brain’s too frazzled to think that far ahead 😉
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I think you’re right. It’s about appreciating a special treat and not taking them for granted. Moderation is what I say, except in half and half! Kudos to y’all for staying the course. Health is so important and something else to not take for granted.
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Thanks so much! Yup, that creamer’s coming back, but like you say, moderation’s a must. With creamer coming, then something else has to stay away. 🙂
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Yeah, yeah, Yeah. The carbs. I’ve been struggling through thrush (the oral variety, thank you for wondering), for over a week, gargling with hydrogen peroxide three times a day. It all seems to boil down to diet. Good for you and Bo, though. Being able to see the big picture. I’ve been focusing on the corners of the photo, that allow for big bowls of chocolate ice cream before bed and flapjacks with bacon when I get up.
Keep up the good stuff.
Jay
http://septuagenarianjourney.com/i-am-the-skimmer-of-stones/
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Oh no! Well I’m glad you’re at least working through the cure for the thrush. I think I could be more okay giving up carbs if I didn’t have to also give up the dairy like cheese and yogurt. I LOVE yogurt, but I guess now it’s just got to go. 😦 Hope you’ll be done gargling soon!
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