Day 11: I'm an orange juice junkie!

Strange days .... On the one hand I’ve been on a total upper, feeling so motivated by this life replete with possibilities. On the other hand, I’ve been in a cranky mood, irritable, impatient. I suppose that’s nothing to do with 24/7 childcare for the last 10 days without so much as a 15-minute veg-out session (does blogging count??).

I feel like I’m over the worst of the initial-craving clean out, like I’ve settled into this way of eating quite easily this time. Yet, lest someone out there is reading this who is bruising their feet on the sharp stones of this narrow ascetic path, let me remind you that it’s taken me years to get to this point, years, and I never thought I could ever get here, and I can’t say what happens after now, this very moment in time.

Especially when there are homemade cheese tamales in my oven! My son goes to a bilingual Spanish/English preschool, and every year they have a tamale sale as a fundraiser at Christmastime. You have to buy at least six. It’s just about killing me, folks. Well, I could have donated more than what they were selling the tamales for, and maybe I should have, but I didn’t realize they were arriving today, when it’s only me at home with the kids. It’s Satan at work, I tell you! Mmmmm! They SMELL SO GOOD! Alas, the struggles of a fruitarian housewife!

But I did make a welcome discovery last night: Banana + hemp seed + lettuce + VitaMix blender = smiling kids and a filling, satisfying meal. My older child wanted it for breakfast today, as well as dinner (after I had already put those tamales in the oven). It’s a hit! I’m off for three days next week to Lake Tahoe with family, and I think I’m going to make this smoothie a staple, so as to not go insane with everyone else’s food around. It’s a bit higher fat than I usually have, but it’s not off the charts, so it’s fine for once or twice a day. I’m glad to have a really filling, long-lasting meal discovery just in time for the holidays.

I keep forgetting to post my exercise. I’ve really only been getting back into the groove the last couple days, but I’ve been jogging now two times this week (about a mile each). Plus I’ve done my physical therapy several days this week. Day before yesterday I did a full Bikram yoga session, and yesterday I did a quick half session. Today I’m still a bit sore, so I just did the poses that I’m going to have to do in front of a million people (ugh!) on January 5. I did notice that today during my jog my pace had come up slightly from when I first started jogging six weeks or so ago.

On the fitness note: Today I registered for the Fruitarian Fitness 90-day Body Transformation Challenge, and I’m really looking forward to it. I want to prove that the weight bench in our attic is not the stupidest thing I ever bought! Seriously, if you’re interested, I’ve posted my short- and long-term goals on that site. Join the competition yourself! I need all the positive stress I can get. :-)

I am such an orange juice junkie these days. I swear, I should have just kept up my cigarette habit! :-) Naw, those oranges are costing me about $2.50 a day, mas o menos. I buy them from the orange dealer guy who hangs out on the corner of Cutting and Harbour Way in Richmond. It all feels very clandestine. He sells bags that are roughly 6 pounds for $3 each, or two for $5, and they’re really good oranges, plus, I get to practice my Spanish with him. I could maybe get cheaper oranges somewhere else, but I like supporting the little guy on the corner. I think my morning orange juice is my favorite part of this lifestyle (although I do suffer some bladder repercussions from it later in the morning, which I’m working on improving).

Other than my morning orange juice, I have to be honest and say this diet doesn’t much excite me. As a matter of fact, it’s forced me to totally stop looking at food as a sorce of excitement. I do actually find it quite boring, palate-wise. But in a sense, I see that as part of the point of it: It’s an interesting and beneficial experience to use food as nourishment and only as nourishment. That means you’re truly eating simply. Can’t say I’ve ever really done that for any stretch of time until now. What I’ve found, now that I’m past the initial stage, is that I’ve simply found other things to focus on. There’s a lot more to life than food, and this diet heightens your awareness of everything else in life.

Food:

• 5 cups orange juice (12 oranges)
• About 5 bananas, ¼ cup hemp seed, 1 bunch of lettuce from my garden, blended
• 2 persimmons and a few bites of asian pear
• 2 bunches of lettuce from my garden (really bitter), 5 kiwis (tasted bitter too, so maybe it’s me today)

Calories: 1836
Calonutrient ratio: 88/6/6
Exercise: Jog 1-1/5 mile, 10 push ups, some ankle exercises, yoga competition poses