Day Eleven: Try, Try Again

Surprising discoveries this weekend so far.

First, I am buying and eating fresh fruit. I'm not a fan of most fruit. I don't even like fruit-flavored things (except candy like Skittles and Starbursts. But not Jelly Belly; that's asking too much. Oh, and sno-cones at fairs and lemonade. Yep, I think that's about it.) So while I'm not loving this part of the PCP, I'm sticking with it because it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The PCP, with its three-fruits-daily requirement for me, has kind of forced my hand at expanding my horizons and making new choices. Before, I would have ambitiously bought a bag of apples and by Day 4 of said apples, I would have called mercy and not tried apples again for two years. But maybe the key is variety. For example, on Friday for my a.m. snack I ate a banana and for my p.m. snack I ate a bosc pear during a work meeting. I ruled!

Second discovery: weekends are harder for the PCP diet than anticipated. Why? Lack of structure on the weekend can let things get all willy nilly right out the window. As I mentioned in Day Ten, dinner was going to have to wait until after my softball game. Well, after the game (we lost 5-2, but heck I played second base the entire game AND I accounted for one of those runs, so boo to the yah!) my team badgered me into joining them at the usual post-game bar. Sometimes we eat; most of the time they drink. I hadn't seen everyone in weeks so I felt obligated to be social and besides this was my night out (yes my life is very exciting, try not to be jealous). I felt OK with my iced water and cup of coffee to tide me over, but as soon as my friend seated across from me got her order of food, I knew I had to leave. Deliciousness was taunting me in the face. So I went home, it was 10p.m. and, too tired to cook or stomach the usual PCP dinner, I cobbled together my PCP carbs (simple bowl of generic GrapeNuts) with milk portions (so no vegs, protein or fruit). It was awesome, but not awesome for the PCP. Dang. Tomorrow was a new day to get it right. Right?

Nope. I ran into this problem AGAIN this morning (again, thanks to lack of planning on my part) when I woke up ready to hit the gym for my usual Saturday a.m. cardio kickboxing class, which I've done for three years now. I LOVE IT. But unless I wanted to wake up at 6 a.m. to eat that mammoth breakfast before the 9a.m. class (which you have to get there by 830a to get a pass that's how popular it is, which means leaving the house at 8a.m., so sleeping in is ...730a.m.? which I totally did!), eating would have to wait. But once I got home and showered, I remembered I was going to visit fellow PCPer Gwen today (who I might add is thisclose to her Day 90! Awesome!). So I grabbed some cheese and hit the road. Once I got home, I ate my breakfast meal ... at 2 p.m. Then the day got away from me AGAIN. My generous and lovely neighbors, curious about the PCP, ended up feeding me some of their dinner: lamb chops, artichokes and couscous because it was 7:30p.m. and I was ravenous with no meal in the works at my own house and they wanted to hear more about this PCP and incredulously wanted to see me do real push-ups (which I did a set of 12 on their patio ~ in flip flops!). During the work week, there is structure and predictability. Weekends ... not so much. So I need to change that. Which leads me to my ...

Third discovery: So knowing I had undereaten this weekend (with two additional activities) due to lack of planning and lack of structure, I went grocery shopping tonight and bought new things I've never bought for myself nor eaten before. The kid and I had a blast picking up vegs and fruit which I will prepare for the week's PCP. Fresh artichokes? Sure! I've never cooked one or eaten one that wasn't already in a pasta or cheesy dip, but heck I can Google how to cook it at home! Fresh bing cherries? Um OK I need another new fruit in the mix so I don't grow tired of the amicable bosc pear. Limes? Lemons? Sure! I need something to flavor that fish, couscous and who know what else. This experience reminded me of something the kid's preschool does, it's called a No Thank-You Bite. Whatever snack or lunch is served, you must try a NTYB before you can get seconds of the stuff you do like. Make sense to me! You've got to keep trying foods you're "sure" you don't like because taste buds change and you've got to keep trying new foods because they might just be your new favorite food.