At the beginning of March, Chase and I started the craziest diet I've ever heard of. We did it on a short-term basis due to some specific health concerns, not because we were trying to lose weight. It required us to avoid all sugar and sweeteners of any kind, all simple carbs, all yeast, and all vinegar/fermented foods/molds. It was... difficult. It's called the "Candida Diet" if you're interested in knowing more. And while we were on it (for 13 looooooooooooooong days) we were anything but normal.
Because there were no "junk calories" allowed in the diet, I ate ALL the time. Consequently I cooked ALL the time, consequently I did dishes aaaaaaalllllllll the time. If you're on the Candida Diet, I'm so sorry, and good luck to you. Here's a link to a week's meal plan at our house while we were on the diet: Candida Diet Meal Plan I made double and tripple what recipes called for just so we'd have leftovers, because we ate SO much during those weeks to try not to lose weight and feel full. Here's an example of what lunch might look like:
Baked veggies:
And baked lemon pepper chicken breast pieces with real lemon juice squeezed all over them.
That doesn't look too bad, but I'm telling you, it would've tasted a lot better with a piece of bread on the side or a salad with Ranch or Dorothy Lynch on the side. *sigh* I'm so glad those days are over!
About a week ago, I had a complete and total break down while on the phone with Chase. He was worried something had happened to Lily or me, but in reality, I just couldn't handle it anymore - I felt like I was balancing on a tight rope while juggling a million balls and I just couldn't keep them all in the air.
That night we went to Dairy Queen and blew $25 on all manner of food not permitted on the diet - fried cheese sticks, cheeseburgers with everything on them, fries, pop, huge blizzards... Mmmm! The diet was over - we'll try other options to deal with the health concerns, because sacrificing my mental state for this diet just wasn't worth it in our home. Bless my husband for seeing that, because I would've kept trying but probably have driven us all crazy because of my unstable mental state!
We've been eating "normally" for about a week now, but I'm still adjusting. I don't know what normal is - in the few days after the diet was over I swung so far the other way (carbs and only carbs at every meal, sugar and sweet things all the time) that I now have to find that equilibrium again, that balance that will be our lives henceforth.
And today I'm debating washing my hair again. I haven't washed my hair in the traditional sense since January 31. I've been "no pooing" (learn about it here: No poo FAQ) and it's saved me a ton of money. But I did it because I wasn't happy with my hair and I thought it might make me more happy with it. It did for a while, but now I'm feeling like it's just unnecessary weirdness in my life. All I really want to do is suds up every morning and feel good about it. (*Note* I just reread that No poo FAQ link above, and I think I'll stick with the no poo - I think I need to tweak my recipe...) Plus, my hair weirdness is rubbing off on my daughter:
:) Kidding. I just love that picture of her crazy hair!
Actually, what I really want is for it to come easily, like it does for a rose. A rose is simply beautiful. It doesn't work at it. It doesn't fret over the soil content that is giving it nutrients. It doesn't worry about sun exposure to it's petals or that rain might make its thorns frizz. It owns the inherent beauty that God gave it and it lives, grows, exists in it. It's simple. It's peaceful. It's beautiful. That's what I want. I want to be that kind of normal.
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