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35 Days of the Fruit and Vegetables Challenge

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My recent trip has reminded me that sugar is the big challenge. While traveling I let myself splurge a lot. It wasn’t downing boxes of cookies or gallons of ice cream or anything out of control like that. But, it was eating sugar filled pieces of cake and ultra rich desserts with most of my meals.

Now, I am stuck with the results. Not only did I add a few pounds, but I’m going through the steps of withdrawal again and recognizing how easy it would be to slide back into a sugar filled, processed food reality and destroy all that I’ve worked for.

Sugar withdrawal means being tired, feeling hot flashes, being worn, and getting grumpy and frustrated, needing to just hide away for a bit to recover. It means craving, wanting ice cream or chocolate or whatever sweet option there is. I’m trying to come down with frozen fruits with yogurt and such, but it is what it is and I’ll need to struggle through for a bit again. Maybe someday I will learn, not eat the sugary stuff, and not put myself through this again.

Burnout Politics

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I’ve been an activist and organizer for a long time. I used to say my whole adult life, but I suspect it actually started before that. The first formal action I took part in was in high school. Funding was being cut in our industrial arts and music programs. Almost the whole school walked out. A few kids whose religious beliefs didn’t allow such protest were the only ones left inside.

I’ve had the good fortune to fight the good fight in many ways and many places and to count some good wins along the way. I’ve had some good mentors and made some good friends.

I used to be really involved in political organizing. I was one of the leaders of our local Green Party. I co-chaired the state party. I helped start the national diversity committee. I worked on political campaigns. I facilitated meetings. I did it all and I loved it and believed in it.

But then, I got burned out. I was deep in depression and lost on what to do. I had to walk away.

After years of working on the front lines taking on major corporations, working on campaigns from school board to president it wasn’t the work that beat me down. It wasn’t the losses or some sort of evil conservative whatever. It was my own community, those who see themselves as liberal, or progressive, or even radical who wore me down and forced me to back away. They forced some great and strong people away and the movements struggled.

I share this now because I see the same things happening today. I hear the rantings about Republicans, the self-righteous talk of the evils of conservatism and I know some of the best folks I’ve ever learned from and walked beside would call themselves conservative or Republican. I know these folks as people who’ve worked hard caring for families, serving their communities, seeking the same love that my liberal/progressive/radical friends do, battling the same pains.

I write this in honor of all my friends and mentors who understand. The work we do isn’t about Republican or Democrat or Green or any other political identification. The work we do is about that child seven generations from now who deserves clean water, a safe place to live, healthy food to eat, a community to rely on.

To everyone else I say, drop the labels and reach out in love and healing. It doesn’t mean to deny the horrific actions. It means to recognize the pain and fear behind them. Be part of the healing, not one to tear at the wounds with self-righteousness causing infection. Your insistence that all Republicans or conservatives are evil does nothing other than wear out a lot of hard working, caring people and encourage the building of walls.

34 Days and Counting

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I’m not quite sure about what to say today other than yesterday and today were a bit weak.

Yesterday, I was still on the road with my work field trip. We started with fruit smoothies, a good start for the day. I had a bison wrap for lunch, unusual and tasty. It had veggies, but not a whole lot. Dinner was bison burgers with potato salad and fruit. I opted to believe that the potato salad was made with red and not white potatoes and went ahead for it. I think all total I probably had 4 or cups of fruits and veggies. I had dessert with dinner that was way too much sugar, but a good splurge.

Today started with fruit and yogurt. Lunch was pizza and salad. Dinner was a vegetarian plate at the local Mexican restaurant. All good and probably worth about four cups of veggies again.

Tomorrow, I get back on track. I think I’m going to head to the garden in the morning and see what is all ready. Then it will be time to make some food for the week. It will be good and I’ll be awake again. These past few days and too much sugar has made me sleepy.

Starting Month Two

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I don’t think I quite got my full six cups of fruits and veggies in today, but I wasn’t horribly deficient. It was a rough start with a breakfast of bacon and eggs with the only thing available that had any plant product in it being blueberry muffins which I avoided because I was fairly certain there would be more sugary options in the day and being that I don’t normally eat cane sugar I didn’t want to overwhelm my system.

I did, a bit later in the day, decide to splurge on the snacks being passed around the bus. I took a banana to get some fruit in my system, but also took one of those chewy granola bars with the chocolate chips. I figured, heck I’m on a field trip, why not? Well, the answer to why not is that those things are sweeter than all heck and not really worth it.

Lunch was catered by the Sioux Chef, so quite tasty and with a nice mix of wild turkey, wild rice, and some veggies, along with chips and bean dip, and cookies, I think made with sunflower seeds and maple syrup for dessert.

Dinner tonight was catered at the hotel with a really nice chicken dish and basic vegetable sides, beans, carrots, and potatoes. I opted to not push my allergies with the potatoes, but I did take the risk with the dessert, a chocolate mousse. I can feel my stomach and head just slightly rebelling, but I ‘ll be back on track soon. Apparently tomorrow we start with breakfast at the health food store and we all get smoothies. Hopefully, that will help.

I did well with my water intake today though.

1 Month In

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Excellent! I have succeeded in making it through the first month of the challenge. I only missed a few days of writing. I’ve met my goal of 6-9 cups of vegetables and fruits most days and I’ve successfully added in increasing my water intake. I’ve not done so hot with the addition of not eating out, but I’m okay with that. It may come as I can continue to improve my overall diet and health.

Yesterday, I was questioning how successful I would be with my goals while on this work trip visiting and learning about Dakota communities in Minnesota. Day one has been filled with fabulous diet choices. I started the day at home with a bit extra in my breakfast smoothie– greens, carrots, apple, rhubarb, and papaya for a total of about four cups of fruits and veggies. I wanted to pack it in at breakfast in case there weren’t many other options later in the day.

I was happily surprised with a homemade lunch that included a traditional Dakota corn soup. I think it is called Wohnapi. We also had a wild rice dish with vegetables and a cucumber salad. Then for dinner was a Mexican buffet, so plenty of beans and other vegetables there. Afterwards we had another event with snacks including raw fruits and vegetables. I didn’t measure things, but I think I may have hit nine cups again today! I wonder what tomorrow might bring?

30 Days Already

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Wow! I think I may have had over 9 cups of fruits and vegetables today! Much of it was thanks to good smoothie this morning. It was made with salad greens, rhubarb, apples, banana, papaya, and kiwi. It accounted for 4 cups of my goal.

Lunch was a chicken thigh with fresh green beans and carrots with a bit of hummus. For dinner I had the remainder of my leftover walleye and vegetable stir-fry. I was still hungry so I had a chicken thigh too. Dessert was berries with banana and plain yogurt.

All were quite tasty. I was in need of chocolate today too, so two organic mint chocolate patties with honey filling. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Tomorrow begins a different aspect of the challenge. I’ll be traveling for work with a group for the next few days. Eating group meals is challenging. It seems our society doesn’t value fruits and vegetables too much. There is often iceberg lettuce with minimal nutritional value, overcooked something or other which just isn’t appealing, and white potatoes which I’m allergic to. But, it’s just a few days and I’ll be able to find something. It may not be nine cups of organic goodness, but it will be something and it will be good.

29 Days In

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I did well today. I think I was actually over 7 cups of fruits and vegetables today, though I admit I didn’t measure the peas and other snacks as I picked them from the garden this afternoon.

The big plus today was having leftovers from yesterday to have for lunch, some walleye and mixed vegetables that I’d stir-fried yesterday. It was just one of those things that I could throw together without a recipe and with a whole lot of hope. I like to do that, to say to myself “hmm.. this looks good. This looks good too. I wonder what they’d be like together?” and just throw things together and see what happens. It’s almost always a good thing.

Though it does bring back a memory of being a camp counselor back in the 90’s. Some of my campers and I were in a cabin and the campers decided to make me a cake. They were young teenagers, so I wasn’t too afraid of them taking over the kitchen. They had a couple girls keep watch over me while the rest made my surprise dessert. I think we tried to eat it, but ultimately showed it to the camp director, offered that it could be used as a doorstop, then threw it out. It was a great deal of fun. However, they’d somehow managed to make a cake that must have weighed over 5 lbs! But, generally throwing things together results in much tastier surprises.

Tonight I roasted some chicken with some freshly picked squash and a onion. It was also delicious. And, there’s enough left for another two or three meals if I add another vegetable side. So, I don’t need to cook at all tomorrow. After that I have some work travel and will be fed. So, no more cooking until the weekend. If I can find fruits and vegetables on my work trip, I will do great. There’s my challenge for the week. But, for now I will simply celebrate the day and be thankful that there’s plenty of good healthy food ready for tomorrow.

27 Days

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Well, I spent a good chunk of my day at an art show and followed that with another county fair. Neither of these places offered a lot of healthy options for eating. The thing I noticed though was that my diet changes in the last few years and the challenge got me to look for the healthy options and not just go mindlessly to the deep fried cheese curds and kettle corn.

At the art show I found a pretty tasty bacon-chicken ranch wrap with lettuce and tomato. So, I wasn’t completely vegetable deficient there. At the fair I opted to just keep walking. There just weren’t appealing options that had much nutritional value. I wound up getting pizza later.

So, I didn’t quite hit my six cups today. I think I was between 3 and 4. I did, however, get quite a bit of outdoor time and plenty of water. So, some things were good and healthy, some not so much. Still, I feel good. Right now I feel sleepy too. So good night to all!

Day 25 of the Fruits and Veggies Challenge

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I bought two pounds of green beans at the farmers’ market today. That’s a lot of green beans. It’s been a hot summer and I’ve realized that sometimes the best meals are the simplest meals. I’ve been doing a lot of lunches that are simply carrots, beans, cauliflower, or broccoli and hummus with maybe some summer sausage and cheese for added calories. It’s been good to fill myself with such simplicity and lightness.

How we fill our bodies is reflected in our being. It’s easy to put in the heavy, the rich, the sweet. But, eventually our bodies and our spirits wear down. We put in the light, the savory, the healthy and our bodies and spirits lighten. It takes a while. It’s taken a long time to do the damage we’ve done to our bodies. It’s not realistic to expect change overnight.

My weight went down a little in the last few weeks and it went back up. So, I’m about where I started right now weight wise. I’ll blame that largely on two things. The first was a five day conference with tons of bad for me food and not a lot of healthy fruits and vegetables. The second was that I just started to work on re-hydrating my body. I know that I have a history with dehydration. I also know that the doctor saw that I was dehydrated again when I went in a few days ago.

I’ve read that water can both help in weight loss and cause weight fluctuation. I’m confident that if I keep taking in a healthy amount of water and get out of my pattern of repeated dehydration that it will help me keep at a healthy weight and just help me keep healthy overall. I’ve read different accounts on how much I should drink. It’s somewhere between 1/2 and 1 gallon a day. Today, I think I hit 1 gallon. I feel pretty good.

I did well with my fruits and veggies too. It was a day with mixed berries and bananas, green beans, carrots and hummus, and some currants too. All totaled I took in about six cups of veggies and fruits today.

I also, for the second day in a row, found myself using some walks as a sort of meditation. I walk to work, walk my dog, and walk just about everywhere I go in town so I can often spend more than hour a day walking. The last two days, on some shorter walks I just repeated to myself some words of prayer, nothing profound or complicated. It was a little different each time and changed as I needed it too, but basically just saying something like “peace, patience, gratitude, guidance.” It helped me focus myself and slow my being. It was good. I wonder if these last 25 days of improved eating have helped me get to this place of being ready to meditate again?

The 24th Day

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I got myself to enter my food into my food journal. That’s the victory for today. I wanted to just forget about it. It just didn’t interest me today. But, I did it and I looked at my history of results briefly. I’m doing pretty good eating the way I should.

There are some things that aren’t great yet. I could use more iron and still less sugar. I was thinking just now that it would be interesting to look at my eating habits from a few years ago and how my nutrition has changed. I took some of my typical foods from three or more years ago and created a fake day on my food tracker. I started with some frosted mini-wheats for breakfast, Jimmy John’s for lunch, and spaghetti with marina sauce for dinner. I then looked at sugars, carbs, and overall calories in comparison to my average today.

Calories were about 200-300 higher than what I would have on high calorie day today, up to 700 higher than some days. Back then a day like the one I described would give me about 340 grams of carbohydrates and 150 of sugar.

Now, I’m usually below 200 grams of carbohydrates. Sugars generally stay between 50 and 100 though I can definitely get below 50 grams sometimes.

That’s something really powerful for me to see. I made a major change in my life and have stuck with it. I can only imagine how obese and unhealthy I would be if I hadn’t taken that leap. Instead, my health has gotten much better and while I could still lose a few pounds I just hit the overweight category and am no longer medically considered obese. I can actually look at myself in the mirror and say “doing pretty good.”

I ate out today. I had a California burger with some sweet potato fries and orange pop. That’s not a particularly healthy meal at all, but I still feel okay about it. Most of the time I am eating right. I am building my body, getting my fruits and veggies. I look back at what I used to eat and so much came out of a box or bag or can. It wasn’t real. I feel good about being able to recognize my food as food.

That’s what I would encourage others to do too. Care for your body like it is precious because it is. Feed yourself the best, real food and treat yourself gently.