An update on life

Lately I've been all about tricking myself into eating more produce. I always thought that to lose weight I would have to radically overhaul everything I eat. Nothing would be the same anymore. But lately I've found that that's not true. Instead of completely denying myself some favorites such as mint chocolate chip ice cream I've been searching for substitutions. For that mint chocolate chip ice cream there's a smoothie made with banana, spinach, mint leaves, almond milk and a touch of chocolate. I've swapped a candy dish full of candy for a candy dish full of sweet grapes.

It's not all substitutions though. I've also been working on sneaking more veggies into my dinners and lunches. Mostly into lunches though. I've been filling my slow cooker with vegetables, spices and vegetable broth in the morning. By the time I arrive home in the evenings, my apartment is full of a wonderful warm smell. A quick run through the blender and all the chunks are gone. The vegetables no longer look like vegetables. For the most part I've been dining on the soup for lunch the day after I make it along with a few multi-grain crackers. I've currently got three different options available: two different tomato soups & a carrot apple ginger soup. All are delicious. All are quite healthy. The soups are hearty and filling, warming me up midday. It doesn't hurt that I'm getting way more fresh produce than I would normally. Plus I don't have to worry about the produce rotting before I eat it; I cook it within a few days of purchasing, freeze half the soup and keep the rest in the fridge for easy re-heating.

I feel better than I have in a long time. I've also found myself craving the healthier alternatives more than their unhealthy counterparts. I don't feel like I'm being deprived of any foods. My apartment smells sooo good.

Of course I haven't been an angel all of the time when it comes to my food lately. I did go to the Renaissance festival with some friends on Saturday. We all indulged in beer, desserts and french fries. Terrible, I know. But when it came to dessert time I tried to pick the best of the options. There was funnel cake, chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick and apple dumplings. I went for the dumplings; if nothing else I'll at least get an apple in. That night I reheated some soup. The festival was a blast though. We saw a comedy show, a bit of Hamlet, some jousting and a show about law and order Tudor style. The last one was probably the most fun. We even posed as criminals:

I'm still goin' strong on the no shopping for 30 days. I did hit an unexpected snag: I haven't had time to get laundry money so I'm out of clean clothes within the challenge. I decided to stay true to the spirit of the challenge and refrain from shopping anyways. I have plenty of other clothes to wear. It is difficult though; I really really really want to go shopping. But I'm not going to.

So I guess that's it for my long, rambling post about my life lately. Mostly it's still dominated by clinic but I don't want to talk incessantly about that. I talk about it enough when I'm not blogging so a brief break is always welcome :).