Lessons Learned

It's been two weeks since we ended our 10 Day Real Food Challenge. I gotta say, I both miss it and couldn't be happier that cream cheese is back on the table.

So I've had a few weeks to think about the good, the bad, and what happens next.

First the good news:

-We actually completed the Challenge! I'm surprised I followed through til the end (will power is not a personal strength). With one minor Charlie slip up (for which he is still feels badly), we all made it through the 10 Days without cheating. Victory!

-My shorties learned to eat eggs! This might not sound like a big deal, but when they won't eat eggs, it severely limits our protein options (since lunch meat is a no-go...my own hang up), and we try to limit red meat consumption to once or twice a week.

-I admitted my addiction to sugar and all things chocolate. This is the first step to recovery.

-After our sugar-detox, myself and the rest of the fam stopped asking for dessert, which had become a little habitual around these parts. Again, not sure if the kids truly didn't crave dessert at every meal anymore or if I simply broke their little spirits. In either case, I'll take it and call it progress.

-There was minimal complaining about the little conveniences that we could not have: ketchup to dip, Goldfish to snack on, fast food, etc.

-Looking back at the goals I hoped to accomplish by doing this challenge, we hit it out of the park.

A1.) I hope that my husband still likes me.
He claims he does.

B2.) I hope I still like my kids and they still like me.
I do. They do. Kids have short memories.

C3.) I hope I am more mindful of the food I put in my body and the food I give my family.
Wowza. Definitely accomplished.

D4.) I hope my kids will understand better what is real food and what is not.
They absolutely have a better understanding. Now Charlie says "This marshmallow is not real food," before devouring it.

E5.) I hope we will eat more real food and less processed food from day 11 forward.
Hmmm...jury is still out on this one. I can say that we are eating better today than we were a month ago, but we are FAR from exemplary real foodies.

F6.) I wouldn't mind shedding a pound or two for all this effort...
Not that I was trying (I fully embraced the full-fat dairy products), but I did lose a couple pounds. Literally. Two. Not exactly the biggest loser, but that wasn't really what I set out to do, so it was a nice byproduct of the effort.

Now for the bad news:

-Slipping back into our old ways is WAY to easy. See exhibit A:

Can't make it through a road trip without a pound of Twizzlers.

-Eating real food takes a lot of work. I think it will become easier as I develop a repertoire of dishes that I can make quickly, but the time investment right now is huge. Is it worth it? Largely, I think the answer is yes, but I don't think it's something I can commit to or even want to commit to 100% of the time. It's a matter of making choices between real food and convenient food and deciding when compromises for convenience are worth it.

-As self-control and will power are not personal strengths, I have struggled mightily since finishing the challenge. Eating real food is pretty easy for meals, but I "supplement" meals with WAY too much chocolate and desserts.

-I feel like I've opened a Pandora's Box with this real food thing. The more I read about food the more I think I shouldn't be eating ANYTHING. The additives and GMOs in conventional food are downright scary. But even if you go all-organic (and wear the requisite Birkenstock sandals), there are questions about whether we should be eating certain things at all. Should we go gluten free? Vegetarian? Vegan? Paleo? The questions are endless and they make my head hurt.

Which leads me to the question of what's next...

After quite a bit of thought and obsessing reflection, going forward we are going to try to eat only real food at home. We are going to try not to eat fast food. We are NOT going to obsess about real food when we are visiting friends or family or vacationing.

Basically it boils down to this: we are going to try to make the best food choice given the situation.

Will Hungry Howie's phone number remain in my cell phone contacts? Yes.

Will we stock Cheetos in the pantry? Probably not.

Will I stuff my face with Cheetos if they happen to appear at a neighborhood gathering (hint, hint, hint....)? I just might.

Day 11

By noon today I had at least half a dozen texts and emails wondering what we ate for breakfast this morning.

Cap'n Crunch (with Crunch Berries) and Kool-Aid.

Crunch Berries, blueberries, strawberries—they're all in the same family.

No? Not buying it?

Ok, we had oatmeal with the usual bling and sausage (not local, but otherwise Real Food-approved).

No one argued with this Day 11 breakfast.

LUNCH: I asked Kyle what he was going to have for lunch today. "McDonald's." Seriously? "Yes, I want a salad from McDonald's." He said it in that voice where I knew talking him out of it was probably not a good idea. As seriously as he took the 10 Day Real Food Challenge, he clearly was taking Day 11 of NOT being on the Real Food Challenge equally as seriously. Breathe, Alison...

Charlie's lunch was all Real Food-approved with the exception of the store-bought Pepperidge Farm whole wheat sandwich bread. I was all out of real bread and didn't have anything else on hand to put his tuna fish on. He also got a smoothie (in the blue tube) with yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, and yogurt, a few whole wheat blueberries muffins and some cherry tomatoes from our neighbor's garden.

Sophie and I had a similar lunch to Charlie's.

I didn't fall off the wagon until about 3:30 p.m. I heard the chocolate calling to me and I had to answer.

crime scene photo

I'm not gonna lie. It tasted good. Really, really good.

But then I felt sick to my stomach for the rest of the day. I honestly don't think it was just eating the chocolate that made me feel sick, I think it was eating 10 days worth of chocolate in one sitting. Whatever the case, it was such a letdown. I had been so looking forward to indulging, and now all I wanted to do was lay in the fetal position on the floor and fall asleep....but I couldn't because I HAD TO MAKE DINNER!!

After I admitted my fall off of the Real Food wagon (pulled by horses fed only organic hay) Kyle (still high on his McDonald's salad) talked me into just completely giving up and ordering pizza for dinner.

This proved to be an even worse decision than the chocolate binge. The fact that we had fresh green beans and cantaloupe with the pizza didn't do anything to offset how truly gross I felt after dinner.

I had promised everyone a trip to get ice cream at Captain Sundae (because who doesn't want to eat a sundae called "Pirate's Booty?"), and I had to follow through with that. Charlie had clearly been thinking about what he was going to order for the last 10 days, because there was NO hesitation—Superman ice cream with a cherry on top. Sophie requested chocolate/vanilla twist, no cherry. Kyle had a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup flurry. I passed, still suffering from chocolate hangover.

She licked the bowl clean.

Yes, his teeth are blue from the ice cream...I'm sure it's natural coloring....

This whole day was just a huge bummer. I really was excited about eating some things I had missed. But the chocolate and the pizza were not even close to as satisfying as I thought they would be. Sure, they tasted good (maybe even great in the case of the chocolate), but not good enough to justify how truly bad I felt physically.

During the 10-Day Real Food Challenge, I really expected to somehow feel better physically, to have more energy, not have energy highs and lows during the day. I kept waiting for this magical feeling of Real Food Wonder to wash over me, but it never came. Then I ate junk on Day 11 and I felt like junk. I didn't necessarily feel bad going into this, so it's not surprising that I didn't feel "better" during the challenge. But I think that my body gradually adjusted to less sugar and junk over the 10 days and then when I reintroduced junk into my system, my body showed its displeasure by making me feel awful.

I have a number of observations, thoughts, ideas, rants, and plans for the future that I need to pull together over the next few days. Friends and family have been sharing ideas with me and asking questions I want to continue to address in this space.

Stayed tuned...Real Food Reese Style ain't over yet.

Real Food: Day 10

You know in the movie Shawshank Redemption where Brooks gets paroled and he doesn't know what to do with himself given all the freedom on the outside? In a weird way wished he wished he was back in prison.

I feel like Brooks. Not in the convicted-felon sort of way, but in the I-don't-know-what-I'm-going-to-do sort of way. The 10 Day Real Food Challenge rules were rough at times, but they were rigid and clear, and while preparing food this way may take a bit more work, real food is a simpler way of eating. There is something liberating about eliminating entire aisles of choices at the grocery store.

Ok, enough about feelings. Let's get to the food.

BREAKFAST: Oatmeal, cinnamon, honey, bananas, and raisins. Sophie had seconds. OJ for the kids. Cappuccino for the mama.

I had a cup of oatmeal leftover, so I made another batch of whole wheat oatmeal and blueberry muffins. The batch I made last week was snarfed down in less than 48 hours. Again, the only substitutions I made to this recipe were to substitute coconut oil for canola oil and use ALL whole wheat flour instead of just part.

Also had a pound of grass fed beef from Lubbers Farm I had thawed Sunday night when I thought I was going to make tacos and then decided to slack off and just do leftovers. I needed to use the beef, so I made some meatballs since they are quick and freeze well.

'Cept I couldn't use my usual meatballs-in-a-flash recipe. It calls for a packet of the Lipton dry onion soup mix (don't act like you never use it). With the magic of Google I found an easy homemade dry onion soup mix recipe. I can add those Lipton packets to the list of Things I Will Never Buy Again. I left off the sugar from this recipe and I didn't have celery seed, so I substituted garlic powder.

The resulting meatballs got Kyle's seal of approval. That's akin to earning a Michelin Star.

So for those keeping score at home, the recipe for the meatballs goes like this:

1 lb. grass-fed ground beef
1 "packet" homemade onion soup mix (sans sugar)
1 egg
a handful of whole wheat breadcrumbs
a splash of milk
salt and pepper to taste

*bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

SNACK: I pounded about five mini blueberry muffins (and I wonder why they disappear). Sophie made me proud today. She went for a walk with her cousins to the bakery downtown. Our nanny Jill had packed a blueberry muffin for her, knowing she would be hungry but couldn't have anything at the bakery. Apparently Sophie gazed longingly at the cases of donuts and cookies, but NEVER ASKED FOR ANYTHING. I couldn't have done that. She happily ate her muffin and went on her way. As a three-year-old she already has more self-control than I do in my 30s.

LUNCH: Charlie had a banana pancake and almond butter sandwich (yes, it was as good as it sounds), a couple clementines, some cherry tomatoes, apricots, and raisins.

Lunchbox came home bare.

Soph had much the same lunch as Charlie, but Jill shared some baked Feta with her. Sophie gave it rave reviews: "I just love squishing it between my lip and my tongue!"

My little cheese lover.

Kyle's lunch was a challenge. Out of bread. Out of leftovers. I decided to help him power through the last day of the Challenge by making him some tuna fish salad. I was in a hurry, so nothing spectacular, just tuna, mayo, and mustard. I usually include pickle relish, but that was off limits. No bread, so he packed some Triscuits to put the tuna on. Took a couple bananas and a couple clementines and he was off.

Kyle says he wants to start an "Unreal Food Challenge" after today.

Tuna is usually considered a frugal meal. Not when you are using this mayo.

The rainbow on the label didn't make me feel any better about selling my kidney to pay for a jar of mayo.

See, I always thought the Hellmann's I used was REAL mayo. Strike. Thought about making my own, but from what I've seen on Top Chef it looks to labor intensive for me. So I bit the bullet and bought this at Harvest Health Foods last week. I'm too embarrassed to admit how much I paid for it, but let's just say that it's more than I would have paid for an entire tuna fish lunch...for our whole family...at Panera Bread.

I had some leftover whitefish from last night's dinner. I just ate it cold with some leftover fresh salsa and is was quite tasty.

SNACK: Narrowly avoided another food-related Charlie meltdown after school. It was ANOTHER kid's birthday and Charlie brought home a Blow Pop.

The minute he walked in the door he was begging to eat it. I reminded him about the Challenge.

Charlie: "Can I just save it til day 11?"

Me: "How about you trade me the sucker for a chocolate power ball?"

Charlie: "How about I keep the sucker for day 11 and eat the power ball today?"

Me: "How about you stop trying to work the system?"

Without too much of a fight he caved and took the power ball. I threw away the sucker.

Charlie (with alarm): "But isn't that wasting?"

Me: "No."

DINNER: Can't get enough caprese salad this time of year, so I made some more tonight. Charlie even got into it tonight.

Marinated some boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I'm a dark meat kinda girl) in a completely made up sauce. Seriously, just threw the following ingredients in a bowl: EVOO, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, S&P, oregano, basil, Parmesan cheese, and juice from a couple of clementines. Grilled the thighs and everyone thought they were pretty tasty. Made some more sweet potatoe fries, cut up a cantaloupe, and steamed some broccoli. It was a great summer dinner.

The Last Supper

OBSERVATIONS:

It's 10:57 p.m. and I want to stay up another to see if Kyle follows through with his talk about ordering a pizza at midnight.

I've learned so much from doing this 10 Day Real Food Challenge. But right now I'm so tired from preparing all this real food, that I just want to go to bed.

Real Food: Day 9

Cheater, cheater, Jell-O eater.

Don't let the innocent smile fool you.

Team Reese made it through eight an a half days of the 10 Day Real Food Challenge without any cheating. Then Charlie fell off the wagon.

"How was school today, Charlie?"

"Great! It was someone's birthday and we had...uh oh...I think I broke the rules."

Poor kid. He felt legitimately bad (or at least faked it really well) about eating the Jell-O his classmate brought in for a birthday treat today.

"I'm so sorry, Mom. I just completely forgot about the Real Food thing. Do I still get to go to Captain Sundae since I didn't complete the Challenge?"

Ahhh...that's where all the remorse is coming from—fear of sitting out the family trip to Captain Sundae I promised everyone on Day 11 if we all successfully complete the Challenge. I thought about letting him sweat it for a bit, but he's too cute and earnest. He was already on the verge of tears. Get back on the wagon, and you still get Captain Sundae.

Poor planning made the rest of the day a bit challenging, but we made it. We're on the homestretch now!

BREAKFAST: I can't tell you how much I love the stockpile of frozen whole wheat pumpkin and banana pancakes I have. Doused with maple syrup from the Holland Farmer's Market, they were a tasty treat this morning. I think they are sweet enough that they don't even need maple syrup.

Stacked.

SNACK: Sophie's cousin invited her over for a tea party at snack time this morning. Girl was PUMPED. As I've mentioned, our beloved nanny, Jill, is also doing the 10 Day Challenge. She easily defused a potential toddler meltdown over the tea party menu: hot cocoa (it was unseasonably cold and rainy today) and cookies. For Sophie, Jill brought along some mini whole wheat banana muffins and made her some Real Food approved hot cocoa: milk, unsweetened cocoa powder, and honey. Soph didn't have any issues with the substitutes. Gotta say, this is nothing shy of a miracle.

Tea partying it up, cousin-style.

LUNCH: Charlie called dibs on the leftover salmon patty from dinner last night. Also gave him a couple leftover pancakes from breakfast (sans syrup), a whole wheat Wasa cracker with almond butter, some raisins and dried apricots, and a peach.

Kyle took some caprese salad, a vat of fresh salsa, a dollop of guacamole, a few apricots and some blue corn tortilla chips.

I would feel a little out of place if I were the apricots.

Tastes so much better than it looks. I swear.

Sophie had a brown rice cake with almond butter, bananas, and raisins and some homemade plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon.

Banana-heavy lunch on banana plate.

I didn't have time to make anything grand today, so I had a quick and easy bowl of homemade yogurt and granola.

We meet again, my old friend.

Oliver had sweet potatoes.

"Real food is easy...I don't know what you guys are whining about."

DINNER: I wasn't prepared today. I was fresh out of potatoes, couscous, bread—pretty much every starch. Also needed a quick-cooking fish. Given what I know now, eating nothing but wheat germ for dinner would have been better than what I chose to do—go to Meijer at 4pm with three tired and hungry kids. When will I learn?

We ended up with a simple but decent dinner: corn and beans from Visser Farms CSA, sweet potato fries, wild-caught whitefish baked in orange juice, and a plate of peaches and plums.

Ready in 30 minutes. Eat it, Rachel Ray.

Random summer fruit.

The shorties were still hungry, so they each had a bowl of yogurt for dessert—Charlie with jam, Sophie with "crunchies."

Dueling yogurt bowls.

A sweet clementine was enough for my after-dinner snack. Oh, how times have changed from my after-dinner-Dove-dark-chocolate-binge days.

Oh, my darlin'...

OBSERVATIONS:

-There are piles of laundry in my house taller than Charlie. Real Food takes a lot of time...leaving less for pretty much everything else around the house.

-I am excited that there is light at the end of the 10 Day Challenge tunnel, but I'm a little sad it's almost over (seriously?). What happens next?

-At the fish counter at the grocery today, I chose wild-caught fish or farm-raised fish. I have never done this before. I'm cheap. But I had about 10 minutes to stand there and think about (excruciatingly slow fish counter girl). I eat free-range eggs, grass-fed beef, organic chicken...wild-caught fish only makes sense. Let's not talk about how much it cost.

Real Food: Day 8

Today I felt like a complete Real Food slacker.

I just wasn't feeling a tremendous amount of inspiration to cook. Nor did I have much time. Out-of-town friend visiting with her adorable baby took precedent.

But it's kind of comforting to know I can be just as good of a slacker in Real Food as I am in fake food.

BREAKFAST: Oatmeal, OJ, and cantalou.

How do my kids not get sick of oatmeal?

You might be thinking to yourself, "Aren't you sick of this yet?"

Yes. I am.

So I had homemade granola and yogurt with a cappuccino.

Oatmeal and I needed to spend some time apart. Yet I still ended up eating oats.

LUNCH: I was in a hurry, so I grabbed a bunch of leftovers and set them out family style. Leftover grilled cheese and PB&J sammies, leftover spaghetti, fresh cherry tomatoes, peaches, cherries, and the last of the popcorn.

I admit, this was a stretch.

DINNER: I planned on making tacos tonight. Like I said. I slacked. Just couldn't pull it together. So instead we had leftover salmon patties last night. I also roasted the rest of the russet potatoes from our Visser Farms CSA and cooked some frozen peas.

Sophie was pleased with dinner.

Some friends gave us these beautiful heirloom tomatoes from their garden.

Beautiful.

The Real Food stars were aligned because I happened to have some fresh mozzarella on hand and a mess of basil I've been growing in our backyard. Topped it with some EVOO, balsamic vinegar and S&P and this caprese salad tasted like summer. I could have taken down the entire plate by myself.

Come to mama.

OBSERVATIONS:

Real Food leftovers taste better than our normal leftovers (frozen pizza, Kraft mac and cheese, etc.).

I don't waste as much food during this challenge as I usually do. I don't know if it's that I know the obscene prices I paid for some things or because I know the equally obscene amount of time I spent preparing other things, but I feel like a Depression-era mother saving sandwiches with a bite taken out of them.

The shorties don't whine for dessert or treats as much as they did at the beginning of the Challenge. They don't expect dessert every day. I really hope this change sticks...but I'm not holding my breath.

Real Food: Day 7

I'm playing with fire today.

Spending the afternoon out on a hike and I haven't planned what we are having for dinner. I like to live on the edge.

Planning and organization are not my strong suits, which is one reason this Challenge has been good for me. I can't just order a pizza at 5:30 when I realize I haven't thought about dinner, so I've had to plan ahead.

Except for today.

Today we are explorers.

"I think we go this way..."

We've been wanting to take the smallies on a hike, and today's weather was perfect for a walk (which is good since we were going to do this today even if it was hailing grapefruit).

"See that bear, kids?"

But before explorers go looking for monsters in the woods, they need to eat.

BREAKFAST: I mentioned earlier this week that my kids had never eaten eggs before this Challenge. If this was the only victory won from this Challenge, I would be satisfied. It drove me CRAZY that they wouldn't eat eggs for breakfast. So now that they will, I'm jumping on it. Oatmeal and eggs for breakfast.

I threw in some leftover salsa from last night's dinner for Kyle and I. Add some OJ and a cappuccino and it was a tasty meal.

I had seconds.

LUNCH: Threw together a quick lunch since we were heading out. Almond butter and jam on homemade whole wheat bread, lots o' grapes and popcorn.

SNACK: Packed some grapes, mini banana muffins, and water for a snack on our hike. Sophie called it "explorer food." But to her disappointment, it didn't help us catch any monsters.

Such an outdoorsman.

DINNER: I figured we could scrape together a dinner out of leftovers, but we were all STARVING from hiking all afternoon (note: we were only supposed to be hiking for an hour...but a few wrong turns nearly tripled our route...). I decided to throw together some salmon patties and roast some potatoes we had in our Visser Farms CSA box this week. Cut up a cantaloupe and steamed some beans from our CSA box and dinner was served.

My usual salmon patties recipe goes like this: can of wild Alaskan salmon, Progresso Italian bread crumbs, egg, pepper, maybe a little Parmesan cheese, so everything worked except the breadcrumbs. Replaced the Progresso breadcrumbs with some I had made and froze. Added some garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley flakes for seasoning. Tasted just like my old salmon patties. Except they were 100%  real! Nothing else in the dinner needed substitutions. I always roast potatoes in EVOO, salt, and pepper. Always steam beans and finish them with EVOO, salt, and pepper.

The kids needed a little coaxing to finish the beans and potatoes tonight, so I decided to provide some incentive.

Mmmmm....

It worked.

Just sliced a mini banana muffin in thirds horizontally. layered muffin, banana slices, and honey, and no one could resist the leaning tower of deliciousness.

After dinner I needed a little pick-me-up, so I made another batch of the chocolate torte bombs.

Ate them right off the tray.

Hit. The. Spot.

OBSERVATIONS: I am tired. Not just from hiking way longer than I intended. Evenings when I would normally dial up dinner instead of making it are tough. First world problem, I know.

Part of the trick to making this Real Food thing work long-term is developing a repertoire of go-to dishes. I'm not there yet. Still just trying to keep my head above water.

Real Food: Day 6

Days like today make me think this Real Food thing could actually work...as in for good...long-term...foreva'.

Do you hear that sound? It's my husband crying.

So we might not be strict Real Foodies after the 10 days are over, but there are absolutely some major changes that will stick. More on that in another post.

BREAKFAST: It was a rainy day and warm oatmeal with honey, cinnamon, raisins, and bananas hit the spot. The smallies had some grapes and OJ as well. Coffee for Kyle. Cappuccino for me.

Breakfast of champions.

SNACK: I find it interesting that the last few times I made these whole wheat blueberry and oatmeal muffins, the kiddos didn't like them. This time, they can't stuff the little muffins in their mouths fast enough. I think maybe their palates have adjusted to a less-sweetened diet...or maybe they are just desperate. Whatever the reason, the batch of muffins from yesterday is almost gone.

muffin monster.

LUNCH: Kyle packed leftover chicken nuggs, grapes, blueberry muffins, and homemade honey mustard dipping sauce. I think he also grabbed a couple of bananas for back up.

Charlie was home from school today, so we all ate the same lunch: chicken nuggs, cantaloupe, and a whole wheat Wasa cracker with PB and raisins. The kids balked at the honey mustard today, so they are theirs nuggs nekkid.

Gone in 60 seconds.

We killed the first batch of homemade peanut butter at lunch, so I decided to make more. I get a little nervous and panicky when we don't have PB in the house. I grabbed a jar of dry roasted peanuts out of the pantry (different brand than the first time around). I just double checked the ingredient list before I dumped them in the food processor to make sure we were all good...but we weren't all good. Sigh.

Peanuts, salt, matodextrin, and cornstarch. What?! Why do they have to go messin' up peanuts? Why can't they just stop after peanuts and salt?

Above-mentioned panic started to set in as I thought about my empty peanut butter jar. I ransacked the pantry for more peanut option. I found a jar of honey-roasted peanuts. Way worse. I decided to punt and try something new for me: almond butter. I have bags and bags of raw and roasted almonds in the freezer for granola-makin' purposes. The only ingredient is almonds. Nice.

I love that there was a warning on the back that "this package contains nuts." Just in case you weren't sure by looking at the back of almonds...

I remembered reading on some peanut butter makin' blogs that the process is virtually the same for making any nut butter. Put nuts in food processor. Add other flava' (honey, cinnamon, cayenne, etc). Process for 5 minutes. Done.

But after five minutes, my almonds looked like a big hard clump of nothing. I checked with the interwebz and found that almonds take up to 18 minutes to break down to a spreadable consistency. Crisis averted.

Warm, almondy yumminess.

 In case you are wondering (and you know you were), I think almond butter has a depth of flavor that blows peanut butter out of the water.

So glad we were out of peanuts.

DINNER: Kyle and I had dinner with some friends tonight, so the kids ate separately. They had grilled cheese with Little Rooster whole-wheat bread and provolone. Threw in the rest of the cantaloupe from lunch too. I get cranky when the kids haven't eaten a green vegetable all day (don't judge), so I made our usual snack time smoothies and doubled down on the spinach.

Dinner with friends was a pitch in. I brought fresh salsa, guacamole, and tortilla chips.

nom, nom, nom, nom...

For the salsa, I used tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and jalapenos from our Visser Farms CSA. Also used some canned corn, black beans, EVOO, red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, and S&P. The recipe was a friend's, which is always a hit. No different this time around.

fresh summer salsa

Like I've said before, I don't expect ANYONE to go out of their way to make something special for us if we are eating with others. Lucky for us, one of our friends was nice enough to make the taco beef with local, grass-fed beef from Lubbers Farms, and seasoned it with a homemade spice mix instead of the store-bought packets. She also shredded some cheese and used regular sour cream and fresh cherry tomatoes from her garden, so we had some fully loaded tortilla chips. Dessert was off-limits too, but the pain of that was eased by having another drink.

OBSERVATIONS: I didn't feel as deprived today. (Wow, did that sounds snotty or what?!) I mean that my tastes have finally adjusted a little bit and I don't have the junk cravings I have for the last five days.

I don't, however, feel markedly different physically. No increased energy, not feeling "cleansed," not feeling like a super-hero. Not feeling any different than I did six days ago. But then again, I wasn't feeling bad to begin with. I have still have been sort of waiting for this magical feeling of health and superpower to come over me. Still waiting...