Aw, Nuts! (Day 16)

Dear Diary,

Last night I made the most beautiful gourmet dinner my kitchen has ever seen (shhh...I know that's not saying much, but it's my turn to talk so be quiet and let me gloat a little)....anyway, as I was saying, I made this amazing meal.  I followed Maggie's recipe for "Weekend Raw Tacos" (see Naked Recipes) and they were gorgeous - and so yummy!

I let the girls eat the fillings in corn taco shells (organic from Trader Joe's), knowing I have to be grateful for the baby steps we're taking here.  My oldest just had a turkey sandwich (on whole wheat).  Even before we turned his world upside down and redefined the meaning of "comfort food," tacos (and anything mexican) got to be his No-Thank-You food...in some strange irony, my son (MY son) hates mexican food (weird).  But even he tried a few bites.

So, all the "big" kids tried Raw Tacos.  And all three kept asking for more "crunchies" throughout the meal.  Please note:  I have chosen to focus more on the fact that the kids were chowing down tons of Romaine lettuce than on the fact that they didn't even know what lettuce was called.  ("Crunchies?" Eek!)

I had intended to make Jicama "Spanish Rice" as a side-dish but seeing as I'd already had the jicama porridge for breakfast, I thought it would be better to expose my body to some nutrients found in another vegetable.  So...I decided to make black bean soup.  I had a recipe in my files that I'd never tried before and it was vegetarian and healthy, so why not?  I even soaked the dried beans (instead of using canned the recipe called for).  Pretty impressive, right?  (See, I was feeling very proud of myself.)

Until...until...until...it dawned on me (about halfway through enjoying my dinner) that beans are not vegetables.  They are legumes.  I can't combine legumes with nuts (and those tacos are chockfull of nuts!).  Oh, no, the dreaded miscombine.  How did I do that?!

Nuts.  Nuts.  Nuts.  I blew it.  While the perfectionist in me wants to weep, I'm keeping Natalia's advice in mind:

"Don’t let the hard-core rules of eating mono-meals and keeping different fruit categories separate discourage you. These rules are not important at this stage. Focus on enjoying your meals and improving your food choices."


Enjoying my meals?  Check.  Improving food choices?  Check again.  Okay, not too shabby.  In addition to the obvious nutritional know-how, it seems this experiment is teaching me something else, self-forgiveness.  If I'm going to try to make a huge change and establish a whole new normal - and then report my progress in a very public confessional - I'm just going to have to be okay with goofing up.  A lot.


Tomorrow, maybe I should go back to the Detox Transition Menu and let Natalia hold my hand so I don't have to think too much.  Or maybe not...this experimenting with real food has gotten so darn fun!


That's all for now.
-Beck