Dazed & Confused

I suppose my brain was as much of a meat eater as my mouth. I find myself still thinking about eating meat, although the cravings for it have not been extreme. This weekend, there was a BBQ fest and it was something I wanted to go to for the last few weeks. For whatever reason, my brain still planned on going! Up until yesterday afternoon, I still planned on attending today. Thank God I did not go. I don't think I am strong enough to resist an entire festival of BBQ quite yet! BBQ is my absolute favorite food "group". Well, it was anyways. I am going to have to figure out how to incorporate BBQ sauce into one of these new veggie recipes... maybe on a portebello mushroom burger or eggplant steak?

The number on the scale is going down.. a little bit anyways. 3.4 pounds so far. For my husband as well. He was so happy to see that number change.. he thanked me for finally deciding to eat healthier! I believe it is helping with my PCOS as well.. its still early but I haven't had my monthly visitor in 4 months & there appears to be traces of her this morning!

Yesterday I made something new, something I had never even heard of! Spaghetti Squash! I tossed it with a little bit of pasta sauce, feta cheese, oregano and black olives. It was fantastic! I had my neighbor try it & she really enjoyed it! Even asked for the recipe for that and the portebello mushroom burger I made her last week. I am excited that someone besides my husband and I are enjoying these new recipes as well.  She does not plan on eliminating meat entirely, but said if eating healthy tastes this good then she has no excuse not to eat better!

Thanks for reading -
xo Jenn

Emptiness

I have noticed the last few mornings that when I wake up, I am more hungry then usual for it being first thing in the morning. I figure it may have something to do with my body processing the plant based foods much quicker then the typical western diet I have indulged in for 27 years. It feels good tho. Usually in the mornings I grab a McDonalds McMuffin or McSkillet Burrito on the way to work and that fills me up for the next 5 or 6 hours until lunch. I never really thought that the reason I could eat such a small, grease filled breakfast that fills me up for hours at a time is because I am physically being filled with the grease and fillers that come in the breakfast.

I am hungry a lot more often now. My stomach feels empty more throughout the day then it has ever before but I know my stomach has been stretched out as far as it can possibly go so until my stomach gets smaller, I know I will feel hungry. But honestly, the hunger doesn't bother me. It makes me feel like I am finally on a healthy path. Mind you, I am not starving myself. I am eating a lot more actually. Snaking on carrot sticks, fresh banana and strawberry fruit smoothies, hummus and crackers... I am eating but my body just isn't use to actually processing the food and burning it off in the same day. Usually after a nice juicy steak dinner, with mashed potatoes and a veggie, I instantly go for the ice cream or cookies and milk. Even if I was full from the dinner. I was thinking about dessert while I was eating my meal. Now, my meals are so much smaller in calories and full of nutrients and my deserts are fresh fruit. I don't have that "heavy" feeling after a meal now. I promise you, at least twice a week I would eat such a big helping of dinner and dessert, I would physically feel sick and would have to go straight to the bed because it hurt to move. I don't know why I did that to myself. I am positive I have an eating problem. My mind doesn't know when my belly is full and I just didn't have the self worth to stop it myself.
Its only been 3 days... we are still in the very infancy of this transition. It is easy to do anything for a week so the real test will come next week. Right now, we are embracing the fact the we seem to have more energy, regardless if it is true or we merely perceive it to be true. I enjoy knowing that how I am eating now will have a good effect on my body. And honestly, I just can't wait to see the number on the scale go down, even just a little bit.
I am not doing this just to lose weight... we are making a lifestyle change but I'm not gonna lie, one of the best parts in this is the fact that I should see the weight start to melt off.

I am looking forward for today, for every new day that comes is a day that I can start to repair the damages I have done to my body in the past.

Thanks for reading-
Jenn