Day 20 [42-Day Nutritarian Challenge]

So member that time 3 days ago when I said Food Should Not Be Exalted?

Well, I meant as long as it’s not from Beauty of Sprouts restaurant here in Sarasota. WOW! Haha. Jk. Well, kinda.

See, the point of that is we shouldn’t be obsessing over food. For real. No matter what. Because I think the obsession thing comes from when you’re eating the wrong stuff…and too much of it. I have a super scientific theory that it just does weird stuff to your brain. And so you “need” more and more of it.

Eating Nutritarian at Local Restaurants

But for instance, the meal I had at Beauty of Sprouts the other day was so fabulous. But the coolest part is that I was totally satisfied after; didn’t need any more for hourrrsss…AND I wasn’t like ravenously craving for bad stuff. I thought the meal was so damn delicious that I absolutely adored every bite…but it was satisfying where I didn’t need to have another meal after or whatever.

It totally did the trick and it was super healthy. Go figure!

Being able to go to a restaurant for me is so helpful and keeps me on track because at least once or twice a week someone ELSE cooks for me and I don’t even need to think about it! Love that.

The best part about this place is that it’s mostly raw and vegan. And those types of restaurants almost always are super flexible and understanding about your restrictions, which for me is no oil, no salt. Vegan food can have a lot of that in it, so I just ask for the things on the menu which don’t have those. And Rano, the owner/genius of this restaurant was more than helpful.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m going back this week again. I’m hooked!

So over the weekend I had that meal, plus another meal at a place in St Petersburg that was NOT as no oil/no salt friendly, which did annoy me a lot.

My trick for finding Nutritarian out is just to find a raw vegan restaurant. It’s not easy sometimes, and they often use oil and salt, but sometimes you get lucky and can get something exactly to your specs.

Weird New Recipes

I made a huge salad on Saturday that I’ve been munching on. I came up with a new recipe for salad, which is to make it like normal, but then just eat it rolled up in a rice paper wrap with hummus for dipping…that was actually pretty freaking great. I think I’m going to do that for the rest of the week. Because also they’re fun to make. :-)

Cool thing: Took a bite of one of my salad wraps and could seriously taste the salt in the wrap. That surprised the crap out of me! It was amazing. For one, because I could distinguish something I’d never tasted salt in before, and two because it gave my salad a tiny little kick of salt that make it totally delicious.

Then, because I wanted a sweet treat after, I made up something really weird but totally amazing.

I took a rice paper wrap and rolled up some almond butter and 2 dates. And even though it is so weird (and weird-looking) that I don’t even know how to photograph it yet, I’ll figure out something because it is such a great little dessert!

One of my Tricks

Something I’ve been doing is drinking a bunch of water in the middle of my second meal of the day and it’s helping me eat a sensible amount and keeping me full for quite a while after. Then I can get to about 6 or 7 pm and just have some fruit, which is all I need, and I’ve been so successful this way…and never hungry!

I never ate dinner really all that much before, so this plan is right up my alley.

And in 20 days, I am officially down 7.2 pounds! This is exciting because it’s almost the same weight I got down to when I first started the Nutritarian thing, but now I am doing it in a super healthy way and getting enough variety, so I’m confident that it will be easy to maintain, whenever my body gets to its normal healthy weight.

23 days to go!

Of course, I’m sure I’ll continue this 95% of the time after the challenge, because it’s what I like.

“It’s not called a diet, it’s called healthy eating.”

We went to a French-themed lunch at a friend’s house yesterday and there was quiche, chicken cordon bleu and croissants. This would normally be a white knuckle event for me, French food is my pre-Nutritarian favorite. But I warned them ahead of time that I wouldn’t be partaking, and they made sure to have lots of veggies and fruits for me. It was awesome.

And I especially love friends who are respectful and don’t give you shit for following your own path with food.

But the best part is that I didn’t even crave the food at all. AT ALL. I’m like “WHO AM I?!” It’s incredible. I had a banana in the car on the way over, brought my apple cinnamon smoothie with me to drink, had tons of water when I got there…so I was pretty much full. And then had a full small plate of veggies and fruit. And I couldn’t help but think of that food as just having no nutrition, and then I didn’t even crave it.

Preparation beforehand is so key.

It’s a truly miraculous feeling to know that you are capable of changing from the inside out.

I even ate raw celery with no dip and enjoyed the flavor! WHO HAVE I BECOME?! I love this girl.

Alright, I’ll stop rambling. To our health!

love&health
Cheri