Day 14 - A Little Goes a Long Way

I awoke this morning with a plan for a day of driving... I drove non stop, mostly, from 8am to 5:30pm, with a couple of short breaks to stretch my legs and visit a restroom. It is Spring Break, and having family live about 7 hours away makes for a bit of a haul when my daughter goes for the week. However, they take pity on me and meet me halfway.

We stopped at a truckstop for breakfast on the way, and it was able to meet my needs... a small cup of oatmeal, some raisins, a cup of melon, and 1 egg over medium. I opened my meal with a teapot full of hot water and lemon wedges. The perfect beverage for a nice detox. For lunch, it was a little more difficult... the only thing in that area that even came CLOSE to fresh was a Subway, and not a good one at that. I had a salad. No spinach, as most have, but rather the only greens was a container of sad-looking shredded iceberg lettuce, which is the equivalent of crunchy water, and crunchy if you're lucky. (Maybe I got a little fiber from it... I can hope!) Thinly sliced, out of season tomato, some green pepper, black olives, THIN cukes slices, (and a tiny fella THAT one was!) some banana peppers, (for a slight kick!) a sparse sprinkling of parmesan cheese, (didn't want to risk if it was real...UGH!) and a drizzle of vinegar & oil. I believe the sandwich artist was counting pieces of whatever I asked for... VERY reluctant to add to that plastic black bowl. Let's just say that halfway through my consumation, the only thing left was the wilted lettuce.

I think that salad gave me the finger, if I'm not mistaken. I was hungry again 20 minutes later.

On my way home, I stopped at (oh good grief, dare I say it....) of all places.... a K-Mart just outside of St. Louis. I know, I know... NOT the place to go for anything healthy, so I didn't expect much. And I wasn't let down in my expectations... I stopped there for a) a bag of nuts & seeds trail mix, (if you can imagine, some of those bags actually contain NO preservatives! Only nuts & seeds!) and b) a MUCH-needed bathroom since 90 minutes earlier I had ingested so much fibrous water from my sad salad! I found the bathroom easily enough, (thank goodness for paper seat liners... what on EARTH goes through peoples' minds when they go in there? How badly do you have to go to break down 3 or the 4 doors???) but the trail mix was a different story. What an odd set-up that store was!! Jaclyn Smith would have pulled her sweater and bedding sets imMEDiately if she'd seen that place!

So, after the jaunt through the jungle that was K-Mart, I sat in my vehicle, ripped open the bag, (I was REALLY hungry, and I'm not ashamed to say it, but feeling a little dizzy as well...) and thrust my hand into the nut mix, throwing it into my mouth. It was HORRIBLE! It tasted like wet cardboard. And packing tape. Seriously... how do nuts, seeds, and raisins sealed inside a plastic, zip-loc bag, take on the flavor of the box & tape that was once it's shipping container? Is this indicative of the amount of time it sat in that box after being packaged, and before being unloaded onto the shelf? I was disgusted. And after I was disgusted, I was confused. My body needed the protein, so I ate a little. *sigh* I washed it down with a bottle of water, trying to get the taste out of my mouth.

Finally, this evening, because of this stupid food menu and intake schedule today, I gorged myself tonight. Perhaps not in the true idea of "gorging", but I certainly feel like it. I fixed a nice stir-fry with my usual brown rice, kale, spinach, carrots, onions, garlic, olive oil, cumen, ground red pepper, and chili powder. After having a medium sized bowl of that, I was still craving protein. I cut a THIN slice of bread and melted a piece of smoked cheddar on it with another small egg. Those EGGS are so wonderful!!!

My weakness right now? Cheese. I LOVE cheese!!! It fills me in ways other things can't... I think it's the fat content that satisfies me.

I'm full... and I'm done for the day. Usually, I LOVE looking at food magazines, (Vegetarian Times is wonderful!) but tonight, after all that savory food, I'm just going to bed.

Enjoying my journey, and looking forward to Silent Yoga in the morning, and yoga every night this week!