How I’ve Missed You

My friends!  Can I still call you my friends, even though we haven’t spoken in ages?  I think I can, because we are just that close.  We understand each other, and the distance doesn’t mean we are growing apart.  It’s just that we’ve been busy…

So let’s rehash what’s been happening and where the hell Sara Sweetless has been. 

First, the sad truth.  Sara Sweetless has not been so sweetless.  I’m only human and I want my blog to be honest.  Honest and dirty.  And the truth is that since we last spoke I had my sister’s (gorgeous) wedding, my 28th birthday (go me for being born!), my graduation from law school, mother’s day, and another (gorgeous) wedding.  What does all that mean!?  I don’t have to tell you: sugar.  Sugar and gluten.  ALL OF IT.  It was ugly my friends.  Ugly and delicious.  But worth it?  Definitely not.

My stomach has essentially had PTSD since the first wedding.  If gluten goes near it it shouts obscenities and retreats to a corner to shake and cry.  I’ve been too scared (or ashamed, maybe) to step on a scale.  With the state of my eating habits I’ve been extremely fatigued and napping a ton, which hasn’t lent itself to keeping on my workouts.  And my self-esteem and moodiness have been none too pleased.  

Sometimes, though, we need to test the waters of temptation to realize that the swim ain’t worth it.  

I remember reading a facebook status of an paleo community leader (maybe paleomg.com?), who wrote that she sometimes yearned for the days of ignorance.  Which, of course, is where the saying, “Ignorance is bliss” comes from.  And damnit, it just might be true.  Ignorance is so much easier.  Not caring is, well, carefree!  But knowledge is addictive.  Once I started learning, I wanted needed to know more.  And there is no unlearning the truth about the foods we eat, and my personal allergies to them.

Does this mean I think the search for the truth isn’t worth it?  No.  But I do think it’s a personal journey that each person must evaluate for herself.  Not everyone wants to know about where their food comes from, how it interacts with our bodies, and what the long term effects are.  Quite frankly, I think that’s a okay!  But I do believe that the people supplying our food, particularly argibusinesses and the government, must be more transparent, so those of us who do care have the information available to make informed decisions.  

Woah.  Talk about side tracked.

That’s not the point of this blog post!  The point is to update you one WHY I’ve been M.I.A.  It’s not that I don’t love you.  I do.  You know I do!  But I’ve been insanely busy with all these fun, sugar-filled events, PLUS I just started studying for the bar exam.  So that’s happening.  Since planning a real foods menu takings time, effort, and planning, there is a solid chance I won’t be doing any of that until after the bar.  However, I’ve started working out again and plan to make healthy choices as much as possible while eating out or ordering in.  Bar studying is a dark abyss for the recent law school graduation, that many never fully recover from.  I intend on being as good to my body and mind as I can be, while taking all the stress out of it.  So heathy eating out is the name of the game.  And please, for the love of all that is holy and good, no more gluten.  My stomach simply will not have it.

Since I won’t be blogging about healthy eating, I did want to update you that I’ll be doing two fun experiments even while studying for the bar.  I will take pictures and update as possible, when I need a break from the arduous task of bar studies.  For this summer (what my husband hesitantly says we will call “that one summer” in the future), I will be attempting the “No Poo” Method and the Oil-Cleansing Method.  You can read all about both via the links, but to sum it up:

No Poo Method: Attempt to wash hair with WATER ONLY.  If hair doesn’t adjust to natural sebum production, try to clean with BAKING SODA diluted in water.  If the baking soda makes hair too dry, use APPLE CIDER VINEGAR solution to moisturize.  Sounds fun, right?  I know you’re jealous of my luxurious lifestyle.  Salad hair, here I come!

But for real, the theory is that all the chemicals and unnatural products in shampoo and conditioner strip our hair of the natural oils that would be produced and should be all we need to keep our hair clean and moisturized.  There WILL be an adjustment period of 5 days – 2 weeks.  You’ll enjoy those pictures, I’m sure.

Oil-Cleansing Method: Clean face with only oil.  That’s right, I said it.  ONLY OIL!  Sound counterintuitive?  Well, the theory is essentially the same as above.  All the chemicals and alcohol in beauty products strip our skin of its natural oil (sebum) which causes our faces to overproduce, which in turn causes acne.  I have dry and irritated skin, but the oil cleansing method is, supposedly, safe for my skin type.  With none of the harsh chemicals, my skin should be moisturized and dewy without the irritation.  Pictures to come.

 

SO, dear readers, I have missed you.  But I kept you out of the loop for good cause – it was a dark, hectic, sugar-filled, gluten heavy time in my life these last few weeks.  And quite frankly, I couldn’t bear to face you.  Now I enter a new dark time: bar studies.  But I’ll need your support here.  Keep reading, keep coming back, and laugh WITH me on this journey into “that one summer Sara became a weird hippy.”

Love you all. 

Have it YOUR way

I don’t like avocado.  I don’t like cauliflower.  I don’t like almond milk.  And I don’t like fennel, parsnips, or cumin.

Paleo recipe sights see a lot of these ingredients.  And every time I try to cook one of them and I really want to like it, it ends up feeling discouraging, because I just don’t like it!  But that’s what today’s brief post is about – customization!

We are a generation that wants choice.  I feel good about a restaurant like Farmburger or Yeah! Burger where I can say “I’m eating Paleo, so hold the bun, throw my bison burger on some lettuce, and load that thing up with grilled veggies.  Brussel sprouts on the side please!”  A burger and fries to one millenial could mean just that – burger and fries.  But to the very next millenlial it could mean a grass-fed bunless burger and brussel sprouts.

And that’s cool!  That’s encouraging.  Even though all the ads on TV for food generally aren’t directed to my persnickety butt, I at least know there are several real food grocery stores and markets that cater to MY needs.

While I’ve felt discouraged each time I attempt a new recipe that I’m pretty sure I’m not going to like, but I really really want to like, I’ve decided enough is enough.  Changing diets is pretty hard on its own – and this one really classifies as changing lifestyles!  There is enough added stress in that, without the stress I put on myself to change my preferences.  I want to like healthy food more than I actually like healthy food.  But that’s at least a start. 

When my sister went vegan, she said that her taste buds changed, she craved different foods and really started to enjoy the tempeh, soy, and veggies.  I was hoping that by doing a sugar detox, I would actually start to like more vegetables, start to like different vegetables, and enjoy them to a greater extent than I had in the past.  Sadly, it didn’t go quite like that for me.  I enjoy my staples a great deal.  Carrots couldn’t make me happier.  And Broccoli and brussel sprouts are pretty good.  But I didn’t magically fall in love with cauliflower.

I recently read, though, that my feelings of complacency, even boredom, when I’m eating healthy food is sort of expected.  It’s actually a scientifically normal response.  In referencing a study on soldier’s food preferences, the article states,

““They liked flavorful foods like turkey tetrazzini, but only at first; they quickly grew tired of them. On the other hand, mundane foods like white bread would never get them too excited, but they could eat lots and lots of it without feeling they’d had enough.”

This contradiction is known as “sensory-specific satiety.” In lay terms, it is the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm the brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more. Sensory-specific satiety also became a guiding principle for the processed-food industry. The biggest hits — be they Coca-Cola or Doritos — owe their success to complex formulas that pique the taste buds enough to be alluring but don’t have a distinct, overriding single flavor that tells the brain to stop eating.”

Before reading this, I thought maybe I was failing at Paleo.  I liked the food I made, but after eating most of my meal, I grew tired of it.  I also didn’t want the leftovers the next day, feeling bored with that meal.  But now I know that this reaction is totally normal!  My taste buds may come around on some foods, and not others.  But either way, when eating real food, I’ll only ever want to eat so much of it.  Then my brain and body will work together to tell me it’s had enough nourishment.  That’s not the case with processed food products.  I wanted, and could, eat and eat and eat. 

Keeping an open mind is a good thing, though.  I just need to work on not feeling badly when I discover a “dislike.” 

And in keeping an open mind, I have discovered a lot of things I do like!  For instance, chard is awesome!  And rainbow chard is awesome + beautiful!  There is no greater joy to me than opening my fridge and seeing all the amazing color in it.  No more sea of brown and white.  I also learned that I like lamb, I like my own chicken soup, and I like all the squashes!  And, I think my hubby will back me up on this, but I make the best granola bars around! 

I’m also set to try Kombucha, want to learn to ferment, and am going to keep trying the things I don’t like in different ways, like this cauliflower “pizza” crust I’ve seen all over the paleo sites.

But what I’m done with is all the judging that I do to myself.  AND my partner in non-crime.  We both have our own likes, dislikes, loves, and indifferences – and the more I learn what they are for each of us, the better I can plan for meals we will BOTH think is delicious.

 

 

 

Millenials are Getting Over McDonald’s

Another good read!  Millenials are taking back our health, our food, and our advertising.  It’s starts small and grass-roots, but I think we will see lots of big changes in the coming years, mostly due to the demands of millenials.

Millenials are Getting Over McDonald’s.