I'm a stress eater. Things get tough and I turn to food for comfort. Not a good way to be, but that's me. Oh well. The other thing is, eating healthy, for me, takes concentration, planning, money, thought. All of those have been in short supply as I've been running around putting out other fires.
I know what I need to do. I need to fast. I've been knowing that. I've already written a post about it. I just can't seem to do it. When money is tight, fasting in the solution. When you don't have time to shop for and cook healthy foods, fasting is the solution. When you're sick, all animals know: fasting is the solution. Plus when I'm binge eating, fasting is my reset button. I haven't done a long fast in almost 3 years. It's past time. It's just so hard to do. Especially here lately.
A big part of the reason I fell off the healthy eating wagon was because my daughter, her husband and children all moved in with me. It's been like the wild man weekend I wrote about--every day. They eat what tastes good, whether it's good for you or not. They're all young and relatively thin, so they get away with it. I join in.
But I can't get away with it--not long-term.
Amazingly, my health is continuing to improve. That reishi extract and the ashwaganda, together with this black seed and pumpkin oil mix I'm taking, alongside my liposomal Vitamin C, my sublingual Vitamin D and Vitamin B-12, my frankincense, and the Chaga mushroom extract I've added, and some new "brain oil" which is pure caprylic acid derived from coconut oil, all those quality supplements are kicking butt. I'm starting to look and feel better, in spite of my inconsistent eating.
Also, with the grandkids around, I've been moving more. I love them so much and they motivate me to want to be well.
But it's hard not to eat chili dogs or potato soup or pulled pork sandwiches or sourdough bread with butter or hamburger steaks and grilled onions with homemade french fries when that's what they're eating. So if I can't even eat healthy around them, how can I expect myself to eat NOTHING and fast. I can't. They fire up the grill and I'm a goner. What's a fat lady to do?
Pray. That's what I've been doing. Well, eating like crazy from stress...and praying. Both at the same time.
This week came the answer to my prayers:
(1) Four of my dear friends rescued me from some hairy situations that were STRESSING me out
(2) Another dear friend put together a whole prayer ritual for me that including praying for release from addiction (this is addiction, my relationship with food, I'm the equivalent of a crack addict)
(3) My daughter and her family went off to stay with her sister for a week
(4) My car is in the shop
I made them take all the good food with them. So I'm stranded at home with no car and only food I don't like. Nothing yummy or really tempting. Canned goods, packaged foods nobody wants, and one frozen pack of drumsticks. The only tempting thing in the house is the jar of spaghetti sauce and the angel hair pasta and the parmesan cheese that I could put together with it. I love spaghetti and I can envision myself making a radical chicken spaghetti. The thing in my favor is: I hate drumsticks. It's the only piece of chicken that I don't like. My love of spaghetti may outweigh my dislike of drumsticks. We'll have to wait and see. I may have to do it just to get it out of the house. But after that, there's nothing.
I think maybe I can fast.
I just ate what I hope will be my last meal before the fast (if I can stop thinking about chicken spaghetti). I took some quickly wilting dandelion greens from the fridge, chopped them, and made a creamy olive tapenade dressing. It's similar to my healthy Caesar salad dressing, only you add capers and black and green olives, a few sundried tomatoes if you have them, and fresh or dried basil, oregano and thyme. I add fresh chopped tomatoes instead of sundried.
It was amazing. It's salty and kind of yucky but in a good way. I think they call that quality umame.
For my side dish, I pulled a wilted beet from the veggie basket on my countertop, and I quickly chopped it into small pieces and stirfried it in butter. The sweet buttery beets were a perfect complement to my tangy, salty dandelion greens with creamy olive tapenade dressing.
Vegetables with a side of vegetables. That's our Good-Donnagail talking.
Dandelion Greens with Creamy Olive Tapenade Dressing
2 tbsp Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Mayonnaise (I use this when I don't have time or ingredients or patience for homemade mayonnaise which I prefer to use)
1 chopped clove raw garlic
2 chopped anchovies
1/4 cup chopped olives (black or green or mix of olives)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp capers
1/4 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or sundried tomatoes
1 tsp fresh or 1/4 tsp dried each of oregano, basil, parsley and thyme
2 tbsp grated fresh parmesano reggiano
2 cups chopped dandelion greens
Mix dressing in large bowl, stir chopped raw greens into dressing until well coated, serve coated greens on salad plate. Top with more grated parmesan cheese to taste.
***
This is a one-two detoxification punch prior to fasting, or anytime. And so satisfying and good for you.
Pray hard for me, wish on a star, keep your fingers crossed, throw salt over your shoulder, and make a special dandelion wish with me that I can fast and stop my unhealthy eating in its tracks. If I'm getting better just from my supplements, fasting would amplify that by a thousand. I could be 50 pounds thinner and look 15 years younger in 30 days. Just 30 days.
They say wishin' don't make it so, but wish with me anyway.
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