Day 9, Still Plugging Away (subtitle: I Gave Up Coffee, Keep Your Distance!)

I really wanted to be able to check in today and say that I felt that glorious "tiger blood" coursing through my veins, but alas, it's just a bit too soon. The eating is going well. I made another batch of spaghetti squash with marinara, and it was even better than the first batch (or again, it may just be that healthy foods are tasting better to me at this point). My middle daughter, age 14, is wanting to start the Whole30 tomorrow, and eating last night's dinner with us made her pretty sure that if I can eat it, given my rather juvenile taste buds, she can eat it! She has always enjoyed a wider variety of foods than the other two, so it is not surprising that she would consider this. However, getting her to eat breakfast and taking a healthy lunch to school with her may prove to be challenging. Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!

Here is what is NOT working for me. Coffee. In several places in the Whole30 materials the comment is made that drinking coffee black "Is. Not. Hard." Okay, maybe it is not technically hard, but after trying it for 8 days, including several days with coconut milk and once with cinnamon, I just cannot do it. So this morning, after my four-mile date with the dreadmill, I skipped my coffee. Not the end of the world--after all, I quit cold-turkey when I was expecting each of my children. But by early afternoon, my head was throbbing and I had the energy of a 98 year old. If that. Ibuprofen helped the head, a 15 minute snooze on the couch gave me a bit of oomph, and walking the dog in the brisk January air got me going enough to make it through the rest of the day. But seriously, this has been the hardest thing so far, perhaps because it was just the last thing to have to completely give up.

I am starting to make meals a second or third time now, and I hope Tony and I (and soon Elaine) do not get bored with the same things over and over. As my energy level wanes, though, my desire to whip up exciting new dishes--which was only marginal to begin with--is even less now. Maybe when I start perking up (with the aforementioned and much-anticipated "tiger blood", I hope!) I will gleefully run into the kitchen looking for new things to do with sweet potatoes, squash and chicken. Right now, though, I think I'll make more stir fry.