Foodgasms

Foodgasms. It's a new word that I've invented to describe the feeling you get from eating food for the first time in 3 weeks. It sounds similar to another word we're all familiar with, and with good reason!

Yesterday I broke my fast with the beautiful Almond Berry Quinoa salad for breakfast. I broke that recipe down in my last blog. It was so delicious, and the perfect compliment to starting my day with a vigorous yoga practice (that I made up by myself!). The picture doesn't do it justice, I promise. I added some hemp seeds, chia seeds, and goji berries on top to give it some super-food power!

Between breakfast and lunch I enjoyed some of my Sunshine Juice (another recipe in my last blog). For lunch I sat down to my much anticipated Nourish "Brinner" that I froze last week upon delivery. It is Nourish's take on a breakfast Benedict, with a hash of roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, leeks, and spinach, served with a chickpea and flax seed cake, topped with roasted asparagus and a vegan hollandaise. Holy hell, that was delicious, and I had to show massive restraint to keep from eating the second portion.

Another juice, with beets and greens, to fill the time between lunch and dinner. I haven't felt "hungry" in so long, weeks, and it was odd that my stomach started reverting back to expecting food so quickly. Granted, I didn't feel hungry nearly to the extent that I USED to, and I easily could have downed a glass of juice and hot tea and gone to bed without complaint. I was mildly hungry, and since I'd gone to the trouble of pre-making my food on Sunday, (and since I was REALLY looking forward to this meal!), I decided I might as well eat!

Here's an area that's kind of shady for me right now, since this is my first experience coming off of a fast and back to food. Should I be eating even if I'm not really hungry? I don't know the answer. I think my body gave me the answer last night, but I'll get to that at the end of the blog!

First up: Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad, from a jar. Of course.

By the time we got home from work I was so ready to dive into this salad and was thankful I'd prepped it ahead of time. About 60 seconds after walking through the door, the salad was shaken up, dumped into a bowl, and I was sitting at the table enjoying what has now become the most scrumptious salad I have ever eaten in my entire life. It remains to be seen if this salad is actually the best salad ever, or if it just tasted that way last night because food is still totally new to me right now. All I know is it was a huge salad and I should have eaten just that, but I kept going. I got about 90% through my salad and left at the bottom were some berries, blue cheese, pecans, and a few chunks of avocado and some spinach, with plenty of dressing. Jeremy wondered in as I was putting some oil in a pan to prepare my entree and asked what kind of salad it was as he picked at it. I told him (leaving out the avocado, he doesn't like them, which is how I know he's insane), and I also said it was the best salad I'd ever eaten. Next thing I know he's sitting in my chair, polishing off the last of the bowl, and agreeing that it was, indeed, a damn good salad.

This nearly knocked me off my feet for several reasons. #1 being Jeremy typically doesn't like my cooking, no matter what it is. #2 being that he rarely if ever likes anything that is healthy or resembling plant matter. #3... I don't know. But him digging into the last of that salad and enjoying it was the last thing I expected, and I was elated! I asked him if I made it again, would he eat it too, and he said yes! Finally, a healthy, plant-based meal we can enjoy together! As you can see, the original recipe calls for bacon, which I omitted this time around. I can't begin to imagine the heights that bacon would have taken this salad to. It would have been too much for me last night, surely, and I would have melted into a puddle of foodgasm rather than stay strong for my encore.

I should have listened to my body when it said "holy shit, this salad is awesome and huge, and this is more than enough to fill me up, thanks!". But I did not, because I was so insanely excited about what came next and couldn't fathom NOT eating something I've been daydreaming about for close to a week. Dumb, and this is how I got to be overweight in the first place. The rules were so SIMPLE when juicing, and it was nearly impossible to "over eat". Alas...

May I present to you, the magical deliciousness that is Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes with Blackberry Salsa.

Don't judge my lack of photography skills. I'm dealing with an iPhone and Instagram, it's only going to be mediocre. Please click on the link above and look at HER photography of this meal, which is excellent. Regardless of the fact that the photo of this dish looks like crap, it tasted AAAHHHHHMAZING! I was making the craziest noises while consuming this, and had goosebumps the entire time. Ugh. It was SO good. I asked Jeremy how it was possible that my culinary ability had improved so much over the past 20 days, because I think between the salad and the sweet potato cakes it might be the best meal I've ever eaten that came from my own kitchen. He cracked up at this, and we're pretty sure my tastebuds are just on overload. Although who knows, fasting could have brought me some super-chefdom that has long been dormant.

Was eating this final entree worth it? Yes and no. It has been years since I've enjoyed a meal to the extent that I enjoyed dinner last night. In that respect, yes. It was totally worth it. Should I have stuck with the salad, listened to my body, and been satisfied? No question, that's the route I should have taken! Immediately upon finishing my meal I experienced my first "food coma" in well over a month. Lethargy set in. My stomach began to balloon up. I mean, I got bloated, and FAST! Looking in the mirror I felt and looked like I'd gained a good 10 pounds in one sitting, and I wondered what the hell I'd done to myself! There was regret. There was a message sent to my experienced juice-fasting friend Matt, asking if this was normal.

I awoke this morning feeling significantly less bloated, but still regretful. It took less than 24 hours to over-eat, which is a huge problem I need to overcome. I started this morning with a small glass of juice, and about half the portion of Berries & Almond Quinoa Salad that I had yesterday morning. A little more juice before my first run (which will be in less than 1 hour!), and I'll enjoy the second jar of the fantabulous Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad for lunch. Still plenty of "afternoon juice" left for later, and a Nourish delivery to look forward to. I'll be doing very little cooking over the next couple days, thanks to good ol' Nourish, and I've got 2 more awesome meals left of the sweet potato cakes.

I've gained some weight back, which is to be expected, as my digestive system needs a minute to jump start and it's much easier to retain water when you're eating actual food again. I'm up to 149.8, so just over 2.5 pounds from my lowest. I expect realistically to gain about 5 pounds back and stabilize. I also wonder if I've added whole grains back in to my diet too quickly (right off the bat). The meal plans that are published on JoinTheReboot.com are strictly veg and fruit, no whole grains. We'll see... this is all a learning experience. I've never done a juice fast before 20 days ago, which means I've never transitioned off a juice fast before either. Bear with me as I figure this out, by trial and error. Hopefully you'll be able to learn from my mistakes!