Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

When I started this diet, I said that I would stop eating all processed food.  And, I am cutting out 99% of the processed foods I am used to eating.  But, there are a few things I am letting slip through the cracks.

One of these exceptions is So Delicious Coconut Milk.  I love milk.  I don't want to drink or eat cow products, so regular milk is out.  It's not all that good for you, anyway.  Coconut milk, however, is excellent for you.  OK, let me be straight, it tastes funny.  Because, my brain sees milk and tells my tongue that it should expect to be tasting cow milk any second.  And, then my mouth fills with something completely different and my brain curses me.  But, I'll get used to it.  It's not awful, just different.  I haven't used it in my smoothies yet, but I plan to.

Also being let through is Annie's Goddess Dressing.  Annie's proudly announces right on the label that they don't use anything artificial, and a quick check of the ingredients backs that up.  So, I got some to use a tiny bit of on my spinach.

I also got some canned tuna in water.

Keep in mind that I am so neurotic that the inclusion of these items in my supermarket basket caused me much stress.  I felt that I was going soft, easing up on the strict rules that I had set for myself.  I had 1/2 cup of Kashi granola last night, and I wanted to end myself.  How dare I?  The carbs!  The sugar!  Of course, Kashi is an excellent, healthy company and this granola was something TOO healthy for my old way of life.  What was going on here?  Why the guilt?

It's true what they say - don't make your diet miserable.  If chocolate is your big craving, and you simply don't allow yourself a single taste of chocolate in your diet, not ever...well, you'll be face down in a pile of chocolate in no time.  Full elimination isn't necessary.  There are obviously some people who have the ability to never be tempted by their favorite foods...these people are superhuman and should not be looked upon as the norm.  We normal people need a little piece of chocolate once in a while, or we'll go insane.

Oh, how I am enjoying my green smoothies, though.  Look how green they are!

That's what I'm currently drinking, and it's delicious.  The Greens make the smoothies look like pond sludge, honestly, but the flavor is excellent.  It's amazing how many vegetables you can cram into one of these things without even tasting it.  This has loads of spinach and broccoli in it, but all I taste is the pineapple, banana, and pear that I also added.  I loaded up on the Vitamineral Greens, but don't taste that, either.  It's really delicious and I feel wonderful drinking it.

As for my weight, I bounced back up a few pounds after Thanksgiving and the ensuing slippage I incurred over the weekend.  At no point did I fully fall off of the wagon, but I was kinda hanging off of it.  The desire for chips!  For ice cream!  For meat.  Dear lord, for meat.  Anything but fruit and vegetables.  When I start feeling these things, I immediately cram grapes into my mouth, or drink some coconut milk.  It'll be easier when I clean all of the crap food out of the house.  It's hard, having all of these bad temptations within arms' reach.

The weekend after next, I'm going snowboarding.  I had a hard time finding snowboarding pants, because they usually don't make really big snowboarding pants.  Not a whole lot of fatso snowboarders out on the mountain.  This weekend, I went back to Sports Authority and exchanged my crazy big clown pants for a much less clowny smaller size.

That was a great feeling.

But, no more backtracking and slipping.  I'm back on the wagon and I'm STAYING HERE.

Stupid wagon.