365 Days

New Years Day and here I sit.....50 pounds overweight, hot flashes every 20 or 30 minutes, a life I'm not sure I want to be living. What resolution should I make this year? Will this year's resolution make it past 24 hours? 48 hours? What is so special about today that it warrants I change something about myself? The truth is there are 365 days when I can make a change, 365 days when I can do something different, 365 days when I can love myself enough to care for myself.

But maybe tomorrow will be better....because the menu for today includes pork roast, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.

I wake up the next day and decide to do it for real today....a whole food, plant based diet. It's something I've been playing around with, on and off, for the past few months but not for real.....just when it's easy or convenient. About a year ago, my mom sent me an article in the mail. I love my mom for the clippings she sends....real clippings.....who still does this? Like the one about a restaurant here in Kansas City she thinks we should go to next time she visits from California, or an exhibit she wants to see, or an author we were talking about, or what a vitamin D deficiency does to you. But this article she sent doesn't qualify as a clipping...it was a full packet in a manila envelope. I never read it. I kept sticking it on my to be read pile, letting it fall to the bottom, shuffling it back to the top, sinking again to the bottom....an endless cycle that lasted about 11 months. Now....today, I'm ready to read it finally....but it's gone. I can't find it anywhere. I look in my desk, in my nightstand, in my bookshelves, in my car....nowhere. It's almost enough to make me give up until tomorrow and then.....I remember Google.

I google WFPB to learn as much as I can about what this diet entails and how to do it and how it will help me. I find a bazillion resources....literally a bazillion. One I had heard of before, back when I started this the first time, is Forks Over Knives. I read article after article after article. I read interviews. I read recipes. I download apps....one free, one free trial. I plan a menu. I shop. I unload bag after bag of groceries filled with things I have never cooked or eaten....quinoa, leeks, legumes, beets, nutritional yeast, tofu.

And so the journey begins....meals for myself and my husband. I eat as little processed and packaged food as possible. Breakfast is almost always oatmeal with different fruits or nuts. I eat salads for lunch, with chickpeas or lentils mixed in, and plant based dressing. I make dinners from scratch....and my husband eats them all, even if a little begrudgingly. Sometimes, I see him sneak a bowl of cereal afterwards but I don't hold that against him.

Some of the recipes turn out great. Mushroom risotto is my favorite, enchilada cakes are my least. Spinach lasagna, roasted cauliflower quinoa casserole, stuffed acorn squash, grilled portobello...delicious meals filled with flavor and healthy goodness. I love cooking every day and working from home due to Covid has given me the luxury of time to do it. I even make banana "nice" cream....a delightful, creamy, frozen concoction I could eat daily.

The food was wonderful. But the best part of this journey has been the side-effects. I feel fantastic. I have absolutely no heartburn and haven't taken an antacid in 30 days. My hips and knees and ankles don't ache.....they still creak a little bit but the creaking is pain free! My hot flashes have been less frequent and I haven't had a migraine the entire month. I have been able to run...and run....and run! My mile time at the beginning of the month was about 15 minutes....too high to even bother tracking. Yesterday, it was 12:42....you better believe I'm tracking it now. 12:42 isn't Olympic worthy, I know....but for a 51 year old woman, 40 pounds overweight...it's pretty damn great! Did you notice I said 40 pounds overweight? That's right.....I've lost 10 pounds this month. 10 pounds without counting calories or feeling hungry. Sure, I missed eating a McRib once a week. I missed candy and french fries. I missed milk and cheese.....a lot. But, I learned to substitute. I learned to wait and listen to my body to see if I was really hungry. I drank water....and even more water....so much water, I'd get up to pee 2 or 3 times a night! So yes, I missed some foods but what I gained in terms of health, self-love, and fitness have been worth so much more than anything I could eat.

It's been 30 days since I've eaten meat, cheese, or dairy since January 1st. Well.....that's not true. One day, we went to lunch at my favorite Italian restaurant. I had every intention of staying on my wfpb journey....I knew they had vegan dishes I could enjoy. But I caved....I ate a delightful pasta bowl filled with sausage, meatballs, peppers, and cheese.....lots of cheese. With freshly grated parmesan on top! Did I regret it? Not at all. I savored each and every bite. I savored the meal and the company. I knew it didn't make me a failure. It didn't take away from anything I had done in the other days. It was just a day. I had 364 more days in the year to recommit to my healthy eating journey. There are 365 days in a year.....we can't relegate our choices to begin anew on just one of those days.....we can't, we don't have to, and I won't. I'll begin again every day.....every single one of the 365 days I have left.