L U N A T A L K with Eva Moon

Day 1: I can DO this

September 29, 2009 on 9:00 am | | In Food, General Musing

At the start of my two-week liver cleanse I weigh in: SN+3 (SN = Scream Number)

I’m not on this diet to lose weight. I’ve never been on a “diet” (Well that’s not entirely true, I did once try Atkins for several hours). I don’t even believe in weight loss diets and have droned on tiresomely about how diets don’t work and how you just have to eat healthy blah blah blah. But now I’m under doctor’s orders for two weeks for my health. It’s not a diet, see? But looking at it, I can smell victory over the Scream Number. Like countless dieters before me I can feel bright shiny hope in the air. Two weeks and I’ll reach my goal and then the sun will shine, I’ll have a kick in my step, my skinny jeans will gap at the waist! Who could resist?

I groce.

At the market, it’s a breeze. Whole swathes of the store are simply not there for me. Some swathes I eye wistfully: wine, bread. But what could match the smug feeling of arriving at the checkout stand with a cartload of greens? Ha! I think at the dumpy woman in front of me. She doesn’t have one thing in her cart that isn’t packaged in a box. I’m not only improving my health, I’m saving the planet! The hubris alone carries me at least as far as the parking lot.

Breakfast is a panful of sauteed veggies scrambled with two eggs and seasoned with herbs. Needs salt, but it’s tasty and filling. Later, I’ll have a tangerine. w00t!

Lunch is salad with turkey and then I make soup. The soup is excellent and there’s lots:

Eva’s Cleanse Soup

Put two quarts of low-sodium chicken stock and plenty of chicken parts in a big pot (I used 8 skinless chicken thighs, but use whatever you like) along with a bay leaf and other herbs. Don’t skimp on the herbs.

Simmer for a while and then add:

a handful of peeled garlic cloves
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, sliced
1 can diced tomatoes
a few handfuls of green beans
a bunch of sliced mushrooms
1/2 head of cabbage, sliced

Keep simmering until the veggies are soft and the chicken is falling off the bone.

Verdict: Needs salt, but it’s surprisingly tasty.

I’m not suffering from HUNGER so much as CRAVINGS: I have a habit of a diet Coke in the morning, a square of chocolate in the afternoon, a glass of wine with dinner, maybe a little popcorn in the evening. But it’s just two weeks. I can so do this.

I’m starting to get why people go on diets. In some ways, strict rules are easier than freedom. “No” is easier than “a little.”

See more like that one:

• Chopping List
• The Magi had it easy...
• Day 15: Which Way to the Egress?
• Day 13: Juice of Affliction, Chili of Salvation
• Day 11: The Wall