Cheats and Bumps In The Road

I'm still following the plan.

Meh.

I can tell you that by now, Day 10, I am thoroughly bored with eggs for breakfast. I can't believe there are people who enjoy and find it comforting to eat the same thing for a meal every day, over and over. I am about a week away from blowing chunks of scrambled eggs and beans all over.

I long for some nice whole wheat oatmeal pancakes or my locally grown honey flax bread with butter and jam made out of hyperlocal fruit (my baker sends a jar every week and half of the fruit comes from our neighbourhood). I crave roasted root veggies. I mean, it's winter, fer crying out loud. Cabbage, potatoes, turnips, beets and carrots are the only vegetables available locally! I'm not supposed to touch most of those, though.

This 4HB eating plan must be easy peasy for people in California or those who don't really think about eating ethically. It's not particularly hard for me but it is inconvenient and boring.

I'm going to pick up some supplies and make a few baked bean dishes. Eating plain beans is making me gag. So, it's soups and casseroles, to the rescue.

I have cheated in the last week.

The first was a planned cheat. A former client, now friend, invited me to lunch at her home last week. I wasn't comfortable demanding a new mom make me a compliant meal, so I decided to just see what happened. It definitely wasn't a compliant meal, but the carbs we did eat were far more healthy than they might have been: make your own pizzas on homemade whole wheat crust, a bowl of curried butternut squash and apple soup, chocolate pudding made with almond "milk" and a strawberry. Yummy!

I didn't get worried about this meal.

The other cheat that week was also minimal: I at a panko breaded chicken strip (real chicken breast.

It was after leaving an electronics store and discovering my laptop's warranty likely didn't cover damage I was told it would cover (when the bugger sold it to me) and finding out that I was a week too late to get a replacement battery (because I do my business on the laptop, I couldn't send it to be fixed until after launching my new business and that put me 6 days late for the battery). I was nearly in tears and I was angrily demanding ice cream to soothe my soul but my husband persevered in deflecting my ice cream buying. So, when I got home, I loudly announced I was going to stuff a chicken strip in my mouth. It was delicious!

Again, it was technically a cheat due to the panko breading, but ultimately, a far healthier cheat than it could have been, or would have been two weeks ago!

My final cheat on Sunday night, however, was not a healthy cheat. And, it points to one of the lessons I learned from my Magic Day: if you buy it for Magic Day, finish it on Magic Day. The lesson that proves the rule: giant bars of Swiss chocolate with hazelnuts will be too much to avoid on 4HB days, causing you to hide in bed with a book and crumbs of chocolate and nuts on your nightgown.

I was not proud of that. And it wasn't nearly as satisfying or delicious as it was in my mind.

Another lesson I learned from my Magic Day: ice cream makes me sick. I didn't even finish the pint! It was soooooo disappointing. There is something I can definitely cross off my list, now.

Have you had any cheats?