So here's a picture of my winner winner chicken dinner last night:
Spinach, kale, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, and nice fresh fried up chicken bits on top. A bit of olive oil, salt, onion powder and paprika for dressing.
UNBELIEVABLE, I'm telling you. My head was in that dish like a hungry horse in a troth.
So yeah! Life is going good! I have 10 more days of Paleo left, but I'm not scared.
It's funny, though. In this season of cookouts and summer fun, I feel extra-surrounded by tons of deliciousness I can't eat.
I have a few friends who are health-conscious, too, (shout-out to my Facebook homies!) who are trying to eat right and exercise. Not necessarily Paleo, but they're overall trying to live a healthy life. Being surrounded by potato salads and cole slaw and burgers and hot togs and mesquite sauces and chips at barbecues and cookouts this summer is a challenge! Cuz you know what? That stuff tastes good!
So one of these friends and I were talking about cookouts the other day. She was nervous because the fourth was coming up and she was worried about how she was going to stick to healthy options and resist temptation and not overdo it on the delectable naughty stuff.
It's a common concern for dieters and healthy lifers alike. Barbecues are the staple of summer. You're meeting with friends and family and so much of the fun is derived from collectively eating massive quantities of food that you don't often see outside that setting.
But so many things at cookouts are heavy, unhealthy, rich or otherwise sinful. So what does a poor dieter do?
I think I have the answer. And it's one I accidentally stumbled onto... It's a switch in my brain I didn't realize got flipped. I don't know how or when it happened... but...
I separated the food from the friends.
Let me explain.
I think part of the pressure of eating wrong at these gatherings comes from the fact that you're going to a place where naughty food is and you feel expected to partake of said naughty food in the company of those around you. I think we've collectively associated that as part of the cookout ritual.
I don't have that association in my brain anymore.
When I think "cookout" now, I think: friends, laughter, maybe a drink after sunset, summer dresses and flip flops. Do you see what's not on the list?
I do understand that food is part of the package, and I am definitely concerned with side questions like "what do I bring?" and "I hope there's steak". But, if it makes sense, I don't have the two ideas related in my brain in terms of translating a cookout into being forced to eat wrong.
I used to have the instinctual reaction like my friend does, like she was telling me the other day, ie. "I'm going to a cookout, watch out, waistline!". Now, it's so separate in my head. I think "I'm going to a cookout, how fun! I get to see so-and-so and so-and-so"... my focus changed and I don't even know when.
I suspect that practice with this Paleo diet, being "that guy" a little bit, did it. I think those trips to restaurants with friends when I had to say no to that delicious roll or the do-it-yourself taco line forced me out of thinking that I had to eat what my friends were eating... I think that changed how I think about eating in public.
I feel, in part, that this Paleo adventure started out like a joke or a shameful secret. Kind of like "look what I'm doing at home! Tee hee! When no one's around, I'm going to try this and this and this..." and now I feel that because I've been trying to stay healthy when I'm out and about, and I learned the real value of eating well, I realize that I don't have to feel bad about being different -- that's it's not wrong to label myself as a healthy eater when I'm in public.
It's kind of empowering. It's kind of invigorating. And now I see that it severed an association in my mind I didn't know I ever had.
Food is separate from friends.
If I go to a cookout alone, would I eat everything that's on the table? No. I'd eat like I eat at home, something lean, something with a salad, maybe some fruit for dessert. So, why does that change because there are people around me?
Now, I can answer, that it doesn't.
I'll never be worried about cookouts again. I love my friends and I love going out to barbecues and seeing the roar of fires and crackles of meat on the flame. I'll bring spring salads and cuts of ribs and desserts I invented and thought people would like. I'll bring a 12 pack of something for the grownups and I'll have a merry time.
But I won't be tempted by the potato salad drenched in processed mayo. I can't look at a S'more and not think of the chemicals in the graham cracker, the natural flavors in the chocolate, and the bleach in the marshmallow. I genuinely don't want any of that stuff.
Not because I'm above it, I hope that's not how it sounds, just because, that's not where my attention goes anymore. I love that people are enjoying those nom noms, I love seeing the smiles on the kids' faces, smeared with chocolate and joy. But I don't want that food anymore. I like the way I eat now. And after working so hard for so long, and really learning about how some foods are really bad for me, there are things I just know for sure I'll never want again. Going to a party where that food exists won't sway me off that mindset.
I wonder if that makes sense to you dieters out there. I hope it does. It was a very strange thing to learn about myself, that part of the temptation was rooted in a self-created sense of peer pressure... super interesting.
I wish all of you a merry cookout season!! And to my waist-line worriers out there... If you haven't found that switch flipped for you yet, keep on fighting the good fight! Make a battle plan before you arrive! Pick the things you know are good for you ahead of time and don't be tempted off your goals! It's hard at the beginning, but it's worth it in the end :-)
Enjoy barbecues for the company, the sunsets, the laughter.
That's where the real joy is :-D
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