Day 17

Bleck! Someone brought in donuts to work today, and talked me into one (ok, I let myself be talked into it). I ate half of it. It sounded kinda good, thinking about it, but honestly....that much sugar in the morning just doesn't feel too good in the tummy. I tossed the rest.

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On another note: been doing some reading on this 120 year diet plan. So the idea is that eating a diet with restricted calorie content, but superior nutritional quality is supposed to not only help you live longer, but will also extend the number of years that you live disease free. Author Dr. Roy Walford had apparently done extensive research into the effects of calorie restriction and how it can help you extend your life span to a estimated 120 years. Sounds interesting and appealing...as long as I'm healthy and able-minded. Not sure I'd want to live that long if I was incapacitated or senile.

Some of the concerns I have about this and pretty much any other diet is whether I can truly make the transition into cooking and eating in a completely different way. Let's face it: the food I ate growing up and have continued to cook and eat as an adult is not the healthiest....too many calories, too many carbs, too much fat. And seriously changing my diet also includes changing the diet of my family...which may be a lot more difficult!

But the reality is that we would all be better off if I were to start changing things a little bit at a time.

One of the first things I'm changing is the amount of starch we eat at virtually every meal. I'm used to cooking lots of pasta, lots of rice, or lots of potatoes with most dinners. I'm making smaller amounts of those and adding in more vegetables. That doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is actually eating the vegetables, unfortunately. So I'm trying to be patient. And I'm trying to find new and interesting ways to cook veggies that will make them more appealing.

I'm getting away from the old canned vegetable routine that I grew up with, and cooking fresh veggies instead. The challenge is finding different veggies and getting everyone to try them. I'll post a few new recipes as I find them, and if the family is receptive and eats them.