Monday, March 12, 2012

Happy Anniversary to Meeee....

Really, that title should be singing "happy BELATED anniversary to meeeee" but guess what? It's my anniversary and my blog shall sing in whatever way I want it to.

So first things first: Hi, again! Yes, my loyal readers, I have neglected you for the longest stretch yet. And as always, I apologize, but that is probably ringing on hollow ears at this point. I am cheered though, in a strange reverse-psychology way, by the fact that I've gotten many zingers from loyal readers that they are disappointed by the lack of posts. You love me! You really love me!

But now, to the occasion at hand, which is celebrating my anniversary.

What anniversary, you may ask? Why, my Au Naturale anniversary. Back in January, I celebrated one year on the Au Naturale diet. I know, it's shocking to me, too. I can't believe that I've been doing it this long, but on a more significant level, I am impressed and proud of myself that my passion for the Au Naturale lifestyle is as strong a year (nay, at this point a year and 2 months) later as it was at the beginning. I am not an addictive person and I've been known to have fancies for things that burn strong then fade just as rapidly. But my committment to myself and my Au Naturale habits have stayed strong and true.

That doesn't mean that I've been perfect, of course. Far from it. In fact, I type this not even a week after returning from the first business conference of the year having shamefully gorged myself on the myriad of artificial candies, delivered in attractive candy dispenser form,  that we use to lure our clients to our booth. I was heartbroken that we ran out of the uber-fresh gummy bears. Because really, is there anything better than super fresh gummy bears? No, I don't think so. Although, the gummy bear episode was slightly ruined for me when one of my co-workers whispered in my ear: "You know, they use rock dust to keep them from sticking together." She then insisted that rock dust counts as natural. I responded that I would agree wholeheartedly if I could go outside and watch her eat a rock. And such was the end of that debate. (As I slid back to the candy dispensers for just a few more Sour Patch Kids. And yes, they are as popular now as they were back when I was a kid.)

But I digress! As much as I slip, I still see the benefits of my Au Naturale conversion, and how much it has become part of my lifestyle, in everyday actions.  The most humorous of which occurred my first grocery shopping trip after the farm box ended for the season, back in mid-December. After being spoiled by 6 months of having local, organic, and seasonal produce delivered to me, I completely forgot how to grocery shop. You get used to being given ingredients and then deciding what to do with them, instead of the traditional shopping style of deciding on your recipes then going out to buy all your staples. This difference didn't truly hit me until I found myself standing dumbfounded in the middle of the Whole Foods produce section. I honestly couldn't figure out what to buy. I could only imagine what the shoppers around me were thinking, seeing this random girl standing there with an empty cart and a look of fear and/or bewilderment on her face. It must have looked like I had never set food in a grocery store before in my life.

But what a wonderful, telling experience that is though, right? A few months later I've been able to get back into the produce shopping routine, but I still don't feel quite right buying organic tomatoes from Mexico in the dead of winter. I should mullify my skepticism, I suppose, for I live in the Midwest and I certainly can't just go without any veggies during these dark months. But it's become a struggle for me, and one that I am proud of. A year ago I wasn't even close to being in the same frame of mind.

So it being a first anniversary, and the anniversary falling close to the New Year, I though I wouldn't just reflect but also make some resolutions. For the record, I gave up on New Years resolutions a long time ago. They just seemed silly: why must I make resolutions on January 1? Why can't I make them on July 27th? But... well... I just wanted to do them now. And I think they are all pretty achievable.

Resolution 1: Stop beating myself up over not writing, and stop apologizing to my Loyal Readers who have heard it all before.
I realized it became a pattern of apology, excuse, repeat. Apology, excuse, repeat. Please know that when I don't write I hate it and I am truly sorry that I keep you all waiting. In the interest of full disclosure, writing this blog is really one of the most fun things I do nowadays. In addition to my Au Naturale lifestyle, this is something that I haven't lost interest in. It's fun for me to write, and fun for me to see everyone's comments. Sadly, though, the blog isn't a "necessity". I've had a lot of things going on in my life, including a grad school class, insane work travel, and other things that are considered priorities. When you only have a certain number of hours in a day, you dedicate them to priorities first and the fun stuff gets pushed back to any leftover hours. And for me, there just haven't been any leftover hours in the past few months. Let's just leave it as an unspoken given that I will be sorry when I abandon you for too long and not waste valuable kilabytes on my apologies and promises anymore, shall we?

Resolution 2: Be more vigilent on the everyday things that add up.
A few weeks ago I had a really bad eating week. As in, so much crap that once I topped it off with a decadent cupcake from one of the myriad specialty cupcake shops that are cropping up everywhere, I literally felt sick for days. After that, I decided I was going on a detox: no junk, no alcohol, high veggies, low carbs for a week. It only took about 3-4 days before I felt myself again (hey! More evidence on the efficacy of the Au Naturale diet!). However, I had a revelation. In my short lunch hours during detox week I was running down to the building cafeteria and making simple salads. Good stuff, but you know it's mainly industrial farming veggies. So while I wasn't eating any additives or processed items per se, I was probably stuffing myself full of pesticides.  The same goes for meat: As I've stated numerous times before, I love meat. I don't know that I will ever give it up, even though I've been eating much less of it than I ever had before. But much like the salads, I find myself faltering when going out to restaurants and eating what must be surely CAFO meat. It really defeats the purpose. I need to make sure that I develop the willpower to avoid the Bad Things- which can come in more forms than just processed packaged food- more often than I do.

Resolution 3: Experiment with more foods!
When I first started the Au Naturale diet I was on a mission to make everything from scratch. And I had a blast experimenting in my kitchen. For those of you early readers, you may remember that I made pita bread, cream cheese, Cadbury eggs, and more from scratch. Why did I stop? You can blame time, but you can also blame comfort with familiarity. I should try to make one traditionally processed food from scratch a month. Here is where I open it up to you, loyal readers, to suggest some ideas for experimentation. Yes, I take requests!

I think these are valuable and achievable resolutions, and I'm looking forward to sharing them all with you. Happy 2012!