Bodily Pride

Lately, Bobby and I have been really good kids about what we eat. The focus has travelled a lot during our 18+ months of marriage, from diets to not caring to exercising and bulking up to more diets. Ever since I stopped eating meat, I feel more energetic, and when I do get tired, it feels more legitimate (more exhuastion and less laziness). I'm not trying to pawn off not eating baby animals on anyone else, but living in Happy Valley where skinny is a necessity, I may convert plenty. Several volunteers at the shelter have asked if I've been losing weight (which used to be music to my ears, and now I just shrug it off). I simply tell them that all I've done differently is give up meat, and they ask all sorts of questions about how long I've been doing it, what I eat instead, etc. Three cheers for saving baby animals!

Bobby and I have also made a goal of eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Ever since he started his Chronic Disease Prevention class, he's been gung ho about fixing our diet to align ourselves with nutritional guidelines as opposed to the western civilization diet. It's become a very colorful game trying to figure out how to put more veggies into every meal, and I take a lot of oranges to work to snack on. The other night, I was really craving juice. We didn't have any (we're too poor to buy 100% juice), but we did have two small oranges left. I peeled them, threw them in the blender with a couple of ice cubes, and Oh. My. Gosh. I shall never drink store bought orange juice again! It was SO good, and I knew exactly how many servings of fruit I was getting. The next morning, I wanted juice again, quite proud of my discovery, but we had no more oranges. We did have apples, though, and I'm a big fan of apple juice. Pulpy apple juice can be just as delicious, right? So I cored a couple apples, threw them in the blender, and pushed the button. I should have known right then that this was a poor idea. The apples did not blend as easily because they aren't as juicy as oranges. I added some water. And some more. I stuck utensils down in the blender to try to make it chop more efficiently. Finally, I had some consistency that resembled a beverage, and poured it into a cup. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of apples. I can relate to Lexie in Grey's when she says she hates them, and doesn't think they should be allowed to be fruit. They're good in pies, juice form, and as applesauce, but that's really the extent of it. Compared to other fruits, apples don't really do much for me. Apple juice made from throwing a couple of apples into a blender is probably one of the most heinous things I've ever put into my mouth. And because we're very poor, I couldn't let the fresh produce go to waste. I dry heaved that cup of nasty all the way down my gullet, determined to get those 2 servings of fruit.

Definitely do not try that at home.