Practicality

I had an amazing weekend which may be why I have been feeling awful this week so far. It may just be a bit of seasonal affective disorder, but it is just composed of the usual inability to get out of bed or to stay motivated for more than five minutes at a time followed by intense need of carbs. I've been working on this post about practicality, because I do feel like this all the time and I try to find things that work around it.


For anyone who has had health issues or possibly wanted to just lose weight, you end up doing search upon search to find the diet or remedy that will make you feel better. To an extent, I believe you can narrow down to some options based on scientific data. However, nutrition research is always being refined and no one magic food or specific diet has been found. I narrowed it down to plant-based eating because it makes the most sense scientifically, environmentally, and personally. If you can find something that works for you, do it. 


Practicality can involve a variety of elements. The main ones for me are:


1) Affordability
2) Time
3) Realizability based on character and willpower


The first is pretty important for any twenty-something in college, or right after when your career is still starting/non-existent. I realize that's a very subjective demographic, but as a young person I'm allowed to be a little self-involved. With the limited amount of money I do have, I spend money on health books quite often to find any kind of information and hope I can. It was recently pointed out to me that I should just go to the library... My poor judgment aside, I was very excited to read a new book that seemed to have the right title, described most of my symptoms, and claimed to be able to fix everything with diet. The diet is mostly plant-based with some animal protein, but is very supplement-centric. The author's website will even let you take a test that leads you to the supplements you should order from him. Research shows that they're not always a great idea. The exception being actual deficiencies. I'm sick enough that I would consider it though, but there's no way I can afford four hundred dollars worth of pills that I would probably forget to take anyways. If I'm still sick in five years and desperate, I'll take it more seriously. 


Time is an issue for all of us. When I had two jobs working twelve hour days half the time, I had no time or energy to prepare healthy meals. This is about the time I gave up plant-based eating and ate whatever was convenient. I still ate probably plant-based half the time because I'm used to it, but I did gain weight and I may have felt a bit worse. It's hard to tell. I did make a choice and decided to cut down to one job. This didn't necessarily lead to a healthy lifestyle, but it helped me make better decisions. The point is, if you work full time, have kids or dogs to take care of, don't pick a lifestyle change that would require you to cook every night. It will fail. I have troubles when I just have to cook one night of the week. I like to have my weekends to do all of it ahead of time. I am completely drained by the end of a weekday.


Which leads me back to realistic expectations of willpower. If you know that cheese is going to be “impossible” to stop eating for you, work into it. Even though I didn't realize it, I slowly transitioned to plant-based, not because I meant to, but because my body didn't respond well to the immediate change and I ended up eating gross things. People don't realize that most days it's a miracle I get out of bed, probably just in the hopes I will see other people that will stimulate me enough to wake up. Even my dog gets the short end of the stick sometimes when I can't work up more than five or ten minutes of play time when I get home. Nonetheless, I always have these enormous goals. Lists upon lists are in my bedside table waiting for me to accomplish them. I'm trying to learn to focus on one thing at a time. This week I'm focusing on oil pulling. Yes, very weird, but not difficult by any means so I'm going for it. The craziest part is I already managed to skip it yesterday because my morning routine had run a bit late, me being in bed the entire morning and all.


I guess my rant is really trying to say: Pick what works or what is most likely to work, or you will just end up being upset that you didn't pull through. Also, when something fails, just keep trying. I've been making goal lists for four years and I don't see myself stopping. Just because I'm not the person I want to be doesn't mean I'm going to give up. I vaguely remember a time when I could do it all and excel. I'm there somewhere, my body just has to catch up with my will to eventually be a bad-ass. Also, being plant-based is probably the easiest and cheapest way to be healthy, so consider it! It works for a ton of people. 

Here's the food I made this weekend. From Happy Herbivore meal plans. Usually I make my own meal plans, but some of hers seem so delicious, I buy them :)