While I'm posting a bit earlier than the last couple of nights, I still feel like I'm up past my bedtime. I need to get this whole sleep schedule in check before I have to go back to school on Monday! Eeek.
Today was a great day, as I got to spend it with some really great friends.
First, I woke up, made breakfast, and debated whether or not I had time for a run after my food digested and before I was to meet a couple of girlfriends downtown for lunch. The answer ended up being a resounding "no," so I took a shower, got ready, and headed to New World Cafe instead.
Des Moines friends: if you have not been here yet, go. It is an all-vegan, all-organic, all-whole (nothing processed) cafe located near the East Village. It was super cute inside:
And the menu -- which they change each week -- looked divine:
I also absolutely loved the philosophy of the restaurant, as noted on table tents on each table. Here are some gems that I found especially awesome:
- "We buy local seasonal produce, compost all food scraps, and give the compost to local farms."
- "We buy our produce in small quantities in order to waste as little as possible. Every Saturday is 'No Waste Saturday,' where we create a unique menu centered around remaining produce from that week."
- "Our menu item 'The Bowl' is donation-based, where you pay what you can afford. We believe that food is a right, not a privilege."
Seriously, how great is that? Please check them out.
Aside from the great restaurant, I was so, so excited to have such a wonderful lunch with even better girlfriends. We talked about everything under the sun, laughed a ridiculous amount, and just had a blast. I wish we could do it more often.
After lunch, I came home and lounged for a bit. I was kind of tired, likely because two furry felines decided it would be super fun to play around 5:00 a.m. and became even more annoying the more I tried to limit their "fun" (i.e. put away the bags they were playing with, close the bedroom door, open the blinds, etc.). So, I was a lazy bum this afternoon.
This evening, I met BFF, Shaw, and Kate at Gusto, a super awesome pizza joint in town. We had dinner and chilled for a little bit before heading to The Alpine, a total dive bar, where a few more friends, including my sister-in-law's sister, joined us. It was really nice hanging out with "the crew," as I feel like I haven't seen them in FOREVER. As usual, we laughed so ridiculously much.
And that brings us to now!
Breakfast:
Today I made a version of sweet potato hash. I sliced up a sweet potato and sauteed it with my leftover steak from last night and some jalapenos. I then topped it with two fried eggs and half an avocado.
It was really, really good.
Lunch:
At New World Cafe, I ordered the Cauliflower "Cous Cous" Salad and a Green Juice.
The salad consisted of lettuce, cauliflower cous cous (obviously), mixed veggies, tomato, cucumber, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, parsley, and lemon-garlic dressing (which I made sure did not contain any sweeteners). It was really, really good and actually quite filling. (I was a bit worried about this due to the lack of protein.)
The green juice consisted of kale, parsley, lime, and apple. Surprisingly, it was really freaking good. I may head down to NWC just for a juice every so often. Wow.
Dinner:
At Gusto, I had the Fromage Bleu salad: mixed greens with roasted chicken,
At dinner, I had a La Croix (snuck in the restaurant via my purse), and at the bar, I had a soda water with lime.
When I got home from my night on the town, I reheated some leftover steak and ate a bit of that, as I was starting to get a bit hungry. I definitely did not have as much protein today as I'm used to.
Physically: Aside from being sleepy (as I mentioned earlier), I'm feeling really good. I just cannot express how amazing I feel eating a Whole30-compliant diet; it's remarkable.
Emotionally: I'm mostly pretty good. This evening was a bit tough, however, as I felt (pretty much for the first time) some judgment.
First, the bartender seemed
Second, I felt a bit of criticism from my friends a few times this evening. First, they asked me if I was going to be joining them for dinner, even though I probably couldn't eat anything, and second, they asked me if I was going to be going to the bar with them, even though I wasn't going to be drinking. Then, they asked me how long Whole30 was going to continue, when it would start being a sacrifice of fun for health and restriction, etc.
It just made me feel like they didn't think I could be fun or enjoyable to be around if I wasn't going to be drinking booze or eating pizza. I'm sure I am totally reading into that (like I do for everything), but it was just the first time I ever felt even a smidge bothered by anything over the last 26 days. I guess I just wish they treated me like they have for the past several years, not like I'm a different person just because I'm eating a bit differently.
Cravings: As usual, the only things I'm really "missing" are sushi, wine, popcorn, and ice cream. Like always, though, these are not necessarily things that I want in my mouth right now but rather things that I think I will eat again at some point in the future. The pizza looked good at Gusto, but my salad was actually really, really good, so I didn't even think too much about the pizza.
I have been a rock star with the whole cravings thing: I cannot believe I haven't had ridiculous cravings every single day. It's a wonder what happens when you feed your body delicious, whole food instead of crap, I guess.
See you tomorrow morning!
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