day 1 - changing up my food vocabulary for the next two weeks

while shopping for food staples for my upcoming reset self cleanse at the local farmers market, i had to laugh when i realized that i'd be switching up my go-to comfort food of cookies, cheese, and chocolate for another set of c's: carrots, cucumbers, and cauliflower. or if i could base it on initial consonant sound, it'd be the three items i'd always thought would make for a great diet fad: kale, quinoa, and kombucha :)

it used to be that every time i'd stop by the saturday santa monica farmers market on arizona, i'd make a beeline for the valerie confections booth at the eastern end. i'd drool over their assortment of hand pies, tarts, cookies, and danish. i'd limit myself to just buying just one (two if i felt especially bad), and gobble it up with delight as soon as i got home. i'd also stop by the spring hill cheese booth and treat myself to either a pack of cheese curds or a block of cheddar cheese to munch on while watching reruns of big bang theory. and just so i could say i'd bought something "healthy", i'd stop by the fruit booths and buy some apples, strawberries, oranges, and stone fruit. i like food that can conveniently eaten with my hands; it must be the filipino in me, the kamayan-style way of eating.

this time, knowing that i had to give up the pastries and the cheese (sigh), i headed straight for the maggie's farm booth to splurge on mixed salad greens. i filled a bag with leaves of various shapes, colors, and tastes and was pleased to find out that it cost less than the hand pie i'd get at the other end of the market. and it had far fewer calories, too!

i stopped at harry's berries, and instead of buying strawberries (which are allowed, but i was on a veggie quest), i picked up a basket of sweetheart grape tomatoes that were so sweet, i felt like i was cheating. woohoo!! i moved on to the jimenez family farm booth and picked up a bunch of small carrots, perfect for throwing into the gigantic salad i was mentally assembling. i would've wanted to pick up a few more items, but my bike pannier was already overflowing and i still had to stop by co-opportunity to pick up some supplements i forgot to get when i went all crazy the night before loading up on kombucha that was on sale.

since i had a late start and dashed to the farmers market shortly before noon without having breakfast (i know, shame on me), nykki suggested that i treat today as another pre-cleanse day and start the program tomorrow instead.

i agreed, although knowing that i had to hold off on the chocolate for one more day was killing me. so when the craving hit, i popped a stick of sugarless gum in my mouth instead. now i know what nicotine addicts and alcoholics have to deal with :(

postscript: while at the maha shivaratri celebration at bhakti yoga shala later that evening, they passed around the prasad: chocolate hershey's kisses. i took one and ate it, knowing that shiva would be disappointed if i didn't. om namah shivaya!  :)

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today's yoga class: a gentle flow with neil martin at bhakti yoga shala

click here for yesterday's post