Oy, I forgot the transitional hunger that always accompanies shifting back into healthier eating habits ... for some probably psychosomatic reason, no amount of food seems to fill me up, even extra cooked food, when I eliminate the flours and fat-soaked grains and sugars. Smoothy after smoothy, fatty avocados, hours of chewing fiber -- nothing achieves satiation, at least for a few days. I even tried sneaking in a few Dixie-cups of free swill-coffee at the bank, partially to kill the hunger and partially as reward for starting the dreaded tax preparations, but to no avail. I was still hungry a few hours later, and was glad I had the last of the split-pea soup, to which I added steamed red potatoes and nutritional yeast and extra salt. Aaaah, after about half a bowl too much, that hit the spot! And I proved to myself that at least in the post-binge days of chagrin, I CAN indulge in a little coffee without regressing into craving all-things-junk. This was an especially welcome discovery after being informed that I'd forgotten my February credit card payment, and had two "minimum" payments (translate: a bunch of money) due in a few days, grrrrrr!!
This morning, I had the luxury of having time to actually check in with my stomach and see what it wanted for breakfast, after the requisite herbal-yerba tea. The immediate response was, Coffee and blueberry pancakes, you fool, and make it quick!! Oooooh, gotcha -- something sweet. Okay. Didn't thaw any frozen berries, only fresh fruit left is grapefruit, hmmm. Open fridge and stare, willing a magical form of raw blueberry pancakes to effortlessly appear.
No pancakes, but the dates hiding in the back of the tray inspired me to try something different. I blended the grapefruit with boxed coconut water and some dates, adding just a little green powder and cinnamon, imagining a citrusy concoction that would be light yet filling ...
Well, that didn't exactly happen. It was okay, but the dates did not blend well, even when I zipped the mess around on "high" for long enough to start heating it up, and the flavors just didn't quite mesh. But it did give me a good simple-sugar fix to start the day, and the stomach grudgingly agreed that the end result was better than pancakes and coffee.
The only problem is -- I'm hungry again!!