Finding my groove with this thing is going to be important. Right now, I don’t have any real issues other than I would rather everything be french fries that what it is. Celery sticks… size and shape of fries, but definitely not fries. 

Now that the all over body soreness and joint pain from the tetanus shot has worn off, I am ready to get back to the gym. I haven’t been in quite a while, but I have been using Samsung Health to motivate me to eat right and work out. It tracks my sleep, nutrition, stress, mood, steps, and all sorts of other factors. I actually like checking in and logging my food.

My brother has had some challenges as well and is giving me all kinds of tips on supplements and things I can do to stay on track. It is helpful to know that I am not alone in this. He says that I need to get a pill box to keep up with the supplements. Oddly enough, that was a hard thing to hear. Dat ol’ people ting, nuh man. *steups* But… 42.

This morning I started with my first bottle of water, my vitamin D and iron, then did oatmeal with fresh strawberries on top – so many strawberries that you couldn’t really see the oatmeal. My husband and Li’l Bit joined me, but my two boys opted out and just ate the strawberries alone.

Read also: Day One: Occupied.

I still had my tea as usual, and I feel like I’m in a routine for breakfast. The rest of the meals are hard. Last night, dinner took me HOURS. I have become so accustomed to boiling something real quick and dumping some sauce on it, then adding a side of steamed vegetables, that actually MAKING a meal has become  hard. Real cooking is for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. Dassit.  Then and only then will I cut, dice, mince, chop, roast, bake, saute, brine, soak, etc.

Last night’s dinner was quinoa pilaf and barbeque style mushrooms. I have never washed mushrooms… it had me questioning all that is right in the world. First of all, those things are super unattractive as far as food goes. They look really dirty, and all the websites I went to in order to find out what a clean portabello mushroom looked like said to just rinse them. I wash rice, and that looks relatively clean. But they want me to RINSE these dutty things? Nah.

Related: Day Three: Improvise.

The barbecue mushrooms were really good. The quinoa pilaf was okay. It needed to have the sauce from the barbecue all over it. After everyone ate, the strangest thing happened. I know it was late to the table, but my kids have a lot of activities and eating late happens sometimes. However, they ALL went to sleep. Right to sleep. My husband said he felt tired too. It was so interesting. I want to see if the same thing happens tonight. It’s only 4:30, but dinner has been ready for an hour already. I am so ready for that peace and quiet.

In case you missed it: Day Two: Reality.

Today’s lunch was last night’s leftovers. We don’t use a microwave, and I was the only one interested in repeating that performance, so I just put it on top of some salad greens with a dressing I made in the food processor and ate it cold. It was really good, but even if it wasn’t, I was gonna eat it. 

The kids have been begging for smoothies, so I made a mango strawberry smoothie. We always have BIG heaping cups of it, so I entered the ingredients to get the nutrition facts and upped the serving size to reflect how WE do.

Here’s the recipe. 

4 cups frozen strawberries

2 cups frozen mango

1 bottle sparkling flavored water (I used lemon, but you can use anything)

4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk

(makes 4 BIG servings, 125 Calories each)

Directions: Put it all in the blender and blend until smooth.

Looking forward to dinner tonight, but I’m skipping the gym. It is cold and rainy and I think I have done well enough not to be eating peppermint patties and girl scout cookies under my heating blanket while watching netflix. While that was my groove, looks like I have to find a new one. I’ve decided… victory is mine.

I’ll be keeping up my Instastories, so you can follow along with me there. My handle is @socamom. I am following the 21 day vegan kickstart plan by Dr. Barnard at the recommendation of my physician.

Read also: 42

If you missed them, check out my posts: Day One: Occupied, Day Two: Reality, and Day Three: Improvise.