Ups and Downs

The past few days have been just that, a tidal wave of highs and lows as we adjust to a new way of eating and a new way of living.

Down:
Thursday, our second day of the diet was very challenging. Dave's persistent headache from the previous day returned with a vengeance. We were both ridiculously hungry all day, and had an icky, aching feeling radiating throughout out bodies that we just couldn't seen to get rid of. It was trying for sure! We started questioning our sanity for taking on a challenge such as this!
By dinner, however, we had gained some new perspective. We concluded that with this diet, we are essentially on a detox. Even though we do tend to eat foods that are low in sugar, organic and unprocessed, there are a whole lot of hidden sweeteners and fillers in food that are hard to avoid. As a result, we may have been burning through our food faster, as our bodies were previously used to heavier, more complex foods. We felt like we had low blood sugar! The truth, though, that we tempered ourselves with was that it was only day two and that it that it probably is natural for us to be feeling so physically confused and out of whack, at least we hoped so...

Up:
Now five days in we feel much better. We are no longer suffering from the aches and pains of earlier and we are actually feeling fully satisfied with what we eat, no more crazy cravings (at least for now). Dave actually remarked this evening that he has more energy than before and has an easier time getting up in the morning. This, he feels, is largely due to being rid of coffee. Coffee before had offered him a temporary burst of energy and then a big drop-off, leaving him longing for more coffee to regain the high he felt. Now with a steadier intake of healthy, whole foods, his energy levels are more consistent and he reluctantly admits that maybe a reduced diet of coffee upon the end of the diet my be a good idea.

Down:
Cooking has been a challenge. Mairin, a relatively confident hand in the kitchen, has found it a bit of a struggle to adapt to these new ingredients. It's not just the Red Fife, it's having to deal with dried beans and sunflower oil and the whole lack of condiments and flavourings we're used to having at hand. Gone are the steadfast go-to's of cumin, coriander, curry, cinnamon, chili powder, and pepper that pretty much make most of our cooking attempts legendary (well, ok hardly legendary, but quite tasty at least). Replacing all of these spices with fresh herbs is not exactly an unsurmountable task, but it is taking some time to learn what flavors mix well with each other and the other local ingredients we have to choose from.

Up:
While the spices are dearly missed, we are making some progress on finding alternatives in the local herb world too, so it has not been an entirely bland few days. Watercress apparently has a very strong pepper taste! Something I don't think either of us knew before. Mixed with some local salt (thank you Goderich), we've used it in salads, frittata, chicken salad, and grilled veggies and don't even notice there's no pepper. It also has its own spiciness to it that brings out a lot of other flavor in our food! We've rediscovered the value of a BBQ, (thanks to the kind neighbor who decided to get a new one and left, now our BBQ, on the side of the road) and that has made for a few very tasty local meals that don't required huge preparations. And to address the condiments issue, we successful had our first attempt at homemade local mayo! It was a bit dodgey at first as the oil egg mixture did not want to solidify for us, but after a night in the fridge it actually congealed quite well. We did use sunflower oil, which in the future is not ideal as it has a very strong sunflower taste that really isn't too great for mayo. We added enough salt, watercress, and dill however to mostly mask that and it worked brilliantly in our chicken salad.

So all in all after a few days of local eating, we've come to the happy mindset that, yes this may be difficult, but we are learning everyday and will continue to eat well all summer!