Reflections on Eating Out

Well, I survived College Briefing. Rather than taking the juicer with me, I juiced ahead of time and took enough for the weekend. This worked out well. I'm not sure how much nutritional value this lost, but I felt pretty good all weekend. The camp usually had a good salad bar in the evening and I had lots of guacamole at my disposal.

The last week has been a little rugged though. I got away from juicing every day (I'm supposed to do so twice a day) and have been eating out too much. I think a good deal of that is my own inability to tell people "no thanks" when it comes to going out. I have found that most restaurants use a copious amount of salt and oil, which is not only bad for me, it is also unappetizing. Three examples from the last several days come to mind: I had cashew chicken at Elephant Bar which was overly oily. I had fried rice at Koraku which was also overly oily (but not as salty as I would have expected). I had an avocado omelette and refried beans at La Capilla that was oily and salty despite getting it without cheese. I felt kind of lousy for most of the afternoon after that meal. I have also been drinking way too much coffee. I had a headache for most of Friday afternoon and was tired all day Saturday (I took two naps). I think both of these occurences were caffeine withdrawal. So, I had one cup this morning which will be my last coffee for a while.

On the other hand, I think I have retrained my body to desire proper foods. When I eat a lot of junk, I really feel like having fresh fruit. Yesterday I had a strong desire to have vegetable juice (which would revolt a lot of people). A big bowl of cucumber salad excites me more than a big bowl of macaroni and cheese would. The cruciferous soups are really tasty now that I have rid my taste buds of their salt insensitivity.

This week I am going to get the weight bench in a spot where I can use it. I would really like to see how weight training will increase my appetite (which has now improved to nearly what it was in high school) and help me bulk up a bit.