dAy*SeVeN

(from the top: butternut squash soup, braised red cabbage with goat cheese, brussel sprouts with almond and dried cranberries, spaghetti squash with shiraz kissed tomato sauce, and chicken sausage.)

when i was in elementary school,
we had a neighbor babysit us
and she insisted that i
eat
my
green
beans.

i told her i couldn't.
that i would gag them up.

she continued to insist.

i ate them.

and i then gagged them up . . .
all over her opened dishwasher door.

i have always been a woman of my word,
but eeeewww.

since then, i have expanded my
veggie repertoire
to include what i like to call
"veggies light".

i enjoy spinach salads
(as long as they are filled with nuts and gorganzola cheese!)
i love avocados,
onions,
mushrooms.

but i don't consider most of those
to be "real veggies"!

last week the doctor told me
that one thing that might really help my back pain
is to really start eating a diet free of inflammatory foods.
one way to do this
is to start eating gluten-free.
well, if you have been following this blog for long,
you know that i have tried that before.
it is difficult, but it is quite doable.

what did not feel very doable is that she
went onto explain that i need to cut out
just about everything . . .
my meals should include meat and vegetables.
my snacks are fruit.
no dairy
no soy
no corn
no sugar
no rice
no wheat
you get the picture.
again, i have tried something similar before.
and THAT was NOT doable for me!

the problem is that while i like
meat
and
fruit,
the main event is supposed to be vegetables.

i have spent the past three days resisting
and rebelling.
in fact, i have eaten chick-fil-A TWICE
since being put on this diet.
ahh, rebellion.
sweet rebellion.

but kelly,
being the lovely, caring kelly that she is,
decided that she wanted to see me succeed.

so today for lunch,
she made me the "Festival of Vegetables"!

she called herb after lunch
to proclaim that she had gone
where no man had gone before:
she fed me a mostly vegetarian meal . . .
and i ate it!

they laughed as she described
the look of terror in my eyes
as i sat down to a plate FULL of vegetables.
she explained that she lovingly included
one
lone
chicken
sausage
in the middle of the plate
to serve as a sort of familiar "home base"
when i got nervous or freaked out.

but i have to say,
while the sausage was a comforting sight,
i really enjoyed our lunch!
especially the braised red cabbage!
shocking!!!

maybe, just maybe, there is hope for me yet!!!