Day #11 – January 11, 2011
“Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudel, door bells and sleigh bells, and schnitzel with noodles. Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings… these are a few of my favorite things.”
Maria in The Sound of Music
Of the many delicious foods Maria describes in her song, “My Favorite Things,” none of them would fit into my diet right now. And yet, I am starting to find food that I would put on my list, even after this experiment is over.
I’ve heard (from some reliable source like a magazine, Internet article, or gossip around the water cooler) that people crave what they eat on a consistent basis. For example, if you eat Raisin Bran for ten mornings in a row, on the eleventh morning, as the alarm clock rings, your body will crave Raisin Bran. By the same token, if you eat ice cream every night at 9:30, your body thinks it needs Rocky Road at 9:30, even when you are already full.
That has happened to me with my morning juice. For the past week and a half, I have made fresh juice (usually some mixture of carrots, apples, oranges, and miscellaneous leftover fruit) and now, I would honestly choose this juice over almost anything else a person could offer me in the morning.
The problem is… I’ve had years of repetition with bad afternoon habits. Is it just me or does it seem tougher to crave good stuff after 4:00 PM? I’m reminded of an episode of Seinfeld where Elaine eats cake two or three days in a row at the office. Then, for the rest of the week, she has to have something sweet in the afternoon. She calls it the “four o’clock sugar rush.”
Well, I have eaten junk food in the afternoon for YEARS. That is a tough habit to break. I have found some good replacements for the afternoon munchies that sustain me. But I can’t say I like them better than Sour Patch Kids, Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, or Dr. Pepper.
A Few of My Favorite Vegan Snacks…
1. Terra Exotic Vegetable Chips (These things are made of Taro, Yuca, Sweet Potato, Batata, and Parsnip)
2. Sesame Bites (Be careful, I can eat the whole container in one sitting)
3. Breyers Pure Fruit Bars (I’m eating one of these right now)
4. Stash Pomegranate Green Tea (Whenever I get sick, I stick to a strict regiment of drinking green tea all day, and I’m convinced it helps me get better quickly)
5. Whatever Trail Mix is on sale a Publix (I miss the kind with chocolate, though)
Let me know if you have some healthy, yummy vegan snack ideas!
