Not a Superhero...

Superhero Experiment Grade = Incomplete

Well after eating peanut butter and bananas wrapped in tortillas, and hemp ice cream, I think its safe to say that the Superhero experiment officially stopped with day five. Now I still have lots of veggies in the fridge and I will do my best to not let anything go to waste - I hate waste!

So I guess I'm not a superhero...just the regular kind. Life happens I guess.

I did learn some good things though.

1. I was able to try lots of foods that I would have never thought of putting in my mouth that were both good for me and DELISH! I eat seaweed, and that's just weird, but I liked it. I fried something for the first time (even though I'm not sure that this is a good accomplishment for an RD). I liked almost every meal that I had, and while I will try variations, in just 4 days I was able to find countless combinations of foods.

2. Cooking from scratch can be time consuming. This was the hardest part of the experiment. I, like many others, don't have the time or energy to cook full meals daily. However, I think I am fully capable of making a plan for myself to cook a couple days of the week and have healthy leftovers for the other meals. Daily, I hear single men (at work - I don't just go around interviewing random men) tell me that they can't eat better because they think its a waste to just cook for themselves. That's a crock! A) You can make any recipe work for one person, or at least you could freeze leftovers so you have something on the days that you don't want to cook. B) I 100% believe that your health is in YOUR hands. As a society, we watch countless hours of TV, spend lots of money on cable and phones and cigarettes, but when it comes to ourselves and what we put into our bodies suddenly its just too time consuming. Taking care of yourself is YOUR responsibility whether you live by yourself or in a family of 10. Which brings me to...

3. Although many gobs of people will disagree, including some fellow RDs, you can eat healthy on a budget. This experiment used some weird/specialty ingredients, which caused my bill to go up. But even a vegan who relies mainly on grains, veggies, and fruit can eat VERY inexpensively. With about 30 bucks, I have enough grains and beans in my pantry to last me 2-3 months. Since those things are so cheap, I can spend my money on fruits and vegetables (local, seasonal are great options this time of the year to get on the cheap, and frozen and canned are good options as well). Again, we spend our money on beer, cigarettes, cable, cell phones, but we can't spend money on food that will nourish our bodies and keep us healthy? I think our priorities are really messed up in this country. I'll leave it at that.

4. My body feels its best when I feed it with good, plant-based whole foods. Most of you know about my never ending belly issues (and if you don't, consider yourself lucky...hehe), but since becoming vegan, I really have had minimal problems. yippee! Even eating the fried dish I made this week, I didn't feel icky like I usually do if I eat fried foods. When I eat a good balanced diet, I don't crave sweets, and other junk foods. I feel more content, and I am able to listen to my body's hunger/satiety cues much better. And finally...

5. Even though I didn't make it through a whole week of being a superhero, I am continuing to learn that life is not about being perfect. Today, I needed some peanut butter banana to keep my sanity. But, I can already feel myself craving some veggies, so you better believe I'll eat a bunch tomorrow. I struggle with it, but I keep trying to learn this balance thing.

So, looking ahead to what will likely be a difficult week for me, I will be armed with some good-for-me leftover veggies, and another lesson in this balancing act. Hopefully I will be kinder to myself if I have a hard day, and push myself to try new things when I can.

Superhero Experiment was a success afterall. (by the way, I have a few more pictures to share in the next few days of the rest of the food I made - I am very intrigued by mochi!)