The Ciantro is staring at me

The cilantro is going bad.  I don't mean like book an intervention bad, I mean limp, brownish and soggy bad.  I bought it in preparation for all my fresh, vegan cooking I'm going to be doing.  Soon.  I swear.  I went out with my head in my Radiant Health, Inner Wealth book (forever known on this blog now as "RHIW") like a crazy person, making shop people find me things like arrowroot, and ordering me stuff they didn't have like Kombu strips.  Yep, I just said that.  Kombu strips.  Tess gives very clear instrustions on how to stock your pantry and plan for meals, yet when I got home I just sat and stared at everything.  I did that for the next 2 days.  Am I intimidated by this new way of eating?  You bet I am!  This isn't buy a bag of chicken nuggets and fries and there's dinner cooking; this is plan, soak, mince.........*gulp* juice, whole foods cooking!!  This is zest your food and chop it too!  This is a whole new world.  And there my cilantro sits, staring at me, judging me...Okay, maybe I did buy too much.  Maybe I'll not be able to use this batch of cilantro up even if I make 12 jars of salsa.  So what?  No need to judge.  I'm getting the hang of this, slowly.  Lesson learned.  One bag of nuggets; one bunch of cilantro (not 10).  The point is that I had to push past my fear and my self-doubt and just do it.  So, that's what I did tonight.  I made Immune Boost soup from RHIW.  It has shiitaki mushrooms, kale (something else I bought too much of), exotic (to me) oils, miso (i didn't even know what this was, I thought it was seaweed.  It's not.), garlic and green onions.  It was easy and shockingly delicious.  I didn't know what to expect, what with the miso and all, but it has a wonderful chinese broth I've tasted before and love, but didn't know how to make.  I put a tad too much filling in it (remember my surplus kale?), but overall I was proud.  I ate that with a piece of my sprouted (I'll tell you about this another time) whole wheat bread with almond butter.  Yep, almond butter.  It's yummy.  I ate one large bowl of soup and my bread and was done.  I was surprised as this was a big fear for me, feeling starved.  Oddly I was full.  Me, full.  Me, (who I kid you not) can eat a bigmac, filet of fish, large fries and a large drink and feel hungry an hour later.  Maybe there's something to this way of eating?  Maybe it's a totally different mind set, eat to live not live to eat.  Maybe I will lose weight, lower my blood pressure and cholesteral?  Maybe.  I'll see and let you know.  This is after all only my 2nd day.  I don't want to be too eager!  Let's review how I feel:

Hunger: Oddly satisfied.  Not too full.
Cravings: None yet. (I'm not stupid though, I know they're out there...waiting).
Mood:  Not crabby (hooray!), peaceful.
Health:  No IBS reaction after eating (formally known as "eat and run"), a little gassy, but oddly more energy??

Not bad.  And it's only day 2!  Next week I'll start Tess' 2 week weight loss plan.  That will be more strict than how I'm eating now.  There will be veggie requirements.  Did I mention I don't overly enjoy veggies?  Yeah, they taste like the dirt they came from.  I will have to review her recipes for making veggies more palatable for kids.  Oh, the shame...  I've been telling my family and friends what I'm doing and their reaction for the most part has been like, I might as well have told them I grew horns and belly danced in the mall!  (eeewwww, bad visual- sorry!!)  They also think I'm going to start walking around in a hemp shirt and sandles!! (you know who you are).  Haha, go ahead and judge me cilantro.  I'm on to you.  Next time I won't be as afraid to use you like the plant you are!  So that's it today.  Goodnight everybody, I have to go soak some beans.  And put on a hemp shirt and sandles ;)

Danielle