I’ve found myself not really very hungry this week. Many times, this can signal that our body’s nutrient needs are being met and that toxic hunger is no longer an issue.
 
Dr. Fuhrman says, “Eating a high-nutrient diet actually makes you more satisfied with less food, and actually give the ability to enjoy food more without overeating.”  
 
I am feeling full longer and I can go longer without eating and it doesn’t seem to bother me.  So now, I am just eating when I’m hungry and I make sure when I do eat, it’s full of nutrients!
 
LAST WEEK’S MENU
 
For breakfast I had smoothies (w/lots of spinach, fruit & flax seed). 
 For lunch, I had chopped salads, raw veggies with hummus (I love hummus!), brown rice and bean or veggie soups and some fruit.
For dinner, we had salads and leftover soups, or leftovers from new recipes.  I’ve been trying to increase my raw vegetable intake (usually at lunch) and I think the raw food is what’s making me feel full longer.  The only problem is that I’m not hungry for dinner but my family comes home starving! Lol! On evenings when I’m not that hungry, I’ll just have a small bowl of vegetable or bean soup or another smoothie, or just more raw vegetables with hummus
When I feel like I’ve had a nourishing day of eating, I may skip my evening meal altogether.  I have experimented with intermittent fasting on and off but not for more than skipping one meal.  I’m considering making this a regular part of my plan, however I need to educate myself more on the topic before I do.
 
The family, well…at least my husband, is enjoying this way of eating as much as I am.  I try each week to make at least one new recipe, usually at our evening meal (on evenings when I am actually hungry, lol!) just to keep things fresh, otherwise I would make the same things over and over and then get bored with our food and the dreaded burn-out would set in! This week, I was in a cooking mood so we tried several new recipes.  The Nutritarian Portobello Pasta was really simple and very good, we both really liked it.  We tried the Potato Scramble for our weekend breakfast and it was a big hit, hubby really liked it! I was out of vegetable stock so I improvised and used some of the stock from the Spicy Tomato-Vegetable Soup that threw together earlier.
I’m still trying new dressing recipes too, but the ones I tried this past week didn’t work for my taste.  The Fresh Cumin Dressing was just a little too strong for me, but I plan to try it again, since my taste preferences are still changing! I wasted my ingredients trying out a vegan “Ranch” dressing.  Let’s face it, there’s nothing that will taste like the real Ranch, so I’m just not going to try anymore! Goodbye Ranch, goodbye!
On a sweet note, we did try a new Nutritarian “treat” (I know, I’m going to be careful, and I will eat all my food first before having a treat!).  The Oatmeal Cookie Dough was really, really good! We will definitely be making this again!
We just keep trying stuff and are pleasantly surprised that we are liking more and more new things.
 
Grocery shopping seems to be getting easier now. With my cabinets and refrigerator organized, this has helped a ton! (If you have not organized your cabinets/refrigerator into ETL and non-ETL foods, I would suggest you do!) And we are more familiar with the location in the store of the regular items we purchase now.  I can send my husband for a bag of lentils and he will come back with a bag of dried lentils and not be found wandering the isle of laundry detergent.  He thought lentil had to do with “lint” removal (LoL!!  We laughed for so long about this!) But bless his heart, to his credit, I had never bought, much less cooked, lentil before I started ETL.  Bless him for even going grocery shopping with me! I love that man! He gets tickled at me because I get so excited when produce goes on sale.  On our last grocery trip, I snagged 3 to 4 bunches of bananas that were marked down for quick sale.  I took those babies home and prepped them for smoothies and nice cream!
And Oh. My. Goodness. The Pineapple was on sale too! I looooove pineapple! I bought a few of these too! I have those chopped and frozen (yep, more smoothies!). My husband says I get pure giddy when I’m in the produce section.  Isn’t it funny that I get so excited over such things?!
 
I’m all about making my time in the kitchen with food prep more quick and efficient, so when I can, I try to add to my kitchen tools.  This week, I bought myself a stainless steel 5-quart bowl and a Mezzaluna for chopping my salads.  Before, I was trying to do it on a cutting board, but this makes it so much quicker, not to mention easier to clean up!
Next week, I plan to share with you some of the common kitchen tools that are favorites among fellow Nutritarians. Let’s face it, if we can be more efficient and keep things simple, we are more likely to stick with this way of eating, and then we will have time to enjoy it too!
 
Remember if you’re participating in the jumpstart and are struggling, please reach out to the Eat to Live Support Group on the Facebook page. There are people in the community that can offer you advice and suggestions or simply encourage you to stick with it!
 
I’m sticking with it, hope you will too!