Climb for Hospice

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but making fun of my lunch will never hurt me.

I’m getting ridiculed at work.

Y’see, I’ve been on one of Cara’s personalized Nutrition Plans for a couple of weeks now, and although it’s serving my body well, it certainly opens my world up to more wide-eyed gawkers and fascinated head shakers.

I eat about six times a day. It’s not a ton of food at each meal, but it’s enough to make people laugh at me when I stuff the fridge at work with multiple containers labeled with pieces of tape that say things like, “Friday3pm”, and “Monday12pm”. I usually take in a minimum of 4 containers to work each day. Yesterday one of my colleagues popped her head into my office and said, “are those all YOUR containers in the fridge?!” (LOUDLY. In front of multiple other colleagues).

“Yes”, I sheepishly replied, feeling slightly bad that I’m taking up so much room in the mini-bar sized refrigerator.

“Where do you put it all?!”, she asked incredulously.

As I futilely began to explain that ‘it’s not that much, food… REALLY!’, she had already walked away shaking her head and laughing.

*sigh*

These Nutrition Plans are crazy. They absolutely, 100% WORK. After just four days on this one, the results were already easy to notice. I feel so much better, too. It’s about ‘eating clean’, not putting ready-to-eat, pre-packaged, chemical-infused STUFF into my body. Lots of fresh veggies, lots of fish. No bread, no sugar. It is not easy to follow this thing at all, but it’s really worth it.

And so, as I chow down on my 4oz of grilled tofu, 1c of long grain brown rice, and 2c salad (with tomatoes and cucumbers!) with 1tbsp of olive oil & red wine vinegar dressing, at 1pm today, I’ll let the “how’s the bark mulch and power beans?” ridicule bounce off me. Because I know that after work today, I need to go shopping for new belts, as the ones I have are far too big for me, and actually hang off my waist now.

Well, well. Look at that.

I (heart) you, bark mulch.

This morning I am going to meet Ali for brunch at my favourite restaurant in Vancouver: Twisted Fork! We are going to talk about the Kili Gala and other Kili-related things while drinking coffee and eating really, really, really good food.

Twisted Fork is a relaxed French bistro on Granville St. (at about Davie). It is owned and operated by business-genius siblings Mike and Andrea Leslie, and full-of-win chef Corey Sullivan. It’s a fairly new place in Vancouver, but was transplanted from Fernie, BC where it was the award-winning restaurant The Wood. The food is great, the people are lovely, and the atmosphere is laid-back and funky. I love this place so much.

I chose Twisted Fork for brunch today, because it is my last gastronomic hurrah for four weeks. Y’see, I have been given a meal plan from Cara, and I start it tomorrow morning at 6:30am. The meal plan is designed to trim the sugar from my diet (I am seriously addicted to sugar. It frightens me), and to get my body in a nice, lean shape. I’ve done these meal plans before, and it really is amazing how quickly the body changes when you only put clean, healthy food in it.

*sigh* no more popcorn for dinner. No more mini Snickers bars before bed.

Hello oatmeal, basa, green beans, quinoa, brown rice, egg whites and (*shudder*) protein shakes.

Oh Twisted Fork, I love you. Thank you for your help in sending me to Dietary Blahville with delicious memories of your fantabulous menu.

Off I go!