Week #1 complete

Celebrating completing the first week of "Eating What We Grow"

Well we not only made it through the first week of "Eating What We Grow", but we loved it.  I feel great and have solid energy.  Maybe I am bias, but eating from our gardens the food seems to have such vital force.  I am eating less heavy foods than I was used to, so I feel light and very alert and alive.

I am surprised by the diversity of our home grown diet.  I thought I would have a monotonous diet, bland and with very little variation.  The opposite has been the case.  For example, Jennifer harvested wild guava fruit from trees along our driveway.  We juiced the fruit with our champion juicer, mixed it with sugar cane juice and water, and WOW, fantastic!

Guava Juice made from wild guavas and sugar cane juice

For breakfast we had fruit (orange wedges, banana and papaya) over home made yogurt made with raw milk from our neighbors Brown Jersey cow.  Again, fantastic!

Papaya, Orange wedges, Bananas over home made yogurt

Lunch was fried eggs, avocado and home made salsa using our tomatoes and cilantro.

Fried Eggs, Avocado and home made salsa

French Beans, Stir Fried Chard and Beet Tops, and Beets

Dinner was french beans, red beats, and stir fry using the beet tops and swiss chard.

Day Six

Saturday. Usually I graze on weekends, but today was a bit different. I started with a great smoothie after working in my garden at sunrise. I prepared a pineapple bed for all the keikis, tops and suckers from our harvest this August. I had so much energy today. Then around noon I had a natural yogurt that Jennifer made from some raw milk a neighbor gave us from his Brown Jersey cow. We had orange wedges on top of the yogurt, excellent. That got me through the day and for dinner we finished off the soup we made the night before. It is 10:30 and I feel great. Oh by the way, my weight is down 7 pounds in six days.

Day Five

Black Eye Pea Soup with Tomato and Basil

Jennifer reports cravings for chocolate and sugar.  She went with Kaitlin to Costco in Kona today and said it was really hard.  All those food choice and she had to eat taro burgers.


It was actually easier for me today.  Getting used to less junk in my body and it feels good.  I feel light and energetic.

Dinner was soooo goooood tonight.  Tomato and Black Eyed Pea soup with Basil, very hearty.

Breakfast: papaya banana smoothie with sugar cane juice

Lunch: dried bananas and dried pineapple, two hard boiled eggs and white taro chunks

Dinner, Salad (lettuce, tomato, with lemon juice), and soup mentioned above.  Yuummm!

Day Four

Last Nights Dinner,  egg salad with tomatoes

It is getting easier. I am getting used to the new routine.  I still have the urge to reach for the old goodies (coffee, snacks, lunch out, wine in the evenings) but not as strongly.

Breakfast was a smoothie.

Lunch was two hard boiled eggs, some pineapple chunks, and some taro.

Pre-dinner cocktails were fresh squeezed sugarcane juice and lime.

Dinner was purple sweet potatoes with fried eggs.

Pulling Black Eyed Peas from their pods

Papayas Oh Yeah!

Went into the garden after work to harvest.  Got some black eyed peas that we'll have as a soup tomorrow night.  Also got a pale of papaya fruit for morning smoothies and several bunches of bananas.

Day Three

Breakfast

I find some of the strangest things about this exercise so far is my snacking habit.  No coffee, so no Starbucks visits when feeling a bit tired.  No cookies or sweets that often are available on the front desk at work.  So I've substituted with dried pineapple and dried banana, and some fresh pineapple chunks.  No glass of wine in the evening, so I've had a sugar cane juice with lime.

Harvey Diamond wrote "Fit for Life", one of the best books I've ever read on eating for health. He advocated eating only fruit until noon each day because the amount of energy the human body uses to digest.  So my morning fruit smoothies fits his recommendation perfectly.  I've done this before and I find that by about 10:00 I am hungry.

In the middle of the day I ate a couple of hard boiled eggs, some pineapple chunks, and some taro.  Not all at once, just kind of grazed during work.

Jen is just finishing her Wednesday evening Yoga class, so we'll get together in a few minutes and decide what to prepare.  I think we'll have a salad, lettuce and tomatoes.  Maybe some taro in a tomato soup.

Day Two

Well we made it through day two. My mood is good, ate very well today. I actually might have gained weight. I had a bit of a headache this morning. I think it is withdrawal from caffeine. It passed and I feel great. I ate almost like I did yesterday. Very filling and satisfying!

Breakfast:hot water and lemon to wake up, followed by a smoothie.

Lunch: taro burgers and two boiled eggs. Some pineapple chunks for snacks.

Dinner: purple sweet potatoes, French beans, and salad with lettuce and tomato.

Dessert: a few longan fruit and a couple of dried pineapple slices

Day 1 of "Eating What I Grow"

Yes today is August 1st, and it is the day we begin to honor the crazy commitment I made on January 1st, to only eat what I grow for one month during 2011.  Jennifer is joining me on this adventure and I really appreciate her support.

Upon waking up this morning, I got on the scale to record my opening weight.  It's not like I expect to loose pounds, but might need a reference point in 30 days.

Pre-breakfast I replaced my normal cup of strong coffee, with hot water with a squeeze of lemon from our lemon tree.  Very satisfying.  Then Jennifer and I had a smoothie with frozen bananas, fresh papaya and fresh squeezed sugar cane juice.

For lunch I had two hard boiled eggs and two taro burgers.  Tasty and filling.

For dinner we had sautéed french beans and boiled purple sweet potatoes with gee.

So far so good.  Not hungry and I feel energetic.   Taking it one day at a time.