Eve of Eats

Happy Labor Day! The holiday was originally started as a way to celebrate the economic and social contributions of American workers. Its since devolved into a day of sales at the mall or sleeping off Sunday night’s hangover. Many also use this day as a bookend to Memorial Day; an end-of-summer barbeque with friends and family is pretty common.

But I remember this day for a bigger reason than an extra day to sleep in. One year ago today, I was having my final meal with friends (yup it was BBQ) and enjoying that last bit of summer fun before beginning my new meal plan, which is now incorporated into my life and less like a diet.

Last year I sat with friends at Lucille’s and ate pulled pork on a thick bun slathered with honey BBQ sauce (the bun was slathered in sauce, not me, I’m not that kind of girl), creamy cole slaw, sipped a regular Pepsi, noshed on corn bread with honey butter and marveled that all the items I was consuming somehow had animal fat as a key ingredient. Fried green tomatoes, fried okra, I had corn on the cob, greens cooked in ham hocks and topped all that off with peach cobbler. I’m not sure where I put that last item but that wasn’t the point. I was enjoying my version of The Last Supper.

I’d prepared for this day. I’d both dreaded and relished its arrival. I’d purchased groceries based on this new meal plan. I’d purged the pantry and removed all items from my fridge that contained salt, fat, sugar and white flour. I’d spent over two hours at the grocery store the previous evening, poring over labels and had been stunned at the ‘nutritional value’ of things. I had my eating plan posted on my fridge, the meals had been prepared for the coming week and labeled. I was armed (large and un-toned arms) with knowledge of my body type and how it burned fat.

That night I went to bed with an overly full tummy, excited with the prospect of finally getting a handle on my love handles. I didn’t know what that first week would bring, I just knew I wanted to feel better about myself and felt I’d finally found a way to do that.

Tomorrow’s the one year anniversary of this eating plan and I’ll share all my stats and progress.

Holiday edition lie: this way of eating wasn’t at all worth it.