So we’re on the last day of the reset.
And I have a confession to make.
Last night my husband and I had a date night. And it was a date night where the baby was at Nana and Papa’s house for the entire night, which meant it was the sort of night where we could take our time and go to TWO places, instead of just one, and stay out as late as we wanted.
(We stayed out until 11 p.m. because we are that punk rock.)
Scott told me I could pick where we went to dinner, owing to the dietary restrictions I’m under. The night before we went out with friends and as luck would have it one of the menu items was steamed seasonable vegetables and an undressed vegetable salad (read: cucumbers and tomatoes) with a oil and vinegar option, which was awesome but really a stroke of luck. So he wanted me to be able to better work within the reset eating guidelines.
Enter: Karyn’s on Green.
Most health-conscious folks in Chicago are aware of Karyn Calabrese and her raw foods/vegan empire. I’ve been to her Lincoln Park location and sampled some of the raw offerings (not entirely my cup of tea) and figured her upscale restaurant would offer something that Scott would enjoy and guarantee me something within the reset guidelines.
The restaurant is gorgeous – we’d been there before, when it was called “Butter” and Ryan Poli was the chef, and we loved the space. We ran into some folks we knew there – from our neighborhood, no less – and, long story short, I made the call to have a cocktail. And a glass of wine. And have several courses.
I don’t really have a “defense” or anything, I just made the decision. I made smart meal decisions (my vegan friends warn me that some vegan dishes can be loaded with sugar, salt and fat) and decided my treat for a rare night out with my husband, just a day away from ending the reset, would be a Manhattan and a glass of Shiraz.
Worth every moment.
We split the “chorizo” sliders and I had green tomato carpaccio and zucchini pasta, both technically “raw” vegan dishes, and we split the lavender “cheesecake.” The service was outstanding, my husband loved all of his dishes (and the cocktails) and I could not have been more excited and happy.
I’m back to following the reset to the letter today, because in service of following some of the lessons I’ve picked up these past few weeks I’m not about to attach or assign blame or guilt or whatever to conscious choices I made about what I put in my pie hole for a meal, and then throwing in the towel. Besides, Jesus, how obsessive would it be to flagellate myself after a dinner of healthy vegan food?
Much like the days before these, I have felt wonderful and light, though man if I don’t have a sensitivity to sugar I don’t know what. After the cocktail and wine, plus the lavender cheesecake, my stomach felt absolutely awful until I was able to get up and walk around and have more water. Which I drank in large quantities in conjunction with the alcohol, thank God for other lessons learned.
I shopped and meal planned for this week’s upcoming meals and nary a meal includes meat, and the two that involve dairy are for Scott and AG’s palates, not mine. There are eggs, but whatever. It doesn’t seem difficult in the grand scheme to adapt to some of this way of eating, what with all of the vegan and vegetarian blogs out there offering incredibly easy and tasty recipe options. Last night’s dinner inspired me to get serious in at least testing out new ways of cooking. I’m not making any huge proclamations about how I’m going to eat – I don’t know that I see myself swearing off the option of never having a good steak again or turkey at Thanksgiving or whatever – but I’m confident I don’t really need to do more than worry about the moment in front of me and just made a decision based on what I’m feeling in this moment.
And the thing right now? I feel fantastic and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. I think if there is anything wonderful about this experience is it the work that went into “resetting” my body and getting all of the junk out of it and eating only unprocessed for weeks. You really do feel great and learn what it’s like not to be running on non-food. I assume some days I’m going to want something that isn’t considered beneficial to the human body, and I’ll own that, but for now I’m going to have a bowl of fruit and some more herbal tea.
(Final wrap up tomorrow.)
