Define Cheating

Cheating: A term usually reserved for the adulterous, the liars, the thieves or in the case of my former life...the dieter.

I stated in an earlier post that there are a few food items, I absolutely refuse to give up...and I haven't. In fact, by making that statement, I now find myself consuming these items well below the "in moderation" level.

Maybe I haven't been clear in my mission statement, because I find that most people are under the impression that I'm on a diet. I'm not "on a diet". In my mind, that term signifies what it has for most of my life; temporary and non-committal abstinence from eating the foods I love.

That's not where I am right now and therefore I refuse to claim the term "cheating" to my vocabularyeither; even if I happen to eat something I know is bad for me.

This became amazingly clear to me this weekend when I slid along the slippery slope of eating at restaurants for almost five days in a row; what a nightmare. I didn't realize things were getting bad until I had THE worst case of indigestion on the 4th evening. That's when my body just totally cursed me out and made others run for the hills. Ironically though, I ate what I believed to be whole food choices (with the exception of Sunday night), but in all honesty I had no idea what was going on in the kitchens of these places.

By the fifth night, I just "gave up" (hey! that's a term I can agree to use!). I tried everything* without a single hesitant thought as to how it was made: coconut sticky rice, crab cakes, lobster boniato mash, braised beef spring rolls, rib eye steak, risotto, and last (but actually least, I'm proud to say), a taste of coconut cake (with coconut ice cream of course). No thought was given because I knew exactly how everything was made...

The last outrageous dinner on Sunday (Asia de Cuba) tasted just as wonderful as the first in the series on Tuesday (GustoOrganics). The difference was simply the fact that the dinner on Tuesday was the lessor of two evils. Even in a 100% organic restaurant environment that uses whole food ingredients, one still "gives up" their liberty of knowing exactly what's in their food.

There's no way around it except to cook at home as much as possible!!!

So the more I type this term "give up", the more I like it. In a way it's more spiritual because it releases me from guilt which interestingly enough, I didn't feel after eating as I did. I actually looked forward to making dinner the next day, and today, and the rest of the week as well.

So what's on the home cooked menu tonight? No idea, but the raw and minimal processed ingredients are waiting for maximum preparation by the one and only...ME!

*I will not mention the two Caipirinhas I had...nope, not gonna mention them at all.

Gustorganics

Since January 1 (the day I went naked), I have become "that friend"; the one on a special diet. Most of my peeps are on board thankfully, but hangin' out for dinner has become more of a chore for them than me. A dinner invitation is usually followed by the comment "Oh but what can you eat?" I try to explain that I can find something to eat almost anywhere although I prefer to eat somewhere where the food isn't so bad for us. This is purely me sticking to my laurels and supporting businesses that pay attention to the wholesomeness of food versus those that have cans stacked up in their kitchens.
This week a friend and I went to Gustorganics and I...AM...IN...LOVE!!!...(with the food of course)
I've been to several organic restaurants and this is by far THE BEST so far. Not only is absolutely everything organic including the bar, but they also use alternative ingredients like agave nectar and whole wheat flour in their preparations. The food was absolutely incredible and my mouth is watering now just thinking about what I had to eat.
The service was impeccable for a restaurant so laid back yet sophisticated in its offerings.
If you haven't been yet...GO NOW!!