Its not easy being green. Diet during Christmas?

Claudia encouraged megreen, smoothie, mint, avocado, pear, kiwi to write another guest post about a very recent experience. And let me tell you this last week was an experience. Have you ever tried to diet during Christmas? At work we had already gone through the Christmas buffet (an afternoon buffet of all sweets), two business lunches, and a dinner. Some of my older suits were giving me a bit of a wedgie. And I figured with the worst of the Holiday temptations at work behind me, let’s try a strict diet for a week. Claudia and I had both tried the “green smoothie” to replace a meal or two per day. Basically you puree raw greens blended with some fruit and water, which taste actually quite yummy, So how hard could it be to replace all meals for a week? Oh, you have no idea.

Monday morning. There’s a set of waist-high filing cabinets opposite my desk at work where coworkers occasionally put out treats to share. It was empty at 8:00. An hour later one of my coworkers puts out 3(!) plates of brownies. Chocolate chip brownies, walnut brownies, and macadamia nut brownies. Fortunately I am still a little full from the smoothie in the morning. But they sure look good.
Monday afternoon. We receive a suspicious package from a business partner. Yup, its cookies. A giant tin of cookies. I’m still holding on.

Tuesday morning. I have a bit of headache (I’m told it’s a side effect from going on a strict raw / greens diet), and there’s still lots of brownies and cookies left. They are starting to look good. The company also left me a small gift bag on my desk with a corporate logo t-shirt for our day of community service on Friday. Thoughtful! Wait, there’s candy in the bag too. Drat! At lunch a coworker brings back a plate of sandwiches left over from a meeting. Smells good.
Tuesday afternoon. A coworker brings two large plates of cookies, left over from a meeting and sets them on the cabinet. This is getting ridiculous.

Wednesday morning. There are still one plate of brownies, a tin of cookies, and two mostly full plates of cookies on the cabinet next to me. But I am in a meeting all morning, so I should be safe. And at least my headache is now gone. It turns out that the meeting goes through lunch and is catered. “Everybody grab some food, and meet back here in 10 minutes.” I run back to my desk and take a few sips of the green smoothie so that I will not be hungry. I notice that someone had put out a bowl of candy canes on the filing cabinet now as well. “Ha! child’s play! I scoff at your candy canes! I am strong – surely you can do better than that!”
Back at the meeting people two the right and the left of me are munching. Sandwiches, chips, sodas, cookies. I notice my sense of smell seems to be improved during this diet. For example, I can smell that the lady to my right has a tuna-salad sandwich, while the one to the left has smoked turkey. Thankfully the meeting only lasts another hour.
Wednesday afternoon. Another package arrives for the department from a business partner. But its specifically addressed to one of my colleagues so I don’t have to open it. Dodged a bullet there!

Thursday morning. My colleague opened the package. Its a large gift basket with gourmet cheeses, crackers, exotic chocolates, etc. Why does the filing cabinet next to my desk now look like a scene from the last supper? Its now completely full. Tin of cookies, a plate of cookies, a bowl of candy canes, a pan of brownies (although these are starting to look a bit stale), and the aforementioned gift basket. There’s not one square inch of space free! At least this is the last day; tomorrow is our day of community service, so I will not be here. I at least grab a bottle of exotic olive to take home for the weekend. They are green and vegetables after all!

Friday. Our day of community service. At the food bank! But the food is all in sealed containers and is for the less fortunate anyway, and so is not tempting at all. But of course lunch is catered.

Conclusion: I survived my diet during Christmas, and even dropped 4 pounds. That suit fits a little looser now. But I gotta say, “It’s not easy being green!”

p.s. if you are interested to read more about Green Smoothies check out this book by Victoria Butenko, which got us started. Or Nicole’s blog, which specializes in healthy living, this is a link to one of her green smoothie recipes. Nicole is a fellow artist also present on Etsy. And finally, a really interesting blog on raw food Claudia found last week.

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10 thoughts on “Its not easy being green. Diet during Christmas?”

    • Well, we’ve done them one week 100 %. This week, again because of Christmas dos we’ll substitute some meals, but not all. And I will never go 100 % raw, because I love cooking and trying recipes way too much. Although you can do amazing things raw as well 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, and leaving a comment Brooke!

      Reply
    • Happy you found me and decided to follow, Lenetta. For sure, I’ll be happy to check out your blog. Happy new year to you, too!

      Reply

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