30 Day Challenge, Day 6 (My Hero, Mel)

Melissa Joulwan doesn't know it, but she is one of my heroes. She doesn't know me at all.  In fact, she has no idea that Ms. Julie, single-mom-searching-for-the-right-answers-for-Ballerina, exists.  But that's beside the point.  Her witty, no-nonsense style and fantastic recipes were just the inspiration I needed to launch into a nutrition style that flew in the face of everything I'd been taught about "healthy eating" all my life.  And today, she posted this lovely morsel of fantastic insight:

Bodies don't really follow rules.

And now that I've grown accustomed to that idea, I like it! How lovely that my body isn't just like yours – and yours isn't just like mine. But because we're all beautiful and unique, it's immensely helpful to think of all of this as an experiment to find the best way to care for our bodies, which are really just unpredictable bags of water and hormones that act as a container for our big brains and boundless hearts.

Thank you, Mel.  I adore you, even if you don't know me from Eve.

Ballerina and I are feeling great.  Lots of energy, clear skin, a stupendous lack of constipation.  (I talk about my intestines sometimes.  You'll get used to it.)  Plus, we have to admit we feel a little "hoity toity".  We've given up sugar, and we're pretty darned proud of it.

Today is one of those crazy-busy days.  We have a lot of them at our house.  I'm using my only spare 1/2 hour today to quickly write this post.  I rushed around this morning to fetch and deliver forgotten items to kids at school, then squeezed in my workout before hurrying through the shower and driving to the University to teach a theater audition master class.  On my way home, I stopped by the store to return four cans of tuna.  For some reason, they have soy in them.  Why?  I just don't know.  It's a puzzle.  The lovely woman at Customer Service said I could exchange food for food, so I went in search of soy-free tuna.  You know what?  It's hard to find.  Try it some time.  Thankfully, I succeeded.

I returned home while complaining to Superman about the condition of canned food in America.  I assured him I'm not becoming an extremist or a political activist, but gosh -- why can't I just have FOOD in my food?

Meal #1
Coconut milk
Clementine orange (yes, I've been eating a lot of these sweet little morsels.  I say, eat them while they're in season, because before you know it, they won't be available and you'll have to wait until Christmas.)

Meal #2
Stuffed Peppers (Ballerina came up with this one last night.  "Sandwich meat"  has now become "pepper meat".  Tuna, avocado, minced carrots and celery -- all stuffed into several sweet peppers.  Delish.)

Meal #3
Celery, chopped turkey, peppers, strawberries

Meal #4
Coconut shrimp, asparagus, strawberries

Meal #5
Celery with almond butter
grapefruit