So how’s my month of Puritan eating going?  Ha ha.  Not as well as hoped.  I have some elaborate rationalizations but first, let’s check out the score board, shall we?

1. Vegan.  Yep, this one is the no-brainer.  I’m still a vegan, 100% to my knowledge.  No problems here.

2. Buzz.  Okay, not doing well here.  I was supposed to get off the Coke Zero entirely, which has been a project many months in the threatening (though not the doing).  I continue my proud tradition of failure by regularly announcing this is my last can srsly forever I mean it okthxbai.  Yeah.  Then I have another one.  I actually fully quit for ten days before weakening and having a pop when I was out for lunch with Husband (another oops), and since then it’s been nothing but an orgy of pop.  Actually that’s not true, I seem to enjoy one or two a day and then I just want water.  So there has been progress… but not success as far as the challenge goes.

3. Lite.  Another almost total success - the only processed food I’m eating is pop.  And I had some tortilla chips at the poker game last weekend but they have about four ingredients, all of which I can pronounce, so I don’t think they’re too bad.  Otherwise I’m eating real food all the time.  I’m even eating home made jam, which a friend whipped up for us.  It’s very good.

4. Cafe.  Mixed results.  I am eating out way, way less than I used to.  But I did have lunch with Husband when I met him on his lunch break last week.  And I had a Subway sandwich over the weekend.  But that’s it.  Oh no, it isn’t, I had sushi for lunch on my final day of classes, which was Sunday.  Okay.  Three meals out in two weeks - I’m going to call this a 75% success.

5. Sugar. I’m doing pretty well here too.  I love fruit and that’s what I have for dessert most nights, so my added sugar intake is generally pretty low.  But I baked cookies at poker last weekend, and they are full of sugar.  But I think that’s the only slip, so this one category is still pretty good.  One sugary treat in two weeks?  I’m pleased.

6. Second serving when not hungry.  No problems here.  When I get full, I stop.  The only time I push it is when I make my vegan pho, which I love, and tend to really stuff myself with.  But even though I made it twice last week, I haven’t been overeating on it.

So all in all, there are only two categories I achieved full success with (vegan and second servings), but three I am doing very well (lite, cafe, and sugar).  Buzz is the holdout.  As a matter of fact, I am drinking a pop right now!

It’s been an interesting process.  My main thought has been that the last weeks of summer is a bad time to try going all Puritan, because this is a social season and also the time when you want to be out and about, making careful eating hard.  But maybe that was the point?  Also, when I’m at my grumpiest with it, I figure being  a vegan is already enough work, dammit.  If I can actually find a restaurant that serves something I can eat I should bloody well eat there and be happy about it!

I have also had plenty of opportunity to think about what I should just call my Food Spirituality (though I hesitate to use the latter word - “spirituality” is so often used as code for “religion” by people who try to appear tolerant - which is not what I’m going for).  But shared eating is really such a good experience, and passing opportunities to, say, eat lunch with Husband downtown is just such a bummer.  I guess I see eating out as part of the package of eating joy and I’m not liking its absence.  Although I will say this, I don’t miss eating out alone.  That’s something I’m going to probably totally ditch.  But eating out with friends?  That’s good times.  I’m officially quitting the cafe category as it pertains to social eating.

Sugar is sort of the same.  It’s good that I’m eating less of it, but I’m not prepared to quit it entirely.  My problems with sugar are the wage slavery it relies on for its production - I’m not afraid of sugar per se.  It should, indeed, be a occasional treat.  But that doesn’t mean no treats at all!  I’ll continue to bake every now and then, and to indulge in non-fruit desserts sometimes too.  I can see why it was part of the challenge, being devoid of nutrition, but I have learned that that’s okay with me, for once in a while.

The one thing I was interested to see how it would play out was being out of the house and hungry and having to wait - and it just hasn’t happened.  I’ve been pretty housebound these two weeks, what with finishing school and then being a lazy bastard.  Husband and I are already pretty used to taking all our meals at home.  Alas!