April's CR Diary

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March 24, 2005

We're Just Ordinary People

I wonder who I have caught in my web so far... innocent people checking out the Mprize website suddenly begin consuming lots of vegetables!

This diary is mostly about what I eat, and about how you can fit CR into a very busy life. So far this week has been really boring because I've been eating very carefully, eating only at home, and eating the same thing every day. Over the last seven months or so I've evolved a basic daily diet that works well for me: it's right at my calorie target, it's easy to make, hits almost 100% of my RDAs, and I like the food. So I can go for days eating the same thing and be prefectly happy. But yesterday went terribly wrong.

I unexpectedly had to do an errand that ended up taking much longer than it should have. I had my eggwhites and flax oil breakfast at six, but then I ran out of the house before lunch. After sitting in traffic and running hither and thither (for some reason when it rains, people just can't drive and go very slowly on the expressway to watch the rain fall) I was absolutely starving. One thing I notice about CR: I used to go a long time without food and not mind so much. I guess when I was carrying around 32 more pounds, I had more of a margin. Now, when I miss a meal, I get really, really hungry.

So as I was driving home I passed a Taco Bell. And I recalled a converstaion with one of my CR brothers about the Taco Bell Fresco Style menu, in which there was a chicken fajita for about 180 calories. That seemed like a good lunch to grab on the run, so I stopped, waited in a very long line, and then proceeded to order a chicken fajita, Fresco style.

The employee looked at me like I was completely insane. After a detailed discussion, it became apparent that he had never heard of any kind of Fresco style anything at all. So I gave up and ordered a regular chicken burrito, figuring I could look up the calories when I got home. I was tempted to get my favorite old bean burrito, but I thought I needed a bigger shot of protein. It was quite delicious, and I was absolutely stuffed after eating it.

I couldn't find the exact thing I had ordered (a "spicy chicken burrito") on the nutrition info online, but every kind of chicken burrito I could find was 680 calories! No wonder I was so stuffed! Foiled again! I won't be going back to that Taco Bell.

By dinner I was rather desperate for vegetables, and I met my mother at a Ruby Tuesday's near our house, a restaurant where they have a giant salad bar. I had a very big plate of vegetables and a smaller plate of fruit salad. Ruby Tuesday's has a "Smart Eating" menu on which they give the calorie, carb, protein and fat counts of their healthier items. My mother ordered a tilapia dish off that menu along with her salad, and took some of it home.

I was frustrated by the Taco Bell event, but dinner was low calorie and I've been so low calorie all week (under 1000 a day) that I'm not too worried about it. It's not essential that you have a consistent low calorie level, though many people find it much easier to eat that way. I tend to eat on the low end of my ideal calorie range for several days, and then go out and eat more. One thing I've figured out in the last month or so is that when I do go out, I'm eating more calories than I thought I was. The Taco Bell example is a good one. I'd like to drop my total calories a bit, so that I average 1100 instead of where I suspect I am now at an average of about 1200. I do a lot of angsting about what kinds of changes that would make in my life. I definitely have better mental focus and a happier mood when I stay at a consistent low calorie level. However, I still enjoy going out for nice dinners with friends once or twice a week, and that's where I get my excess calories.

When people first hear about CR, they often say things like, "I can't imagine being hungry all the time," or "You wouldn't live longer, it would just *seem* longer." Usually people who say these things have never met a real live CR practitioner. Most of us don't experience unusual hunger, though we do find that we appreciate our food more than we used to. Many of us have discovered that getting good nutrition makes cravings go away. Social struggles are harder, and a lot of what you'll hear about in my blog is the tension between wanting to fit in and wanting to do everything I can to stay healthier longer. These days, CR has been winning.

In other news, I'm getting to be close friends with the people at my neighborhood Kinkos as I make up the literature that I will take to BIOMEDEX, a meeting/trade show of biotech companies in Canada at the end of the month. Aubrey will be debating Jay Olshansky there, and I'm hoping to convince some people and companies to support the Mprize.

Posted by april at March 24, 2005 5:48 AM

Comments

Posted by: helen at June 14, 2005 9:27 AM

Posted by: Adi at January 6, 2008 12:13 PM

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